Anonymous wrote:Larry Summers is pretty cool I'll admit. I think it is a status thing. These schools convey status upon individuals even unconsciously.

Interestingly the Holder kids didn't graduate from GDS.

Anonymous wrote:
I don't know if the link posted below will work to a NYT Times article entitled "Parents' Night With The President." Mentions that Holder's kids went to GDS. In fact, Holder evidently was also a GDS trustee at least for awhile. You can also just google Eric Holder and GDS and you'll pull up a bunch of other articles including mention of his serving as a trustee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/fashion/16school.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

My point in citing Eric Holder is not that this shows GDS is just as good as Sidwell (although I believe that to be true, even though the schools have many differences). The point is that one can't calculate the value of the school -- or its fit with particular students -- by tallying up how many famous parents are to be found at the school. Both schools have some parents like this, and so does Potomac, Maret, St. Albans, NCS, Holton, St. Andrews, and so on. So does Wilson, Blair, Whitman, Langley, Walter Johnson, TJ, BCC and so on.

I do think for parents new to DC or to the DC private school world, e.g. whose kids are transferring in from a public school and who are trying to make a meaningful decision about a relatively foreign world based on incomplete knowledge, there is a tendency to draw some comfort from the fact that a highly respected public official whom one regards as intelligent and discerning has already made the decision to send his or her kids to the school. That is just human nature. But the point is that such "validation" could be found with respect to lots of schools both public and private in the DC area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GDS welcomes intersex kids!

What are "intersex kids"?

Anonymous wrote:
I don't know if the link posted below will work to a NYT Times article entitled "Parents' Night With The President." Mentions that Holder's kids went to GDS. In fact, Holder evidently was also a GDS trustee at least for awhile. You can also just google Eric Holder and GDS and you'll pull up a bunch of other articles including mention of his serving as a trustee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/fashion/16school.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

My point in citing Eric Holder is not that this shows GDS is just as good as Sidwell (although I believe that to be true, even though the schools have many differences). The point is that one can't calculate the value of the school -- or its fit with particular students -- by tallying up how many famous parents are to be found at the school. Both schools have some parents like this, and so does Potomac, Maret, St. Albans, NCS, Holton, St. Andrews, and so on. So does Wilson, Blair, Whitman, Langley, Walter Johnson, TJ, BCC and so on.

I do think for parents new to DC or to the DC private school world, e.g. whose kids are transferring in from a public school and who are trying to make a meaningful decision about a relatively foreign world based on incomplete knowledge, there is a tendency to draw some comfort from the fact that a highly respected public official whom one regards as intelligent and discerning has already made the decision to send his or her kids to the school. That is just human nature. But the point is that such "validation" could be found with respect to lots of schools both public and private in the DC area.

Anonymous wrote:GDS welcomes intersex kids!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You child got in to both STA and NCS - that really is amazing.

I really never understand some people's rudeness on this site. Obviously, PP was counting NCS/StA as a unit when considering the "Big 3." "Big 3" for boys= SFS/GDS/StA, for girls = SFS/GDS/NCS.

Anonymous wrote:You child got in to both STA and NCS - that really is amazing.