Anonymous wrote:The entire thread makes me want to home school my kid. If I were made to go through this crap, I'd be a truant, too. Kids aren't allowed to have fun anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are several of my friends whose kids were the first to attend the school when it first opened, and now I know none that will be attending 9th or 10th grade there. All of their kids were doing well in 7th and started falling behind in 8th. The end-of-year comps and the stress of taking on AP classes before they're ready and the lack of a traditional high school feel has sent them running for "safety" elsewhere. Most of these kids were bright, and interested in learning and at the top of their respective schools upon entering BASIS. There was a large group who knew each other -- we even ran into several kids that we'd seen in pre-K at the testing day three years ago.

I'm very glad I didn't send my son there. He would have been miserable! He would have ended up leaving for Walls, Wilson, Latin, etc. for high school where there's not so much pressure to make the school look good but more emphasis on the student actually absorbing what they're learning. I don't knock BASIS for the few kids who enjoy the fast pace of learning, but I don't think it's necessarily a good thing or necessary for anyone to be successful in life to be that stressed out in school. School is about so much more than retaining tons of new facts that are heaped upon you constantly and pulled out of you at comps time. Any parent who carefully considers their child's well-being would seriously second-guess a school like this. This is not the best way to learn - it's the best way for kids to become anxious, depressed, and worse from what I hear from so many parents.

The kids that have left are so much happier and well-adjusted, have tons of friends, and are doing well academically in their new schools. They find school to be a fun and balanced place to learn, as well as to grow physically and socially without the dreaded surprise of failing a class during the last week of school. BASIS probably wants to open an elementary school because they know the high school model will not survive much longer. The graduation rate if actually calculated from the cohort of ALL the kids that started in 5th grade would be depressingly low. And the founders should be ashamed of that.

- parent of future biomedical engineer and current 10th-grade honors and athlete-student at a non-BASIS charter school

Your DC is 15 and already planning his career as a bio-medical engineer. No doubt he arrived on that life course completely independently? of you.

Basis is to be blamed for being too intense though.

Got it.

Anonymous wrote:There are several of my friends whose kids were the first to attend the school when it first opened, and now I know none that will be attending 9th or 10th grade there. All of their kids were doing well in 7th and started falling behind in 8th. The end-of-year comps and the stress of taking on AP classes before they're ready and the lack of a traditional high school feel has sent them running for "safety" elsewhere. Most of these kids were bright, and interested in learning and at the top of their respective schools upon entering BASIS. There was a large group who knew each other -- we even ran into several kids that we'd seen in pre-K at the testing day three years ago.

I'm very glad I didn't send my son there. He would have been miserable! He would have ended up leaving for Walls, Wilson, Latin, etc. for high school where there's not so much pressure to make the school look good but more emphasis on the student actually absorbing what they're learning. I don't knock BASIS for the few kids who enjoy the fast pace of learning, but I don't think it's necessarily a good thing or necessary for anyone to be successful in life to be that stressed out in school. School is about so much more than retaining tons of new facts that are heaped upon you constantly and pulled out of you at comps time. Any parent who carefully considers their child's well-being would seriously second-guess a school like this. This is not the best way to learn - it's the best way for kids to become anxious, depressed, and worse from what I hear from so many parents.

The kids that have left are so much happier and well-adjusted, have tons of friends, and are doing well academically in their new schools. They find school to be a fun and balanced place to learn, as well as to grow physically and socially without the dreaded surprise of failing a class during the last week of school. BASIS probably wants to open an elementary school because they know the high school model will not survive much longer. The graduation rate if actually calculated from the cohort of ALL the kids that started in 5th grade would be depressingly low. And the founders should be ashamed of that.

- parent of future biomedical engineer and current 10th-grade honors and athlete-student at a non-BASIS charter school

Anonymous wrote:My child is a current 10th grader at Basis DC. I am more than pleased with the academic program at Basis. Let's face it Dc doesn't give many options. Wilson is tracked if you don't test into the special programs you don't have the same opportunities. Walls just won't accept you if your child's resume isn't impressive. Dc high schools are the lowest performing in the nation many students that go to college have to take remedial classes that should have been taught in high school. Honestly, the peer pressure is much lower bc by this time kids have formed a community with like minded peers. They enjoy studying and learning and realize this is their ticket out. True they may not have all the whistles and bells with extra activities but you have rec centers and any Dc student can join sports team for their neighborhood school. It's unfortunate that Dc schools don't see the need to push kids with the same rigor as Basis. The elite private schools do it for 40,000 a yr. reality is students that are prepared in hS have greater success and get a real feel for college. Also, all kids don't take the same classes. Some are more accelerated than others. At Walls kids are just taking college courses at GW (at least the more advanced students). aP classes give students a reality check on what college is about. Study skills and time management are forced to be practiced. Like I tell my child if you really want to become a Sergeon get use to what it will take to be that now!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The kids that have left are so much happier and well-adjusted, have tons of friends, and are doing well academically in their new schools. They find school to be a fun and balanced place to learn, as well as to grow physically and socially without the dreaded surprise of failing a class during the last week of school.

Very revealing -- you have no clue. My child is one of the 7th graders who left despite all was going very well and learning was exciting and fast-paced. None of those things are true where my child is now, and I rue the day we left for private. Basis will not take back students who have left.

Thank you so much for your post.

As a parent at BASIS who is constantly wondering if we are doing our children a disservice by not enrolling them in private school, it is wonderful to hear from someone who actually made the move. We have had some kids come from private school and who are happy here, including top privates like GDS.

But the grass is always greener and the pull of an established private school (especially because some of our peers with kids in private think we are batshit crazy and parents are offering to pay) is hard to resist. Like you, we have kids who are doing well and excited by the fast paced rate of learning and the opportunities for acceleration in math, which they have taken full advantage of............

It takes a great deal of courage to come onto a thread like this and reassure those of us who have refused to make the leap to private despite peer and parental pressure. We still think the quality of the education in an increasingly small environment is what is causing our older kid to thrive. Younger child so still in a large cohort, but obsessed with Distinguished Honor Roll and has not yet failed to make the cut. Will hate it when she doesn't, but know that it happens to almost every student and since grades are cumulative sometimes the climb back up is difficult....

thanks