Reply to What kind of student does well at Sidwell?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you mean by competitive driven to succeed and excel, then that would apply to the vast majority of kids at Sidwell.  If by competitive you mean kids specifically gunning to do better than their classmates or in some way feeling driven to "beat" others, then no.  The US does not do "class rank", have a valedictorian, or "cum laude" society or the equivalent (unlike the cathedral schools) or any prize day other than awarding varsity letters for athletic teams.   I believe that the very clear prohibition against rankings/prizes/etc is based on Quaker teachings at least originally.  In our experience there was little grading on a curve. My DS's class was one of if not the most academically-strong classes in recent history, and it seemed that there was no particular down side in terms of competition for college spots, with a very large group of really top students based on NMSF status/Presidential scholar finalists/other outside of school academic awards all getting into really top schools.  So we were pleasantly surprised at how much the school seemed to try to do in the US to avoid kids competing in any direct way against each other. [/quote]

I'm a parent of 2 recent grads and I agree that the school does much to keep a lid on academic competition among students, but I'd also say that among the students at the top of the class, and maybe particularly among the guys, there's plenty of friendly competition.        [/quote]

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