Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCS girls tend to be very poised.

Yes to other adults, that is how they come off. To fellow students, friends and peers - backstabbing mean girls.

Pat yourself on the back for your own quintessentially mean girl post.

Even to adults a lot of NCS are not poised. They are polite. Not confident or good at reaching out.

Anonymous wrote:NCS girls tend to be very poised.

Yes to other adults, that is how they come off. To fellow students, friends and peers - backstabbing mean girls.

Anonymous wrote:Uh, Washington Ballet?

Haha, that was on the tip of my finger when I saw the title.

Anonymous wrote:Poise largely comes from confidence and a strong (but not overly developed) self-esteem. Confidence and self-esteem come from feeling supported in all aspects of life, so, while it starts at home and the foundation is almost everything, feeling supported and cared for in the school environment cannot be discounted.

This. I know top kids in public schools who have lots of poise, too. Not everybody in publics wears their jeans hanging off their butt, you know.

That said, to me, poise is a combination of confidence and manners. Both manners and confidence are intertwined in the bottom line, which is knowing how to conduct yourself in a range of different situations.

A kid who attends a private school with lots of other poised kids, the kids who were brought up confident about which fork to use (banal example) and is going to absorb this poise (manners, confidence) by osmosis.

Washington Waldorf School or any other Waldorf (Washington Waldorf goes up to High school though). Every Waldorf graduate I have met, from Waldorf schools around the world share the same quality. Not only poise but something that makes them special, well rounded, insightful, kind and simply just good people.
Certainly the home is the basis for who the child can be but the school helps.

Poised while drinking ranch?
This cannot be taught in schools
Ranch dressing at home!

-Flip Driscoll

I've been very impressed with the transformation of children into posed young adults at St. Andrew's. I do think that providing opportunities for speaking in front of one's classmates and entire school, and providing a safe environment where teenagers are willing to take chances in sharing the lessons of life's challenges helps to produce confident, poised, children willing to take reasonably risks without abandoning their humility. This comes, in part, from the head of school who sets that example but also from the chaplain, faculty and other administrators who organize school wide events for students to lead. It also doesn't hurt that for years the school directly taught every student to make eye contact and use firm handshakes when introduced to new adults. I expect this is accomplished one way or another at many of the the good private schools in the area. The small class size of St. Andrew's probably makes it easier for the school to have an impact than in public schools.

Potomac gives public speaking in the lower school. GDS kids are super confident.

What about the St John's kids who are dong ROTC?

Everyone judges according to their own definition of poise. Some might consider a hipster who can't look an adult in the eye as "poised" because they "keep it real." For me, the kids graduating from the elite single sex schools are far more poised than the kids from public and private coed schools. So I'd say, STA, NCS, VISI,Gonzaga, Landon, Holton, Stone Ridge, Georgetown Prep.

I say this as a public school grad who is amazed by the difference between these students and other high school students.

Anonymous wrote:SAAS. They take politeness and respect for others as seriously as they take academics.

. +1

NCS girls tend to be very poised.

St. Albans, Prep, Gonzaga

NOT NCS, SR, or Visi

I think that developing poise is a parental responsibility. Sure, a school can support the development of poise through the school culture, but producing kids with poise is up to the parents.

No matter what school a child attends, they can grow up with good manners, ethics, and humility, if the parents are doing it right.