Anonymous wrote:Yes!

Anonymous wrote:11:22 I did not write the post I agreed with it. It was thoughtful and honest.

You need to read it again and this time less defensively. The message was that some believe STA is a magic carpet ride to the Ivies. There are some harsh realities about a school with quite a few talented and ambitious students. And yes not all of the teachers are superb. Teacher quality varies everywhere, less so at STA but that is not a criticism it is an observation. Your defensiveness is silly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
"You sound fairly tense and competitive yourself. Also, when i read (or her) comments along the lines of "my son had the wrong teacher and it affected his transcript/college options," my take is that most likely the parents are unrealistic about the child's talents and/or work ethic. Not everyone is good at everything; not every boy studies the same amount. And agreed, not every teacher is equally good, at any school. But hard-work and brains do come through (on testing, if nothing else). The boys tend to be pretty clear-eyed about things, though--more than many of their parents."


What a gift . . . you read one paragraph and draw many conclusions about the author and his/her parenting skills. I will always wonder how such nastiness is so easily dropped on others. Probably says a lot about those who feel comfortable going the "anonymous" route with mean-spirited, judgmental statements. In any event, my goal was to provide a counterpoint to the prior posting that STA was "magical." While it might be magical to some, I think that it is worthwhile for those contemplating applying to STA to know that it is a tough road and not always so pleasant. We are not bitter about the school or the way our boys have progressed. Rather, the process at the school is quite grinding and there are missed opportunities for family fun that in retrospect should not have been missed. Having missed some of that fun and with a son now off at college, I did not want others to have those same regrets. Make no mistake, STA has a lot going for it as a school. Could it be better? Most definitely.

We could so be friends!! I love your message, which is do not let STA or any high school take over your family's life. Great advice.

Anonymous wrote:
"You sound fairly tense and competitive yourself. Also, when i read (or her) comments along the lines of "my son had the wrong teacher and it affected his transcript/college options," my take is that most likely the parents are unrealistic about the child's talents and/or work ethic. Not everyone is good at everything; not every boy studies the same amount. And agreed, not every teacher is equally good, at any school. But hard-work and brains do come through (on testing, if nothing else). The boys tend to be pretty clear-eyed about things, though--more than many of their parents."


What a gift . . . you read one paragraph and draw many conclusions about the author and his/her parenting skills. I will always wonder how such nastiness is so easily dropped on others. Probably says a lot about those who feel comfortable going the "anonymous" route with mean-spirited, judgmental statements. In any event, my goal was to provide a counterpoint to the prior posting that STA was "magical." While it might be magical to some, I think that it is worthwhile for those contemplating applying to STA to know that it is a tough road and not always so pleasant. We are not bitter about the school or the way our boys have progressed. Rather, the process at the school is quite grinding and there are missed opportunities for family fun that in retrospect should not have been missed. Having missed some of that fun and with a son now off at college, I did not want others to have those same regrets. Make no mistake, STA has a lot going for it as a school. Could it be better? Most definitely.

Anonymous wrote:On a hurricane day with my office closed, I took a look at this site to see what was going on. From looking at a few of the entries here, it seems that many posters are trying to engineer an Ivy League acceptance for their son. As an STA parent with one graduate and one still there, I think there are some realities of the place that you need to know. First, the real attraction of the school is the quality of the students. Good teaching is just not guaranteed at STA. In fact, if your son gets the wrong teachers, it can undermine his transcript and his college options. So, if you are looking to engineer the Ivy League outcome, beware. If the outcome is less important than the experience of having truly bright classmates and mostly good teachers and coaches, then STA might be a good fit. Know that your son will be squeezed like a sponge at STA. If he is a good athlete, then he will have many chances to contribute to the teams. Despite the jock reputation at STA, there are not enough athletes to cover all of the sports. How some of the coaches turn out competitive squads on a regular basis is really quite an accomplishment. On the college front, please know that the admissions process does not bring out the best side of the school, the boys or the parents. It is tense for the boys, who know that their peers and all of the parents will judge where they go to college. This makes the process of picking a school quite daunting. If your son does not elect to follow the traditional path to the Ivies or the Little Ivies (for whatever reason), be prepared to deal with some issues from the peers as it is a very competitive environment, especially when it comes to college selection. Given the cost of the education, it is not surprising about the competitiveness. If there is one parting comment, I guess it would be this: Try not to let the STA processes overwhelm your kid and you to the point that the childhood/parenthood experience is adversely impacted. Have fun and don't worry about trying to solve the formula for your kid's success. Provide the opportunities and let the kid develop the will and confidence to set his own course. Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:"With all that said, what things would you specifically change to make it a better school?"

Good luck. You guys are plenty smart and will figure out all of this on your own. Running into walls (posting on this forum) not my idea of fun. Trying to be less tense and competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the contrary, I think 15:46's post was dead on. I can tell you from experience at both ncs and sta that some teachers are notoriously tough graders (doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't also excellent teachers) but it can adversely affect GPA.

I fully agree with this. There has been a great deal of grade inflation in higher education and in K-12 in the last two decades. However much one might deplore it, there is a good reason for this. Grade inflation is entirely rational for any individual or for any single school --- if you do not inflate grades you are relying on whoever is evaluating a transcript to be well informed about a particular schools grading policy and to make the effort to make appropriate adjustments. That will sometimes happen, and sometimes not. At the university where I teach the teaching awards, which depend on student votes, are routinely won by faculty who award 100% A's to students in their classes. If universities are not organized enough to bother putting in mechanisms in place to take into account such self-motivated grade inflation in plain sight, how much do you want to trust their ability to make fine adjustments for grade inflation in admissions?

Anonymous wrote:
"You sound fairly tense and competitive yourself. Also, when i read (or her) comments along the lines of "my son had the wrong teacher and it affected his transcript/college options," my take is that most likely the parents are unrealistic about the child's talents and/or work ethic. Not everyone is good at everything; not every boy studies the same amount. And agreed, not every teacher is equally good, at any school. But hard-work and brains do come through (on testing, if nothing else). The boys tend to be pretty clear-eyed about things, though--more than many of their parents."


What a gift . . . you read one paragraph and draw many conclusions about the author and his/her parenting skills. I will always wonder how such nastiness is so easily dropped on others. Probably says a lot about those who feel comfortable going the "anonymous" route with mean-spirited, judgmental statements. In any event, my goal was to provide a counterpoint to the prior posting that STA was "magical." While it might be magical to some, I think that it is worthwhile for those contemplating applying to STA to know that it is a tough road and not always so pleasant. We are not bitter about the school or the way our boys have progressed. Rather, the process at the school is quite grinding and there are missed opportunities for family fun that in retrospect should not have been missed. Having missed some of that fun and with a son now off at college, I did not want others to have those same regrets. Make no mistake, STA has a lot going for it as a school. Could it be better? Most definitely.

Anonymous wrote:On the contrary, I think 15:46's post was dead on. I can tell you from experience at both ncs and sta that some teachers are notoriously tough graders (doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't also excellent teachers) but it can adversely affect GPA.

Anonymous wrote:On the contrary, I think 15:46's post was dead on. I can tell you from experience at both ncs and sta that some teachers are notoriously tough graders (doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't also excellent teachers) but it can adversely affect GPA.