Posted by Dinah on January 25, 2005, at 18:38:41
In reply to Re: P.S., posted by alexandra_k on January 25, 2005, at 17:43:04
I suppose what drew my attention was your saying something that my husband often says. That your small school with idealistic values hadn't prepared you for the real world.
My husband often fears the same thing about my son's school. He thinks it's fine for lower school, but wants to send him out into a less sheltered atmosphere in middle and high school.
My husband went to a small school himself until it closed and he joined the school I was at, a smallish in general, but large in comparison to his old school, private school. He was instantly accepted there and did very well, transitioned easily to college, and continues to function exceedingly well in the real world. So I don't at all understand his concern.
I bounced from pillar to post in school. I went to public, parochial, and private schools. I changed schools every few years following my teacher mother around, and for other reasons. I developed very strong opinions about what I didn't like about schools, as my four years in a regimented parochial school were the most awful years of my life.
So when we went school hunting I looked for a school with the Montessori-type values that my mother had finally adopted in her older years. My son started in Montessori very young and we liked the concepts. Self discipline rather than outer imposed discipline. A big emphasis on tolerance and inclusion and acceptance, as well as self reliance and creativity. Very hands on and the very opposite of regimented. And that's what we ended up with. It's admittedly a sheltered environment. And I feel strongly that I want to keep him there whatever the sacrifices to us until he graduates high school.
So when you mentioned the same thing as my husband I was interested. I tend to discount what my husband says since he did swimmingly in a sheltered environment followed by college and life. I don't quite understand why he thinks it would be harmful. But I am open and interested to listening to other points of view.
What I meant by irony was that I was arguing the concept of gated communities by quoting the standards of a school that I admire very much, but that amounts to a gated community itself. I suppose all schools have gates of some sort though. Where you live or your GPA or how much your parents are willing to fix their old car and skip vacations. It did strike me as an internal inconsistency in my logic, and in my life.
poster:Dinah
thread:447030
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050123/msgs/447646.html