Reply to in your mind, is STA worth it for high school?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "in your mind, is STA worth it for high school?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would focus on how serious your sons anxiety is.
If it is bad then STA might not be the best for him[/quote]

Agree. You might want to choose a school that is less of a pressure cooker. [/quote]

How is it a pressure cooker though? Is the schedule on the website just for COVID time or does the academic day always only have 4 classes and end at lunch?[/quote]

The current schedule is only because of COVID. It's about 60% of what the usual workload is; the school day usually ends around 2:30 if I recall, with lower school sports until 4/4:30 and upper school then from 4/4:30-6/6:30. It's a pressure cooker in normal times because: the day is long with required sports until 6/6:30; virtually all the boys are very high performing so everywhere you turn, someone is way better than you at something (true in life, but those who get in to STA at 9th were probably used to being at the top of the class pretty easily so it's an adjustment); the reading and writing is MUCH more challenging than what most publics and many other privates expect; if a kid if grade obsessed it can be hard to ascertain what it takes to get a high A from some teachers (it can feel like a moving target if used to having a rubric to work backwards from.) The homework load is relatively high. It was a shock for my son to realize he really did need to do homework from 7-11 or 12 weeknights, including Friday night, plus spend many hours on Sat and Sun to get papers written and study for tests in order to do well. I think the pressure comes for boys (and parents of boys) who compare themselves to others and worry about their position in a hierarchy. It is hard to be at the "top" at STA and it's an adjustment for many who come in at 9th. If he/you can ignore the invidious comparison dynamic and focus on learning and self-improvement and not obsess over where you stand relative to others, the boys seem to be really supportive of each other, help each other out, and come to recognize and appreciate the diverse individual talents of each other. Some kids just have a hard time making the adjustment away from thinking about school as a competitive environment.

Is that "worth it"? It has felt worth it for our family because I see how the work will prepare him for success in college, wherever that may be, although without the counterfactual of seeing what is happening in our public HS perhaps I'm overestimating the difference.   
[/quote]

Above post is spot on.  We were pleasantly surprised how much is STA is NOT a pressure cooker, but again it's COVID times so maybe not a true reflection of a typical year.  The other students have been tremendously supportive and most teachers too.  There is a culture of support, and our son hasn't indicated any "competition" going on.  Then again, he's never bought into that anyway and is very focussed on his own work.  The small class sizes, support systems and camaraderie have made it "worth it" to us.  We are confident that our son will be well prepared for college and life.  He's learning how to think, not what to think.  He's also learning that there will always be greater and lesser students than him and he should focus on what he needs to do to be successful, yet help others when he can. Life is a team sport and STA is a fine coach.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics