Reply to Do parents choose Latin/BASIS over Deal/J-R?

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Reply to "Do parents choose Latin/BASIS over Deal/J-R?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes some parents choose one school over the other.  But please remember that Basis actively counsels kids out in middle school.  And before anyone argues that this isn’t true, I know a child who goes to Basis whose parents were told this probably wasn’t a good fit for them and too difficult and they might want to transfer.[/quote]

That's right. It's not a school for everyone. It's a school that works best for kids who are[b] ok with very accelerated work [/b](literally just learning more in within the same time period). Not geniuses, just kids who are not stressed by acceleration.

This thread is about why some people in bounds for JR might choose BASIS (or Latin). Hopefully it's clear that it's not crazy for some families to make that choice. Clearly many, many families choose to stay at JR. [/quote]

This isn't true. The curriculum in the BASIS middle school isn't "very accelerated." No, it's geared at average students prepared to do a good amount of tedious homework. The work is too often dull, highly repetitive as the years go by, and unevenly taught, mostly by inexperienced young teachers with iffy classroom management skills. I know this because we switched from BASIS to an ordinary neighborhood middle school in Arlington after 7th grade where, overall, '"intensive" (honors) classes in science, social studies, English and math, which are open to all comers, have been better taught, more interesting and more challenging. My kids are strong in math, which isn't an issue in Arlington. The eldest takes Algebra II AND geometry in 8th grade. BASIS offers no more math challenge.

If you're fixated on staying in DC public schools for middle school, with no broader horizon, yeah, BASIS offers accelerated work. [/quote]

We know -- the suburban schools are better than anything that is available in the DC public school system. [b]No one is arguing against this.[/b] Also, living in the suburbs is not appealing to everyone.

The logical conclusion of every thread should not be "everyone should move to the suburbs." DC has a population of 700,000 and growing, and this entire sub forum is called "DC Public and Public Charter Schools." Really wish there were reddit -style mods who would ban parent who come in to talk about suburban schools or private in this forum.[/quote]

Disagree. BASIS exceptionalism/boosterism seems endemic to me. The harsh reality is that it knows few bounds. We know many BASIS families after 20 years on Cap Hill and they insist that the place is wonderful.  They don't seem to know what they're missing - everything from advanced languages in middle school, to a wide range of strong ECs, to daily band, chorus and orchestra in suburban schools, honors classes across the board as early as 4th grade etc. [/quote]

If I said my job was wonderful, would you assume I was unaware that some people earn a lot more money and have better benefits?[/quote]

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