Anonymous wrote:Save us your paternalistic BS. Families of enrolled students mold a school culture.

The brightest kids at Latin just aren't challenged in the program as they would be in a suburban public GT program in this Metro area, not even close. The dirty little secret about Latin is that some of the families have always supplemented quite a bit. Latin families quietly pay for Johns Hopkins CTY (academic year program and/or summer programs), Mathnasium, language immersion camps and so forth. The kids involved have the ability and drive to learn far more than they're being taught, all the way from 5th to 12th.

Will correct you here as this is completely false in educational settings. If the particular students are molding school culture, it’s not being done well. School culture is intentional—created and maintained by the people in charge through their values and focus and communications. I’ve been involved in dozens of schools and have seen this in action ( and inaction ).

Don’t believe me? Here’s your lauded Harvard explaining it to you:

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/18/07/what-makes-good-school-culture

Anonymous wrote:That’s grand but where’s the DC public school program offering a well-rounded education AND prepping the strongest students for admission to our nation’s top universities? There is none. As poster have pointed out, some Latin (and Wilson, Banneker and Walls) families top up OK academics with pricey inputs to makeup the difference. Not the worst arrangement but far from ideal.

I see your issue is paying taxes in DC and not having the school of your dreams available. Your issue is not with Latin in particular.

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Anonymous wrote:Easy to say if you aren’t an Asian family where the kids need SAT scores and academics that are more serious than other groups to crack the same colleges. I get a little tired of Latin families describing tiny liberal arts colleges as top schools. We’d like our kids to have a shot at our alma maters (hunt Cal schools admitting in the single digits).

Ah. I see. Thanks for the clarification. Best wishes.

Why can’t a tiny liberal arts college be a too school? Amazing undergraduate research opportunities at my alma mater. You just have to think about things on a per capita basis - e.g. eventual PhDs, prestigious scholarships, Nobel prizes

NP here. I think SLACs can be wonderful schools. But they're often hyped beyond belief, especially by parents who are alumni and/or whose little coddled Don Junior couldn't get into a big school like Harvard.

You assume everyone wants Harvard or a University setting. I’d prefer a liberal arts college over a university for undergraduate education—so would a quite large number of families who choose Latin based on its small, classical focus on humanities and the relationship among teachers and students. Lots of people value Latin for its mission, not it’s test scores.

Of course not everyone wants a big university. And of course there's nothing wrong with choosing a small college with lots of coddling and hand holding. But you can't also insist that some granola SLAC is on the same level as Harvard or MIT. Again, nothing wrong with making the choice that's best for your family, but there is obviously a tradeoff.

That’s grand but where’s the DC public school program offering a well-rounded education AND prepping the strongest students for admission to our nation’s top universities? There is none. As poster have pointed out, some Latin (and Wilson, Banneker and Walls) families top up OK academics with pricey inputs to makeup the difference. Not the worst arrangement but far from ideal.

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Anonymous wrote:Easy to say if you aren’t an Asian family where the kids need SAT scores and academics that are more serious than other groups to crack the same colleges. I get a little tired of Latin families describing tiny liberal arts colleges as top schools. We’d like our kids to have a shot at our alma maters (hunt Cal schools admitting in the single digits).

Ah. I see. Thanks for the clarification. Best wishes.

Why can’t a tiny liberal arts college be a too school? Amazing undergraduate research opportunities at my alma mater. You just have to think about things on a per capita basis - e.g. eventual PhDs, prestigious scholarships, Nobel prizes

NP here. I think SLACs can be wonderful schools. But they're often hyped beyond belief, especially by parents who are alumni and/or whose little coddled Don Junior couldn't get into a big school like Harvard.

You assume everyone wants Harvard or a University setting. I’d prefer a liberal arts college over a university for undergraduate education—so would a quite large number of families who choose Latin based on its small, classical focus on humanities and the relationship among teachers and students. Lots of people value Latin for its mission, not it’s test scores.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Easy to say if you aren’t an Asian family where the kids need SAT scores and academics that are more serious than other groups to crack the same colleges. I get a little tired of Latin families describing tiny liberal arts colleges as top schools. We’d like our kids to have a shot at our alma maters (hunt Cal schools admitting in the single digits).

Ah. I see. Thanks for the clarification. Best wishes.

Why can’t a tiny liberal arts college be a too school? Amazing undergraduate research opportunities at my alma mater. You just have to think about things on a per capita basis - e.g. eventual PhDs, prestigious scholarships, Nobel prizes

NP here. I think SLACs can be wonderful schools. But they're often hyped beyond belief, especially by parents who are alumni and/or whose little coddled Don Junior couldn't get into a big school like Harvard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Easy to say if you aren’t an Asian family where the kids need SAT scores and academics that are more serious than other groups to crack the same colleges. I get a little tired of Latin families describing tiny liberal arts colleges as top schools. We’d like our kids to have a shot at our alma maters (hunt Cal schools admitting in the single digits).

Ah. I see. Thanks for the clarification. Best wishes.

Why can’t a tiny liberal arts college be a too school? Amazing undergraduate research opportunities at my alma mater. You just have to think about things on a per capita basis - e.g. eventual PhDs, prestigious scholarships, Nobel prizes

Anonymous wrote:We are people with children who would probably have qualified for test-in GT programs in Fairfax who can’t afford Sidwell and don’t like the cocoon atmosphere at privates anyway. We’re also people who find modern language instruction at Latin to be weak. We’re grateful for Latin but don’t consider the program to be first rate. Too many of my kids’ classmates have been cruising for years. We should have gone for Basis.

Yeah, probably.

Anonymous wrote:Easy to say if you aren’t an Asian family where the kids need SAT scores and academics that are more serious than other groups to crack the same colleges. I get a little tired of Latin families describing tiny liberal arts colleges as top schools. We’d like our kids to have a shot at our alma maters (hunt Cal schools admitting in the single digits).

Ah. I see. Thanks for the clarification. Best wishes.

You would have been better off at Walls.

We are people with children who would probably have qualified for test-in GT programs in Fairfax who can’t afford Sidwell and don’t like the cocoon atmosphere at privates anyway. We’re also people who find modern language instruction at Latin to be weak. We’re grateful for Latin but don’t consider the program to be first rate. Too many of my kids’ classmates have been cruising for years. We should have gone for Basis.

Easy to say if you aren’t an Asian family where the kids need SAT scores and academics that are more serious than other groups to crack the same colleges. I get a little tired of Latin families describing tiny liberal arts colleges as top schools. We’d like our kids to have a shot at our alma maters (hunt Cal schools admitting in the single digits).

Anonymous wrote:This. We supplement and don’t talk about it with other Latin families.

OMG. Who ARE you people? We’ve been through Latin with several kids and never supplemented one bit, never paid for a summer program or extracurriculars besides club sports and my kids got a fabulous education—ditto their close friends and they are all rocking it at top colleges. You guys are definitely doing too much.

This. We supplement and don’t talk about it with other Latin families.

Save us your paternalistic BS. Families of enrolled students mold a school culture.

The brightest kids at Latin just aren't challenged in the program as they would be in a suburban public GT program in this Metro area, not even close. The dirty little secret about Latin is that some of the families have always supplemented quite a bit. Latin families quietly pay for Johns Hopkins CTY (academic year program and/or summer programs), Mathnasium, language immersion camps and so forth. The kids involved have the ability and drive to learn far more than they're being taught, all the way from 5th to 12th.