Reply to Holton, NCS, Sidwell, Maret, Visitation or Stoneridge?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Keep in mind one disgruntled student probably is not reflective of the true nature of the school.[/quote]
I also question whether a high school sophomore, who left NCS for BCC after 9th grade apparently, has much credibility on many of these issues. For example, how much do 9th graders typically understand about the role of the Head of School? How credible is a 15-year-old at judging whether other private schools have "spent most of the last few years resting on their laurels"? How does a 15-year-old assess whether the NCS endowment is "rapidly shrinking"? How many of last year's NCS seniors confided to this 9th grader that they were "devastated" about their college admissions results? I do agree though that she's a better writer than most 15-year-old kids.[/quote]
Hello. This is NCS/B-CC girl. I am 16. I am a sophomore .... I understand that adults are often suspicious of the ability of a teenager to be able to accurately intuit the inner workings of a private high school but I am very astute, I assure you .... I just figured that parents would be interested in hearing that from a source that is unaffiliated with the school and therefore able to provide an honest opinion .... Lastly, it is a little bit annoying to be condescended to just because I'm 16. Yes. I get it. I'm young. However, I would really appreciate if you didn't throw my views out the window solely on the basis of my age. Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean that my points aren't valid or that I don't have something important to say. [/quote]
I'm the person you responded to. I apologize if my remarks seemed condescending; that was not my goal. I also think you're astute enough to understand that it's not a question of utterly throwing your views out the window, but rather of taking them with a grain of salt. I am generally suspicious/skeptical of most DCUM posts, because there is an enormous amount of misinformation and even disinformation, especially regarding private schools. More importantly, with complete respect, I still view many of your comments with healthy skepticism because of your age and lack of experience. I don't doubt that you are very perceptive, or that you're giving the best info you have available. However, I also know that your 3-4 years of adult experience (ages 12-16) can give you only a very narrow window on complex issues and do not allow you to put them in context in that way someone with 25+ years of adult experience (ages 12-37) can. This is particularly true when you get into non-student issues, such as the endowment, the long-term reputation of the school among DC parents, or the Head of School's performance.

I do think you can provide many parents here with very valuable insight into NCS and Beauvoir, precisely because you spent so much time there. I hope you continue to share your experiences. However, I think your views will be most valuable if you focus on day-to-day student issues where you clearly have unimpeachable knowledge. For example, here are several questions I see asked time and again about the Cathedral schools (in no particular order):
(1) How big a factor is religion at the schools?
(2) How segregated by sex are NCS/StA? Is there opportunity to mix?
(3) Lots of people accuse Cathedral schools of hushing up the Eric Toth situation. Did you perceive any hush-up? Were you discouraged from discussing in any way?
(4) What math curriculum did the schools use? Did you find it effective as a student?
(5) Do you consider the schools diverse? In what specific respects (race, geography, income, etc)? Did the schools make adequate efforts at diversity? 
(6) Do most students at Beauvoir/NCS enjoy it there? Do they talk about wanting to be at other schools instead? What do they like/dislike?
(7) Did you perceive that certain VIP students are noticeably less-qualified than other students? Or about the same? 
(8) Knowing what you know now, if you could attend any school in the DC area, which would you choose? And why?

Answer these questions, and I am sure many people will find it helpful. I suspect other people who (unlike me) are currently considering these schools for their children might have better questions, so please stick around.

Thanks for you candor.[/quote]

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