Reply to GDS vs. Maret - cultural and curricular differences?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Re GDS history

With a couple notable exceptions, the teachers aren't great and the curriculum isn't well-conceived.  In theory, I agree with you that the 9th grade approach sounds promising.  In practice, it hasn't worked well.  Part of the problem is that an ambitious approach like that requires teachers with a kind of training/background few HS teachers (few profs, for that matter) actually have.  A[b]nother part of the problem is that history gets treated less as a rigorous scholarly discipline than as a place to locate various advocacy projects. [/b] To be clear, I'm NOT saying I reject the school's politics/values.  What I'm saying is that advocacy is more effective if you actually learn how/make the effort to analyze and understand issues in greater depth than GDS requires in its history classes.  [/quote]

Without discounting the pp's personal opinion, I feel compelled to chime in to say that I've found no evidence of the issue described in the bolded statement. My DC's 9th grade history experience was terrific and I did not see advocacy work posing as historical analysis. The freshman research paper, in particular, served as an opportunity for my young high school student to conduct a rigorous historical analysis of a (non-Western) issue of his/her choosing. My DC's teacher reviewed sources, required multiple drafts and provided excellent feedback that pushed my DC to refine his/her argument in light of the evidence proffered. The work was challenging but fulfilling and I think it prepared my DC for what lies ahead in college.

Given that each teacher and class is different, I would say that it is difficult to comprehensively label any one subject "good" or "bad" at GDS.[/quote]

If the same department yields such wildly different experiences, I wouldn't call that department "strong."  There's always a range of teaching ability and of teaching styles, but I think STEM, literature, and arts at GDS are all much more consistent than history. No experience with soc sci at GDS, so no opinion there.
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My guess is that there are "wildly different experiences" in each subject at GDS and any other independent school for that matter. It's par for the course when teachers are given such wide latitude. Each year the interaction effect of teacher, course, and class composition yields different experiences and outcomes. Your n of 1 or 2 (and mine for that matter) is insufficient to accurately characterize the overall quality of any one department. They are simply anecdotes. Informative but not definitive.[/quote]

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