Anonymous wrote:

I think the PP has been diagnosing and closing atrial septal defects for 20 years.

She's be tossed out of the Society of Congenital Heart Surgeons for incompetence and paranoid and delusional schizophrenia.

It's Sybil, damn it.

I think the PP has been diagnosing and closing atrial septal defects for 20 years.

Anonymous wrote:Ok, Cybil. Why not run over to another thread and complain that you cannot be taken seriously here? Oh, you already did that. How did that work out for you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I had a similar reaction. PP used awfully strong language without knowing anything about that child's situation. Perhaps he was coming down with something. Perhaps he was injured. Perhaps he has an ASD. Perhaps he was just having a bad day and is usually quite self-sufficient. This is a 9 year-old, after all. When you things like "OMG What the FUCK is wrong with a kid like that," it makes me sad.

Poster, please tell us what an ASD has to do with a 9-year-old yelling at a mother. Your remark would be noteworthy indeed. What is the association of an ASD with temper tantrums? I have never heard of that association and I have diagnosed and closed ASDs for the last 20 years!

He was yelling for his mother to get him out of there. I wouldn't even call that a temper tantrum. But, honestly, I am really, really shocked that you have been diagnosing ASDs for the last 20 years (not sure what "closing" them means) and you are unaware of the propensity for kids with ASDs to have tantrums. I have a DC with an ASD and I live in that world, and . . . wow. You've never heard of an association between ASDs and temper tantrums? You've never heard of a child with an ASD yelling at his mother/anyone? Screaming to be taken out of a certain situation? Wow, just wow.

I think the PP has been diagnosing and closing atrial septal defects for 20 years.

Anonymous wrote:I just don't get how any of us is supposed to answer this question -- or why OP thinks we should be able to answer. The best we could expect to do is a handful of mean anecdotes about immature kids at super-competitive schools. Is OP expecting "all Sidwell kids are immature because they want to get into Harvard but all GDS kids are mature because none of them, and I mean none of them, cares about getting to Harvard?" Or the converse, which is equally silly.

And toss in an occasional "ooh, wow" for a kid who turns down Harvard for a state school as an example of maturity - even though we don't have all the facts about this awesome kid's choice, like the state school was cheaper.

How does OP think that anything said here will be meaningful?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I had a similar reaction. PP used awfully strong language without knowing anything about that child's situation. Perhaps he was coming down with something. Perhaps he was injured. Perhaps he has an ASD. Perhaps he was just having a bad day and is usually quite self-sufficient. This is a 9 year-old, after all. When you things like "OMG What the FUCK is wrong with a kid like that," it makes me sad.

Poster, please tell us what an ASD has to do with a 9-year-old yelling at a mother. Your remark would be noteworthy indeed. What is the association of an ASD with temper tantrums? I have never heard of that association and I have diagnosed and closed ASDs for the last 20 years!

He was yelling for his mother to get him out of there. I wouldn't even call that a temper tantrum. But, honestly, I am really, really shocked that you have been diagnosing ASDs for the last 20 years (not sure what "closing" them means) and you are unaware of the propensity for kids with ASDs to have tantrums. I have a DC with an ASD and I live in that world, and . . . wow. You've never heard of an association between ASDs and temper tantrums? You've never heard of a child with an ASD yelling at his mother/anyone? Screaming to be taken out of a certain situation? Wow, just wow.

Anonymous wrote:

I had a similar reaction. PP used awfully strong language without knowing anything about that child's situation. Perhaps he was coming down with something. Perhaps he was injured. Perhaps he has an ASD. Perhaps he was just having a bad day and is usually quite self-sufficient. This is a 9 year-old, after all. When you things like "OMG What the FUCK is wrong with a kid like that," it makes me sad.

Poster, please tell us what an ASD has to do with a 9-year-old yelling at a mother. Your remark would be noteworthy indeed. What is the association of an ASD with temper tantrums? I have never heard of that association and I have diagnosed and closed ASDs for the last 20 years!

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hysterical. OP asks a relatively educated & interesting question ("To what extent do the local elite private schools encourage their students to think for themselves & act independently?") and out come the most bizarre collection of responses. Like what, 2 people, have engaged in a substantive conversation on what should be an interesting topic to all of us?

So far, you all have accused OP of being a bad writer, a bad mother, not knowing her own child, caring more about a brand than a kid, pushing her kid harder than she should, being a jerk to people on DCUM, and hating the autistic. Because she asked whether you though your DC's schools encouraged them to think independently! OP, carry on. At least a few of us think you're the normal one.

I encourage you to look at schools outside Washington. The boarding schools are at a Secondary Schools Conference at Norwood next week. Might be worth investigating.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is hysterical. OP asks a relatively educated & interesting question ("To what extent do the local elite private schools encourage their students to think for themselves & act independently?") and out come the most bizarre collection of responses. Like what, 2 people, have engaged in a substantive conversation on what should be an interesting topic to all of us?

So far, you all have accused OP of being a bad writer, a bad mother, not knowing her own child, caring more about a brand than a kid, pushing her kid harder than she should, being a jerk to people on DCUM, and hating the autistic. Because she asked whether you though your DC's schools encouraged them to think independently! OP, carry on. At least a few of us think you're the normal one.

I encourage you to look at schools outside Washington. The boarding schools are at a Secondary Schools Conference at Norwood next week. Might be worth investigating.