Reply to Sidwell or St. Albans for 9th?

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[quote=Anonymous]NP.  What I'd say about Sidwell and self-advocacy is that they really want to avoid well-meaning helicopter parents who are contacting teachers to advocate for their children. That level of parent involvement is really not enjoyable for anyone. In my experience, teachers do proactively reach out to students, and students are encouraged to reach out to teachers. Some students, especially in the 9th grade, lack the self-confidence to do that. But by 10th, most seem to have grown comfortable. By the same token, some teachers are great at communicating with students, while some others are not good at it, and so students must be more proactive. For the most part, teachers seem very warm and approachable. My high schooler, who is not particularly outgoing, nevertheless has friendly relations with several of them.

On politics, I don't really know or care too much what the politics of other parents are. By the time your kids are in high school, there really aren't too many situations where you'll be having deep personal conversations with lots of other parents such that you'd learn their politics.  I certainly had more of those conversations with other parents when my kids were in younger grade, but by high school the kids are arranging their own social schedules and the parents are mostly just drivers.  So for the STA poster who claimed to know down to the percentage the politics of other families, I think that's either a holdover from younger grades or else a bit of exaggeration.  Most of the kids are fairly outgoing about their progressive stripes, as the young are apt to be, but I also hear about more Conservative students so they clearly are not afraid to voice their opinions.

It seems to me the kids support one another well. The school works hard to downplay the stress and anxiety. And most parents talk about trying to reduce stress. But the kids definitely still seem to feel it. I suspect it comes from the fact that all the kids are smart, and lots of them are extremely smart and motivated and accomplished. So if you're a bright but unmotivated student who is hoping to do just enough to get by, you'll find yourself near the bottom of the grade. And if you're a student who is ambitious and wants to excel, you have to work pretty hard to feel like you're ahead of your peers. The solution of course if for each student to do their best individually, and not worry about how their peers are doing, but that advice is hard for anyone to follow. [/quote]

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