Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Query - is the HGC comparable to a Sidwell or Georgetown Prep? Also, are the teachers different?

Um, no - not even close. I have one in private and she has between 11-14 kids in her class depending on the subject. They don't follow a state-mandated curriculum and as kids, aren't bused far away to put in a school to increase scores.

The difference is that the 25 children in a HGC classroom are all at the same high level so the teacher does not need a smaller class size to provide a superior learning experience. The curriculum is also very different from what you would get in any ES in MCPS and teachers are given more leeway to enrich their lesson plans as they see fit. These children routinely work at least two grade levels ahead of the MCPS curriculum, the teachers dig deeper into every topic and they get through material much more quickly - it is advanced, enriched as well as accelerated. I suspect the private schools you mention might be enriched but may not be as advanced or as accelerated because their ES classes are mixed ability. FWIW I know one parent who had a kid in Sidwell and another in a MS magnet and this is what she told me about their experience. She felt that overall the quality of education was comparable but it was very hard to reproduce the MS magnet peer group in Sidwell. The HGCs are less selective than the MS and HS magnets so perhaps her insight is not that helpful for this thread but take it FWIW.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 50% of parents I know have admitted that they did not want their kid to go to HGC. Their kids took the test and qualified, but they wanted to give a happy childhood to their kids and did not want them to be in the pressure cooker environment, so they turned down the admission.

The HGC is not a pressure cooker. It is an appropriate learning environment for children who need it.

-HGC teacher

If that's the case, why did one of the presenting teachers at the open meeting warn parents that many kids cry in the beginning? That really bothered me. The privates are rigorous and yet pride themselves on making the school experience fun & happy.

My dd cried the first week -- not because the academics had already begun to overload her system, but because it was a new school with new people and we'd just moved here the year she'd begun 3rd grade, so she dealt with two new schools in two years. My guess is that many kids are sad in the beginning for similar reasons -- they've been at one school for however many years and now they have to cope with a whole new set of people. I also assume that kids switching to private might cry for similar reasons if they are the type of kid who takes a while to adjust to new social situations.

I think the more important question is how many kids are still crying in the middle or at the end of the year. My daughter didn't have any tears after the first week or two of school -- and certainly never any over the "pressure cooker environment." It's work, but it's not a pressure cooker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 50% of parents I know have admitted that they did not want their kid to go to HGC. Their kids took the test and qualified, but they wanted to give a happy childhood to their kids and did not want them to be in the pressure cooker environment, so they turned down the admission.

The HGC is not a pressure cooker. It is an appropriate learning environment for children who need it.

-HGC teacher

If that's the case, why did one of the presenting teachers at the open meeting warn parents that many kids cry in the beginning? That really bothered me. The privates are rigorous and yet pride themselves on making the school experience fun & happy.

The HGC also is open to all students, not just ones who have parents who can afford private school.

I guess there are many different aspects to public vs private school comparisons. HGC do not have small classes..but the application process is more academically competitive. Less competitive in terms of looking for athletes, musicians, legacies etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Query - is the HGC comparable to a Sidwell or Georgetown Prep? Also, are the teachers different?

Um, no - not even close. I have one in private and she has between 11-14 kids in her class depending on the subject. They don't follow a state-mandated curriculum and as kids, aren't bused far away to put in a school to increase scores.

What is your personal experience with the HGC?

Anonymous wrote:Query - is the HGC comparable to a Sidwell or Georgetown Prep? Also, are the teachers different?

Um, no - not even close. I have one in private and she has between 11-14 kids in her class depending on the subject. They don't follow a state-mandated curriculum and as kids, aren't bused far away to put in a school to increase scores.

My kid is in 8th grade now at a W-school track. We really pushed DS to apply and then attend the HGC after he was accepted. He resisted the whole way so we turned it down in the end. I am glad we went through the process and I am glad we turned it down. My kid was testing off the charts, but we learned how much other things mattered to him. He likes music, travel sports, and his friends. He is always busy, but not always busy with school activities. As he has progressed in his local MS, I also see that while his grades are good and he is in advanced classes (i.e., Geometry), he is not obsessed with school. He does what he needs to do to get by. I often wonder, if a more advanced setting would set off a spark, but I am happy to let him go through life and learn his passions on his own.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 50% of parents I know have admitted that they did not want their kid to go to HGC. Their kids took the test and qualified, but they wanted to give a happy childhood to their kids and did not want them to be in the pressure cooker environment, so they turned down the admission.

Some (quite a few) people I spoke to said that to my face directly or indirectly. Maybe that's true for their kids, but not for mine.

As a parent of a child from a homeschool with an HGC, we found that many of our neighborhood non-HGC friend/parents believed this, i.e. that HGC was a prssure cooker. But, many of the families and kids inside HGC did not think it was a pressure cooker. Kids found work more interesting, and thus did not feel like school was "work" or "pressure". Teachers were certainly less critical and more supportive. Overall positive, relaxed experience.

The parents who thought HGC was high pressure, did not have kids in HGC. All the HGC parents thought that it was the best place for their kids. The children in HGC actually enjoyed being with their peers immensely.

At our W school over the past few years years a couple to 4 kids have turned it down and in some years they all went.
The commute is an issue. We're one of the first pick ups on the bus route and it takes over an hour. Sometimes parents are able to arrange carpools but it's not as convenient for parents who work or have siblings at our neighborhood school.
I think at our school having a peer group is a big issue and if one kid who is friends with the other kids who got in turns it down it seems more likely others might turn it down as well.
Also practically no one from our neighborhood goes to TPMS or Blair so I think that figure in to the decision. If you expect your child to continue to our neighborhood MS and HS you might be more reluctant to pull your kid out for just two years for an elementary magnet.

Anonymous wrote:On the other side of the fence, my child had a good friend who absolutely was opposed to switching schools. Major tears, pleading no no no..in the end after meeting with the principal and counselor agreed to try it and spent 2 happy years there..never looked back.

Our child was interested in the MS magnet and we accepted. DC threw major tantrum in August before the start of school, when DC really realized about being separated from friends. We made DC go anyway. By the second semester, DC had made friends and was happy. Now, in HS, looking back, DC will say it was best parental decision we ever made. DC has strong friend group from MS magnet and feels very well prepared academically for HS and college.

Anonymous wrote:Query - is the HGC comparable to a Sidwell or Georgetown Prep? Also, are the teachers different?

At the HGC and MS magnet, we found a number of parents who were choosing these public options over privates like Sidwell and GDS. The financial savings was not the motivating factor. Rather the thinking was that the competitive draw ensured that all HGC kids were pretty smart and thus the overall peer level was bound to be higher than the private school peer pool which had been chosen for different competitive factors that included wealth, connections and performance on an IQ test in K.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 50% of parents I know have admitted that they did not want their kid to go to HGC. Their kids took the test and qualified, but they wanted to give a happy childhood to their kids and did not want them to be in the pressure cooker environment, so they turned down the admission.

Some (quite a few) people I spoke to said that to my face directly or indirectly. Maybe that's true for their kids, but not for mine.

As a parent of a child from a homeschool with an HGC, we found that many of our neighborhood non-HGC friend/parents believed this, i.e. that HGC was a prssure cooker. But, many of the families and kids inside HGC did not think it was a pressure cooker. Kids found work more interesting, and thus did not feel like school was "work" or "pressure". Teachers were certainly less critical and more supportive. Overall positive, relaxed experience.

Anonymous wrote:On the other side of the fence, my child had a good friend who absolutely was opposed to switching schools. Major tears, pleading no no no..in the end after meeting with the principal and counselor agreed to try it and spent 2 happy years there..never looked back.

This was my DC. DC cried for a week. But, after speaking with some kids in the program and attending the open house, DC agreed to try for at least one quarter (Principal said to give it at least this long before deciding to withdraw). DC has never looked back and said DC was glad DC decided to go.

On the other side of the fence, my child had a good friend who absolutely was opposed to switching schools. Major tears, pleading no no no..in the end after meeting with the principal and counselor agreed to try it and spent 2 happy years there..never looked back.