Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The immediate above poster posting again. STA has the boys play "crab football" or something like that usually. Occasionally they do something more mundane like basketball. They're really looking more for sportsmanship, behavior, cooperation, etc. than athletic ability. Poor athletic ability likely won't hurt you, but spectacular ability could help a little.

I knew about that game during my son's year, and one Beauvoir/STA parent in the know panicked me about how they want to see good sportsmanship so your kid should be saying things like, "Nice shot!" whenever some other kid made a shot or something. Apparently the word must have gone around because my son said every single kid was yelling "good job! nice shot! good one!" during the visit. They should make their way over to the Beauvoir playground and watch them. Not always nice.

Oh my god. Can STA do that?!?. Secretly observe our children while they are on the Beauvoir playground to help them in their admissions decisions? Would this involve videotape also? This has to be a violation of our constitutional/privacy rights and Beauvoir school policy. Perhaps we can draft a pre-emptive letter to STA warning them against considering such a thing?!?!

Beauvoir Parent and lawyer here. It would most definitely not be a violation of your constitutional rights. Moreover, although I have not fully researched the issue, at first blush I believe that STA can do as you suggest without incurring any criminal liability. It would not be trespassing; STA staff are authorized Cathedral personnel and can walk freely through the Cathedral Close. It would not be disorderlyconduct if they are not interfering at all with school activities. As far as I can tell, they can legally observe as much of the activity on the Beauvoir playground as they wish. Of course that would do them no good if they could not identify the children that they are observing. Unless Beauvoir becomes complicit in this scheme, I do not foresee any realistic possibility that STA can effectively turn their observations of our boys on the Beauvoir playground into actionable intelligence. As far as the use of the videotape, that is another matter entirely. I do not have time to fully research the issue, but the summer will soon be upon us, and I will task a summer associate with researching all of these issues more fully and completely and report back to you soon.

okay pp, sounds like you're trying to point out a flaw in this person's posts, but if I recall my LSAT logic right then this person could currently be a teacher or a teacher who resigned, currently have a child there, or a combination of the above. the person is just trying to give real feedback.

Anonymous wrote:

Whoever said I was or wasn't affiliated with the school myself? Whoever said I couln't be biased and have facts? As a matter of fact, I have a tremendous amount of factual information. It's my interpretation of that information that is biased -- as almost anyone's is to some degree or another.

You said it . . .

Yes, I do. I freely admit it! I've never had a child rejected from STA, been fired from there, etc., but I have plenty of reasons to not like the place.

Thank you PP. You're a keeper.

I'm not going to say anymore on the matter beyond this:

I think it's rather funny that you assume moms and dads are unbiased when it comes to a $30,000 annual investment and the reputation of their child's school. Some parents love STA. Some are ambivalent. Some can't wait to kid their kids out. And many range somewhere in between those endpoints. Heck, I know a number of families where one parent really likes the school and the other parent really doesn't. I even know one family where their disagreement about the school played a notable role in their divorce. I think people affiliated with the school are automatically biased.

Whoever said I was or wasn't affiliated with the school myself? Whoever said I couln't be biased and have facts? As a matter of fact, I have a tremendous amount of factual information. It's my interpretation of that information that is biased -- as almost anyone's is to some degree or another.

I wish the prospective STA parent the best of luck in their quest for "the facts."

I'd say more, but I just implicitly agreed with a person I respect a whole heckuva lot that I wouldn't engage in an argument abou STA's merits and flaws on this board. But if I ever fully dove into one, I can guarantee that there would be a whole lot of facts.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I do. I freely admit it! I've never had a child rejected from STA, been fired from there, etc., but I have plenty of reasons to not like the place.

Things like... kids taking nonconsensual, "inappropriate" pictures while changing in the pool locker room... and parents not even being notified about what happened. All in all, that's actually not even that bad. The kids were being silly, etc., whatever, though I think not notifying the parents is really quite dumb. I'd go on with much worse, but that wouldn't be fair because there are plenty of people who would know the identity of the people in the scenarios cited.

That said, I'm certainly biased!

It seems as if you are judging an entire school on a few isolated incidents. If you are not affiliated with the school you should probably keep your negative thoughts to yourself. Many DC Moms and Dads chose to send their boys to the school and should share information they have sense it is based on facts and not biased. Parents considering an St. Albans education want factual information not biased or judgemental information.

Yes, I do. I freely admit it! I've never had a child rejected from STA, been fired from there, etc., but I have plenty of reasons to not like the place.

Things like... kids taking nonconsensual, "inappropriate" pictures while changing in the pool locker room... and parents not even being notified about what happened. All in all, that's actually not even that bad. The kids were being silly, etc., whatever, though I think not notifying the parents is really quite dumb. I'd go on with much worse, but that wouldn't be fair because there are plenty of people who would know the identity of the people in the scenarios cited.

That said, I'm certainly biased!

Anonymous wrote:Very reasonable, OP... but to be even more reasonable: If your kid doesn't get into STA, it could be a turn of good fortune. STA does a pretty bad job of instilling one of the things that I think is most important to the heathy deveopment (and living) of prosocial people: empathy. I'd rather my children be nonacademic, manual laboring truly compassionate people than brilliant, entitled, insensitive elites. Not saying everyone who graduates from STA is like that -- or even most of the boys -- but it seems like a disproportionate number are... Boys who know how to act suave and polite and follow the rules. But take away that watchful eye of authority, and...

Sounds like you have a serious chip on your shoulder...

Obtaining old editions of a test as a study aid is not cheating. That's the standard practice for how to prepare for SATs, LSATs, GREs, MCATs, APs, state achievement tests, etc.

You do have to be a licensed professional to buy the test, though.

Very reasonable, OP... but to be even more reasonable: If your kid doesn't get into STA, it could be a turn of good fortune. STA does a pretty bad job of instilling one of the things that I think is most important to the heathy deveopment (and living) of prosocial people: empathy. I'd rather my children be nonacademic, manual laboring truly compassionate people than brilliant, entitled, insensitive elites. Not saying everyone who graduates from STA is like that -- or even most of the boys -- but it seems like a disproportionate number are... Boys who know how to act suave and polite and follow the rules. But take away that watchful eye of authority, and...

OP here, and now the voice of reason.

When I started the thread I thought maybe I could provide guidance on the things within a parent's control. Meaning the ways in which you could support your son through what is a competitive process, which at age eight he has absolutely no idea about and shouldn't. The thread was meant to address the very real stress that parents are going through, provide them a few simple pointers so they are not freaking out. I realize I have only added to the frenzy (1) by talking about the Beauvoir advantage, and apparently I haven't even gotten the numbers right on the non-Beauvoir admittances so I'm sorry for that, and (2) instigating all the talk on other factors, such as how they behave during crab soccer or how they performed on the WPSII, a test they took at age FOUR!

Don't try to get old tests or new tests or anything. For that matter, maybe just scrap this whole thread. Maybe it takes it to degenerate to this level to realize that we have little boys here, who first and foremost need to know we have faith that they will be great men someday, no matter whether St. Albans offers than a place in their upcoming c-form or not.

Anonymous wrote:The best way to prepare is to use previous editions of the actual test.

There is a word for that.

Cheating.

Okay, I'm off the soapbox. How does one obtain a previous edition, and does that activity involve a felony or misdemeanor charge or simple bribery?

The best way to prepare is to use previous editions of the actual test.

Sorry, LSATs, I meant.

It's not really like the logic section on the SATs. There is a lot of nonverbal material.