Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:well my sons (not choristers) do think it is cool.

they recognize the time commitment and also appreciate that their own voices are not nearly good enough to be part of the choir.

this is not me -- this is them, and they (very popular) are not alone in respecting the choristers as I have heard the guys in awe and talk about how they sang at a presidential funeral etc. perhaps your son (and his friends) feel the same way but just don't say it to you. or if they don't feel the same way perhaps you should get to know a chorister if you are in the lower school.

and the chorale in the upper school is DEF way cool.

I know several current choristers and a few choristers who left because they wanted out of the commitment. And, I also have a son in upper school who hates chorale but does it as an extracurricular with his buddies. You're really grossly exaggerating here, "chorale in upper school is DEF way cool." I know, it's the egg nog's fault this time, booster MOM.

Or is it that you're BH or his assistant? Happy Thanksgiving!

Well aren't YOU the St. Albans insider with your snarky use of initials . . .

Anonymous wrote:well my sons (not choristers) do think it is cool.

they recognize the time commitment and also appreciate that their own voices are not nearly good enough to be part of the choir.

this is not me -- this is them, and they (very popular) are not alone in respecting the choristers as I have heard the guys in awe and talk about how they sang at a presidential funeral etc. perhaps your son (and his friends) feel the same way but just don't say it to you. or if they don't feel the same way perhaps you should get to know a chorister if you are in the lower school.

and the chorale in the upper school is DEF way cool.

I think the way cool thing is that the chorister boys and the chorale boys are also jocks and brains, and vice versa.

Anonymous wrote:well my sons (not choristers) do think it is cool.

they recognize the time commitment and also appreciate that their own voices are not nearly good enough to be part of the choir.

this is not me -- this is them, and they (very popular) are not alone in respecting the choristers as I have heard the guys in awe and talk about how they sang at a presidential funeral etc. perhaps your son (and his friends) feel the same way but just don't say it to you. or if they don't feel the same way perhaps you should get to know a chorister if you are in the lower school.

and the chorale in the upper school is DEF way cool.

This is so far from true it is laughable. You are either a choir booster, an absolutely clueless parent or an STA boy having some fun. Very rare would be the choir boy who felt and was treated like a rock star.

Anonymous wrote:well my sons (not choristers) do think it is cool.

they recognize the time commitment and also appreciate that their own voices are not nearly good enough to be part of the choir.

this is not me -- this is them, and they (very popular) are not alone in respecting the choristers as I have heard the guys in awe and talk about how they sang at a presidential funeral etc. perhaps your son (and his friends) feel the same way but just don't say it to you. or if they don't feel the same way perhaps you should get to know a chorister if you are in the lower school.

and the chorale in the upper school is DEF way cool.

I know several current choristers and a few choristers who left because they wanted out of the commitment. And, I also have a son in upper school who hates chorale but does it as an extracurricular with his buddies. You're really grossly exaggerating here, "chorale in upper school is DEF way cool." I know, it's the egg nog's fault this time, booster MOM.

Or is it that you're BH or his assistant? Happy Thanksgiving!

well my sons (not choristers) do think it is cool.

they recognize the time commitment and also appreciate that their own voices are not nearly good enough to be part of the choir.

this is not me -- this is them, and they (very popular) are not alone in respecting the choristers as I have heard the guys in awe and talk about how they sang at a presidential funeral etc. perhaps your son (and his friends) feel the same way but just don't say it to you. or if they don't feel the same way perhaps you should get to know a chorister if you are in the lower school.

and the chorale in the upper school is DEF way cool.

Anonymous wrote:To the PP who is interested in the atmosphere of the school - for our family one of the biggest attractions is that it is deemed not only "okay," but even desirable and universally praiseworthy to have a son who seeks to express himself in the arts. Even in a "pre-Glee" world, the boys who loved to sing and dance and act felt comfortable pursuing these pursuits. It's even seen as "cool" to be a member of one of the many choirs the school offers. At least in our case, this cool factor simply did not exist in the school our son attended before. Now my choir boy feels like a rock star. We love this place.

I've never heard my son or any of his friends exclaiming that choir is "cool."

True that there are some very talented boys involved in the arts and that's okay, they're not seen as weird or fem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a man's world. Look at all the posts about Sidwell football, as if it were still the 1950s and no girls' sports program existed.

The ultimate irony is that most of these posters are women. Women with boys who want their boys raised in a man's world environment. One could write a college thesis about such a thing.

This is actually the exact opposite of one of the reasons we send our boys to STA; namely that they can be educated in a world where they don't appear as defective girls.

Save the Males!

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Before this thread degenerates any further I would like to thank the St. Alban's parents who shared details ( see above) about the atmosphere of the school. It was helpful and I appreciate it.

To the last poster: doesn't matter your race, the world is a little colder and a little harder for all our children with attitudes like yours.[/quote]
Groups for which it is harder and colder than affluent white American boys:
--African-American working class kids
--Caucasian working class kids
--Latino working class kids
--girls on every continent except (arguably) North America and Europe
--boys on every continent except North America and Europe
Etc.

When white males stop dominating disproportionately in business, politics, law, media, and income level, then I might believe the sad tale of woe about affluent boys being treated as" defective girls" in school. The attempt to claim victim status is absurd. If you like all-boys education because you think your son learns better, or focuses better, or the school works well for active kids, then fine--but to suggest the co-Ed alternative is damaging per se and favors girls per se just puts you in the long line of Americans who act aggrieved by everything and everyone. [/quote]


I don't think anyone is portraying " a sad tale of woe" here or attempting to claim victim status here, except You and that is plain

To the PP who is interested in the atmosphere of the school - for our family one of the biggest attractions is that it is deemed not only "okay," but even desirable and universally praiseworthy to have a son who seeks to express himself in the arts. Even in a "pre-Glee" world, the boys who loved to sing and dance and act felt comfortable pursuing these pursuits. It's even seen as "cool" to be a member of one of the many choirs the school offers. At least in our case, this cool factor simply did not exist in the school our son attended before. Now my choir boy feels like a rock star. We love this place.

[quote=Anonymous]Before this thread degenerates any further I would like to thank the St. Alban's parents who shared details ( see above) about the atmosphere of the school. It was helpful and I appreciate it.

To the last poster: doesn't matter your race, the world is a little colder and a little harder for all our children with attitudes like yours.[/quote]
Groups for which it is harder and colder than affluent white American boys:
--African-American working class kids
--Caucasian working class kids
--Latino working class kids
--girls on every continent except (arguably) North America and Europe
--boys on every continent except North America and Europe
Etc.

When white males stop dominating disproportionately in business, politics, law, media, and income level, then I might believe the sad tale of woe about affluent boys being treated as" defective girls" in school. The attempt to claim victim status is absurd. If you like all-boys education because you think your son learns better, or focuses better, or the school works well for active kids, then fine--but to suggest the co-Ed alternative is damaging per se and favors girls per se just puts you in the long line of Americans who act aggrieved by everything and everyone.

[quote=Anonymous]Over 2 years and 1200 replies later, the longetivity of this thread is astounding. Can someone fill me in - what's so special about St. Albans. I know enough to know it offers a top notch education. But so do many other independent schools. I also am somewhat perplexed by the apparent absence of a similar obsession when it comes to St. Albans' sister-school, NCS. [/quote]

Reply: I think people ask because many of us did not attend a single sex private school and , as someone pointed out, we are women who were once girls, not boys. Given that lack of perspective, it is very hard to imagine the shoes that our boys will have to walk in if we send them to STA.So, before we make such a major choice for our sons we want to have feedback from other mothers of boys who see their kid every day before and after school , witness their joys and their struggles and parent them through .

You are right in that there are many other privates, they all cost about the same and all have a rigorous academic environment. They are not however all single sex.

I've posted on this thread several times over the last two years. I have a son at St. Albans, and I myself wonder what is the terrific interest in this thread.

But I will also say I'm really happy with his educational experience at StA so far. I feel like the St. Albans teachers have spent a lot of time investing in my son's character development. He's at an age where he could easily make poor choices (or unwise choices, at a minimum) if he didn't have caring people taking the time to chat through small moments and decisions with him. The academic experience at St. Albans is certainly good, but maybe I'm most happy that my son is in a place where the teachers and other faculty demonstrate such commitment to his development as a young man.

I'm sure this is true of many many schools. But any parent that finds this kind of school, where they get repeated confirmation that a whole body of teachers and faculty are interested in their child's academic and moral development, will say they're glad their kid is able to be in such an environment.

Before this thread degenerates any further I would like to thank the St. Alban's parents who shared details ( see above) about the atmosphere of the school. It was helpful and I appreciate it.

To the last poster: doesn't matter your race, the world is a little colder and a little harder for all our children with attitudes like yours.

It's hard being a rich young Caucasian boy! Nobody knows . . . The troubles I've seen.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a man's world. Look at all the posts about Sidwell football, as if it were still the 1950s and no girls' sports program existed.

The ultimate irony is that most of these posters are women. Women with boys who want their boys raised in a man's world environment. One could write a college thesis about such a thing.

This is actually the exact opposite of one of the reasons we send our boys to STA; namely that they can be educated in a world where they don't appear as defective girls.