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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]First of all, I would discredit any "advice" regarding TC unless it comes from someone who has actually sent their kids there.  In fact, this is true for ACPS in general.  ACPS gets such a bad rap but sometimes the people spreading all the horror stories have never stepped foot in the school!  Anyways, I have two kids at TC and they like it and so do I.  The teachers are fabulous (of course there are always exceptions) and they really care about the kids and their success.

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False. There are a number of parents on this forum that evaluated TC Williams and other ACPS and FCPS schools in and around Alexandria that chose NOT to send our kids to those schools. It is obviously important for the reasons underlying those decisions to be addressed on this forum.  Some may be personal (a number of people will have an issue with the diversity of the school), while others will be more objective (many will have issues with the test score results of the school), but those reasons are still worthy to be considered and evaluated.

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Not the PP, but I think you highlight the point that PP was trying to make. The two things you mention (diversity statistics and published standardized test scores) are two data points that are obtainable from ACPS' website. They are also two data points that may or may not tell you anything about the school. My view is they don't tell you much, but I recognize that others may differ.

The point is that if you chose not to send kids to the school, then you really cannot offer any insight into what actually goes on in the school, what it is like to be a student there, what it is like to send your kids there, the quality of the teaching, the peer groups, or anything else. I agree there is value to "We were in your position X years ago and we chose a different school for Y reasons" -- that gives three relevant pieces of information: that the poster faced the same choice, when the decision was made relative to the present time (makes a difference because schools change over time), and the general basis for the decision. But beyond that, if your child didn't actually attend the school you cannot say what it is like at the school. You can't know what it is like. You can't even know what the experience would have been like for your kid compared to whatever school you chose. You can't even know whether your fears based on diversity or test scores (or whatever other fact) was justified. This doesn't just apply to TC and ACPS but to any school, public or private, in any jurisdiction.

I find it really amazing the extent to which people on this board are willing to make definitive (and often very nasty) statements about what it is like to be a student or parent at a school having never been in the building. I would never feel comfortable doing that. I could tell you a lot about the schools my kids attend and our experience there. But I would never presume to tell someone asking about what it is like at any other public or private school that we chose not to send our kid to, other than 1. (if true) we didn't choose that school (for whatever reason) and 2. (if true) we know people who have kids there and are happy (or not).

That's a long way of saying I agree with PP that the more valuable information comes from people whose kids are currently at the school in question. [/quote]

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