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Mixed feelings on getting into BLS
By adamg on Sun, 03/17/2013 - 9:52am
Parent Imperfect describes the choice his daughter faces now that she's gotten into both BLS and BLA:
Connie's Mom, to her unending credit, will challenge Connie to remember that both schools have the same curriculum and to think about who she'll be going to school with and to imagine how she will feel in the two schools. She'll do all that challenging, and then she'll listen to what Connie wants and we'll make a decision ... hopefully the right one. Help!
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Comments
Amazed how many of my
Amazed how many of my neighbbnors chose BLA over BLS when acccepted to both. One common concern we heard was less homework and less difficult school.
BLA / BLS -- good and terrible teachers at both
One thing to consider is which kids your kid likes in 6th grade. If they like the kids who got into BLS then maybe that's better for them.
The kids at BLA will still turn in a 6-page paper when a 4-page one is the assignment, academically your kid can find a place there. There is also room in activities and sports whereas at BLS all the kids need to be doing everything, it's like the suburbs.
The location at BLA is unfortunately awful, the neighborhood adds nothing to the experience.
However forget the idea that once they go to either school your work is done. The teachers are basically from the same pool as any other high school. Each year a couple are inspiring, a 2-3 are good enough and 1-2 could be effectively replaced by youtube videos. I did not expect to be hounding these people the way I have to now, and it's basically worse now than before.
The kids at these schools are competing with kids in school districts which do not give out a grade lower than a C. I have seen lots of really bright kids get through BLS with good grades and still go to UMass -- horrors to all the posters below.
Your child may be BLS material, you are not.
A true story: Back in the late 1950's my in laws were looking for a house to shleter their growing family. They looked at houses on the South Shore. They found two. The first was in Town A. It was big and could house the family, but it was on a busy street. The second house they found was on a equally busy street, the same size, the same age, and in the same condition, but was $1,000 cheaper than the one in Town A. They choose the second house.
Flash forward 50+ years, the house in Town A sold for $1,200,000 two years ago. The house in Town B, many years after my inlaws had sold it, recently sold in the low $200,000 range.
Both houses provided what was needed but one was a more startegic investment in the future.
When I got into Boston Latin School it was a 10 minute walk plus a 35 minute bus ride across the city on a good day. Boston Latin Academy was an 8 minute walk from my house. I still choose Boston Latin School and I am a better person for it. Don't be an idiot on a decison which might have lifelong echoes. BLS has the better physical plant, the better alumni network, and the better overall reputation. Your child will work their rear off but the reward of being challenged over your formative years will be well worth it. Sumus Primi.
On The Other Hand
I attended Boston Latin School in the 1970's. So did three of my neighborhood buddies. We were bright kids, straight A students, but had always gone to school within a five-minute walk from home.
Latin was a tough school, to be sure, but the commute made it even more so. For us, it was a five-minute walk to the trolley (in Dorchester Lower Mills), then a ten-minute trolley ride, then a twenty-five minute train ride, then another trolley for another twenty-five or thirty minutes, a total commute of over an hour. It was repeated in reverse in the afternoon, of course.
I was the only one of the four attendees from my neighborhood who stayed in school long enough to receive a high school diploma. I got mine at Boston Tech after flunking out of Latin. And I was so disgusted by school at that point that I never even considered going to college. It was fifteen years later when I returned to school to get a certificate in broadcasting and communications.
Bottom line: If your kid is the sort to really push him or herself, and you are the type of parent, with both patience and understanding, who is willing to push that kid, Latin presents a very tough challenge that may prove worthwhile. If you're not sure, my opinion is the better choice is probably the closer one.
By the way, I don't know what the state of the school is these days, in regard to bullying, but the sort of attitude expressed in John's header was the norm when I went there. It seemed that ragging on the "sixies" (the students entering the seventh grade) was almost encouraged by school officials. At the least, it wasn't discouraged. I assume things are different in today's climate, but it was near merciless when I went.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
100% agree with Suldog
As one who went to BLS in the very early 70s, I can attest that everything Suldogs says is 100% accurate. I too, starting at age 12, had an hour or more commute to BLS via T bus, train and trolley, and I too eventually flunked out and returned to a neighborhood school, where I graduated. All of this is pre- bussing, of course. I too share Suldog's revulsion in the school system as such (it has never left me), and the almost institutionalized bullying of the time. But I consider my years at BLS worthwhile for another reason having nothing to do with organized education as such. When I returned to a neighborhood high school after BLS, I found I was by far more worldy than my classmates, who had essentially never been out of their back yards. This came from having been "out in the world", so to speak, at a very early age, and experiencing a wider range of experiences and diverse (though the word wasn't in common usage yet) group of people at BLS than I would have otherwise. I'm not sure how much of my experience is relevant to today's world however, where kids are plugged into everything happening from the age of three.
The Latins were challenging
Yes, the Sixies in both BLA and BLS faced torment throughout the year, and when June rolled around, we were glad we escaped with barely the skin of our teeth. By the time I was a senior, though, my brother was himself a Sixie. He avoided that torment, thankfully.
I was a straight B student when I attended BLA, but the courses were indeed tougher. I learned a lot more from things than I would have at another high school, however - because of the workload but also because our teachers forced us to challenge things.
As for going back and forth to school: thanks to the City of Boston, BLA had charter buses that came in from Hyde Park, West Roxbury, and South Boston. I'm thinking that BLA eliminated charters once it moved to Townsend Street, but BLS still does - in fact, the 6:45 out of Wren Street is empty when it goes to Wren Street and is fully packed when it leaves Wren Street - so much so that they have another bus operating from South and Centre Streets to handle the overflow.
Grateful
Thanks so much! Your comment makes my point much better than I ever could.
Did they teach reading comprehension?
When you were at BLS?
The original post expresses amazement that other parents would choose BLA over BLS.
Sweet Bleeding Jesus on a Bicycle!
Take a pill and try to get over your insufferable self, will you? Ubi Sub Ubi.
I had 3 kids go to BLS. Three
I had 3 kids go to BLS. Three different kids, three different experiences. All graduated & went to good colleges. To be sure, our family experienced the good, the bad & the ugly. But, I don't think you can beat the resources (physical and human- especially the other students), the location, the alumni network and the reputation.
It also simplifies your life a lot to have your kids in the same school. And, my younger ones liked having an older sibling in the building to watch out for them.
It's like bc or bu versus umass.
All good schools, but some are just better than others.
There is no short cut to
There is no short cut to success , if BLS requires more work, it will pay dividends in the future, plus its legacy is paramount. Nothing against BLA ( isnt it really the former Girl's Latin ).
Depends on what you consider.
Depends on what you consider. Not everyone needs to go to Harvard to be 'successful.'
Ok, I am TOTALLY clueless
Ok, I am TOTALLY clueless about BPS. There is a Boston Latin School and a Boston Latin Academy? I thought Roxbury Latin was the other exam school.
BLS & BLA
Not only is Roxbury Latin not one of the exam schools, it's not a public school.
Boston Latin Academy was originally Girls' Latin School, but changed its name in 1975, after it had gone co-ed in 1972.
In addition to BLS and BLA
The O'Bryant is also an exam school.
O'Bryant = Boston Technical
Please correct me if I'm mistaken on that.
In my day, BLS and Tech were the two exam schools. I graduated from Tech after leaving BLS.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Yep, and Boston Tech is MIT's sibling
This was touched on in a discussion about Boston vocational schools last year - the college part of Boston Technical School became MIT when it moved to a campus across the river. What we would call the "high-school" part stayed in Boston and kept the Boston Tech name. That school eventually morphed into the O'Bryant (which is still rated as the top math&science high school in MA and one of the top in the US/world).
That's not what your link
That's not what your link says.
It says Mechanic Arts's headmaster considered it a feeder school for MIT. Not that they used to be two parts of the same institution until MIT moved to Cambridge.
read the thread convo
And iirc there was a more specific link to the intertwined history in another article discussion shortly thereafter.
I did read the entire UH
I did read the entire UH thread, and the post and comments at http://goodoldboston.blogspot.com/2012/02/high-sch... .
Nowhere was there anything that said that Mechanic Arts and MIT were once the same institution. The only reference to MIT is:
"Mechanic Arts high school had a contentious life. The headmaster saw it as a feeder school for M.I.T., while the school department wanted to produce factory workers."
If you can find anything that says otherwise, please provide a quote and URL.
Maybe you're confused because
Maybe you're confused because MIT's nickname was Boston Tech until it moved to Cambridge in 1916. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Massac...
But the name had nothing to do with the high school, which was called Mechanic Arts until 1944. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._O%27Bryant_Sc...
Students invited to BLS and
Students invited to BLS and BLA are invited to spend a day. If you and your daughter are uncertain about which of the two schools is the best choice sign up to spend the day at both schools and attend the Open Houses for Invited students and their families.
Good luck with your decision and congratulations!
file this under who gives a shit.
only reason this gets any consideration is that adams kid goes to bls.
Shh, don't tell anybody but ...
The only reason anything in Boston gets any consideration is that Adam lives here.
Isn't Adam's Kid
like 8? Must be very advanced.
She was 8 once
She's a bit older now.
I'm fourteen.
N/T
And I Know, From Personal Experience...
... that she was viciously smart at age 10 or so, when I had the pleasure of making her acquaintance over a pizza at The Pleasant. I assume she hasn't gotten dumber in the interim. Any misgivings I've expressed about attending BLS would not apply to her in any way, shape, or form.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Anecdotes are anecdotes.
I know 10 guys from umass boston who did better than 10 guys did at Harvard. And they are real people with real names. At the end of the day, you have to be honest with yourself. Harvard is better than umass, and Boston Latin is better than Latin academy
Mixed feelings?
ARE YOU SHITTING ME? When my kid got accepted, there was no question.......... Boston Latin.
Exactly -- the choice is easy
We got the same good news on Friday. Had the news been BLA, that would have been fine, it's a very good school. But it was BLS, and I can say there is no question in our family. Daughter, mom, and dad are all very pleased by the opportunity for BLS.
idk
Last summer, Bla had one book to read (for all grades im pretty sure) and BLS had 6, its torture, I should be doing HW right now but im not lol