Anonymous wrote:Depends on which “wealthy set” we’re talking about. One group, which includes my exH and his extended family, is decidedly not in the Tad the Square-Jawed Quarterback set. Neither are any of their good friends. They’re all multi millionaires and include many “Washington famous” names. Some went to private, some to stuyvesant, all to 3 Ivy schools and grad schools. Most are nerdish non-athletes with great personalities.

This is often industry, career, or locale-dependent. For instance, speaking from experience, Silicon Valley wealth is decidedly different than DC wealth -- at least insofar as you have wealthy engineers. (Wealthy salespeople tend to be more similar wherever you go in the United States, at least in my pretty well-traveled / lived-many-places experience.)

Anonymous wrote:Burke makes a good home for these types of kids.

Not for second graders.

There are nerdy, quirky kids at all the schools.

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Anonymous wrote:In my experience across public and private in this region, the answer is that a “nerdy, quirky” kid will feel more at home in public. Among the wealthier set at private, families tend to discourage these traits and encourage sports, extroversion, leadership, and to a certain extent conformity. Your miles may vary.

Totally opposite experience. Being smart and intellectually engaged is rewarded at rigorous private schools. Not at publics...at all.

The wealthier set encourages smart, intellectually engaged, and sports, extroversion, leadership, and conformity. It's great to be smart as long as you're an all-American kid who's a great future candidate for Harvard and a Rhodes scholarship, basically. But that set seems a lot less friendly to weird geeks.

Have you been to these schools? There are lots of kids like you describe. There are lots of studious introverts too!

I’m one of these posters and I’m basing it on Norwood and 2 Catholic high schools. Definitely could be different at others.

Fair enough... just as I can’t speak to those schools. I had Sidwell, sta/ncs, and Maret in mind.

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Anonymous wrote:In my experience across public and private in this region, the answer is that a “nerdy, quirky” kid will feel more at home in public. Among the wealthier set at private, families tend to discourage these traits and encourage sports, extroversion, leadership, and to a certain extent conformity. Your miles may vary.

Totally opposite experience. Being smart and intellectually engaged is rewarded at rigorous private schools. Not at publics...at all.

The wealthier set encourages smart, intellectually engaged, and sports, extroversion, leadership, and conformity. It's great to be smart as long as you're an all-American kid who's a great future candidate for Harvard and a Rhodes scholarship, basically. But that set seems a lot less friendly to weird geeks.

Have you been to these schools? There are lots of kids like you describe. There are lots of studious introverts too!

I’m one of these posters and I’m basing it on Norwood and 2 Catholic high schools. Definitely could be different at others.

Well, you're wrong.

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Anonymous wrote:In my experience across public and private in this region, the answer is that a “nerdy, quirky” kid will feel more at home in public. Among the wealthier set at private, families tend to discourage these traits and encourage sports, extroversion, leadership, and to a certain extent conformity. Your miles may vary.

Totally opposite experience. Being smart and intellectually engaged is rewarded at rigorous private schools. Not at publics...at all.

The wealthier set encourages smart, intellectually engaged, and sports, extroversion, leadership, and conformity. It's great to be smart as long as you're an all-American kid who's a great future candidate for Harvard and a Rhodes scholarship, basically. But that set seems a lot less friendly to weird geeks.

Have you been to these schools? There are lots of kids like you describe. There are lots of studious introverts too!

I’m one of these posters and I’m basing it on Norwood and 2 Catholic high schools. Definitely could be different at others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience across public and private in this region, the answer is that a “nerdy, quirky” kid will feel more at home in public. Among the wealthier set at private, families tend to discourage these traits and encourage sports, extroversion, leadership, and to a certain extent conformity. Your miles may vary.

Totally opposite experience. Being smart and intellectually engaged is rewarded at rigorous private schools. Not at publics...at all.

The wealthier set encourages smart, intellectually engaged, and sports, extroversion, leadership, and conformity. It's great to be smart as long as you're an all-American kid who's a great future candidate for Harvard and a Rhodes scholarship, basically. But that set seems a lot less friendly to weird geeks.

Have you been to these schools? There are lots of kids like you describe. There are lots of studious introverts too!

Agree with Feynman as an option if you can manage the commute. My smart, quirky kid found his people there immediately.

Anonymous wrote:Edmund Burke

There's no shortage of quirk at Burke.

(Most Burke kids would fit in anywhere, though.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience across public and private in this region, the answer is that a “nerdy, quirky” kid will feel more at home in public. Among the wealthier set at private, families tend to discourage these traits and encourage sports, extroversion, leadership, and to a certain extent conformity. Your miles may vary.

Totally opposite experience. Being smart and intellectually engaged is rewarded at rigorous private schools. Not at publics...at all.

The wealthier set encourages smart, intellectually engaged, and sports, extroversion, leadership, and conformity. It's great to be smart as long as you're an all-American kid who's a great future candidate for Harvard and a Rhodes scholarship, basically. But that set seems a lot less friendly to weird geeks.

Depends on which “wealthy set” we’re talking about. One group, which includes my exH and his extended family, is decidedly not in the Tad the Square-Jawed Quarterback set. Neither are any of their good friends. They’re all multi millionaires and include many “Washington famous” names. Some went to private, some to stuyvesant, all to 3 Ivy schools and grad schools. Most are nerdish non-athletes with great personalities.

Of course, you’re not wrong about the values of other wealthy ppl. Just need to dispel the idea that there’s just one way to go about this

A whole lotta people talking out of their asses here, based on some stereotypes they learned watching crappy movies about high school. We all went to high school - there are quirky kids everywhere. Quirky adults too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience across public and private in this region, the answer is that a “nerdy, quirky” kid will feel more at home in public. Among the wealthier set at private, families tend to discourage these traits and encourage sports, extroversion, leadership, and to a certain extent conformity. Your miles may vary.

Totally opposite experience. Being smart and intellectually engaged is rewarded at rigorous private schools. Not at publics...at all.

The wealthier set encourages smart, intellectually engaged, and sports, extroversion, leadership, and conformity. It's great to be smart as long as you're an all-American kid who's a great future candidate for Harvard and a Rhodes scholarship, basically. But that set seems a lot less friendly to weird geeks.

Edmund Burke

Nps.

Sandy spring?

I also agree public school can be really good for quirky bright kids—it’s a large cohort so you can usually find someone that is on your wavelength for whatever your thing is, theater, robotics, math, role playing games, etc. Look at the clubs online for a school like Richard Montgomery to get a sense of the diversity of activities. Private can be a bit hit or miss finding your tribe.