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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The only difference of opinion I have with the above poster is the implicit idea that these kids are smart and would go to great colleges anyway, even if they went to a less rigorous high school.  I know for my kid that is not true.  Entering Sidwell as a bright and motivated kid from a good public school, my kid's scores were good, but not outstanding and he was an OK writer.  At Sidwell, he had to study consistently 3 hours per night and on the weekend to keep up, ( Im not sure that this level of difficulty is required  for a rigorous program). He graduated with almost perfect scores and the ability to write quickly and coherently.  So I credit the school.[/quote]
I'm the PP you're referring to, and I agree with your point.  I wasn't trying to suggest that it doesn't matter at all where the kids go to school.  A smart kid at a less rigorous school might not fulfill his potential.  Or similarly, a kid at even a rigorous school that's just a bad fit for the particular child might not do as well as in another environment (for example if a child needs structure but the school is unstructured).  I'd say though that all of the schools I discussed are pretty similarly rigorous, so as long as the basic structure is not a problem, the match will be fine for most kids.

As a spin-off point, I wonder if the structure is why Sidwell in particular seems to do well among those schools.  According to reputation at least, it has a rigorous structure without many distinguishing factors that might turn off kids.  St Albans and NCS have the single-sex thing, which might be a difficult environment for some kids.  GDS has that whole unstructured vibe, which might not fit some kids.  AFAIK, which admittedly isn't much, Sidwell's "distinctive feature" is Quakerism, which I've never thought of as likely to generate a bad fit with anyone.  So at St Albans or NCS or GDS, maybe 95% of kids do fine, but 5% will be turned off by the particulars of the structure.  But at Sidwell, 100% will do fine and none will be turned off by the environment.  Not sure if that makes any sense - maybe not because the 5% who can't mesh with the environment could just switch schools.  Interesting to consider though.[/quote]

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