Reply to Struggling between GDS, Sidwell and "safety school"

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Struggling between GDS, Sidwell and "safety school""

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think we'd have to know the safety OP. Some safeties are terrible at getting kids into decent colleges. You might as well save your money and go public.[/quote]

I'm the Baltimore person who posted earlier about "Door #3." What we've found so rewarding about DC's school is that the entire focus of high school hasn't been on getting into college. It's been about trying new things, forming relationships, and gaining a sense of self that we don't think would have been possible in our large public school, and also not about the college rat race that seems prevalent in the more elite schools.

I will say that I've also come to believe that schools don't reform the raw materials of the students that come to them, but rather refine them. If your child is in the 97th+ percentile on prep school admissions tests, he/she will probably be at roughly the same level on the SAT, and if he/she isn't there in 8th grade, he/she probably won't be there in 11th grade either. So we've chosen to focus less on the academic grind and more on the entire high school experience. [/quote]

also in Baltimore area, and wondering what school you are posting about.  Do you mind sharing?  And I think we are fortinate in that the privates here are pretty transparent and it is fairly easy for parents to match schools to their child's learning style/temperment.[/quote]

I'm hesitant to respond, because as someone else noted above, mentioning the name of the "less elite" school might well transform the thread into a referendum on the school's merits and debits. The experience we have found is summarized by Malcolm Gladwell in a chapter that is online here:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CD0QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ash.nl%2Fftpimages%2F401%2Fdownload%2Fdownload_1009994.pdf&ei=8Mf5VJKWB-_dsASC4IDgAw&usg=AFQjCNHHAVRnv2v3bpjCiaMPZhxEbfWI-Q&sig2=YX4BVfaxvu92sJ6jkkxf2A&bvm=bv.87611401,d.cWc

But since a few people have asked, it's St. Paul's Upper School. Our son is a high academic achiever, and was accepted at Gilman and McDonogh - SP awarded him a merit scholarship that really made a difference to us financially, and I think at first we were a little apologetic about not going for Gilman. I would have liked to see a bit more rigor in the lower grades, and while the engineering is excellent the lab sciences aren't great, but otherwise the IB program has provided sufficient academic challenge. What's mattered most is the seemingly institutional commitment to balance - do your best in school, but also have time to play sports, participate in extra-curriculars, and (!) even have some free time. Now, nearing the end of his junior year, we are so thankful he ended up where he did. He truly enjoys going to school every day. Meanwhile, he sees friends at Gilman unable to socialize because their workload is too high, and that pales in comparison to what he sees from kids in the AP track at a school like Dulaney. I would say he averages around 2 hours of homework per night, a little more when a big project is coming due, a little less some other nights. That means he has time to go to his athletic practice, shower, come home, have dinner with the family, and then work from roughly 7:30 until somewhere between 9 or 10.

I feel like that's the life we want. He's not stressed, we get to spend time together, and he's not doing 4 or 5 hours of homework every night. Maybe he's in for a big comeuppance when he gets to a selective university and is suddenly one of those kids who is swamped by a massively increased workload and heightened expectations. But I am optimistic that won't be the case, and as the days we have left to enjoy having him under our roof shrink at an astonishing rate, I'm so glad we're spending them with a happy kid.
[/quote]

I'm glad it worked out so well for your family.  St. Paul's is a very good school with a beautiful campus.

Don't agree with Malcolm Gladwell's piece though.  Some people aren't cut out for the competitive world of academic science --I personally don't believe that either student would have done better in a different institution, they simply were average as scientists compared to others in the field.[/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