After a handful of years here, we finally decided to cut out of the Seven Arrows cult and, yes,…read moreforfeit several years of "investment" in our kids' futures.
Community is their #1 priority and it comes at the cost of what ought be their first priority: a competitive academic education.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are lost to dressing up the campus for events but not a dime is spent on Faculty professional development.
Also their version of "community" is only as good as the amount of money you give and the parental cliques you can endear yourself to. If you are parents in a dual-income family, who can't always volunteer at 11am or give up entire days to help out, you are excommunicated by both the school and other parents. We found these overt acts of judgement against the value and ethics of modeling business-building with our kids through our careers to be abhorrent.
The school regularly weaves in a denial-based approach toward any concerns you might voice, all while purporting to possess a growth mindset. Margarita, the Head, runs the school with an iron fist - God forbid you ever question anything. For a school that waves the flag of "community and openness", what they really want is everyone to nod in agreement, roll up their sleeves and volunteer all their time, donate generously to support private street closures of non-inclusive events, and tiny-campus makeovers.
From a student perspective, it's now well-researched and broadly understood that if a child is bored in class, socializes with peers, or is otherwise not engaged in the curriculum, this is an indication that the program offered is not meeting the intellectual or creative needs of the student. And a well funded school has many options to better flex to the student's needs, offer material through alternative learning modalities, or even revise of the approach/methods altogether. When our kids were bored, the school admin pointed their fingers at our kids (accusing them of having ADHD), or at us (for poor parenting skills) and they heavily implied that our kids be medicated.
BEWARE: The school uses a cunning strategy of building their case by recommending that the parents have the child fully evaluated, with a request that the pychologist share their findings with school. In truth, they are building fodder against you, in case they want to "council families out" if you disagree with them on other things. Your physician's account becomes a "menu of opportunity" for the school to manipulate you into seeing things their way, or else have you relinquish your entire investment. Because everybody knows that unless you demonstrate your liking for the Kool-Aid they serve up, your child's future (by way of recommendation letters, support, and referrals at the time of graduation) is at their mercy.
Today, the "campuses" are all over the place and disjointed. While the Masquerade event is still a great student experience, our older child was repeatedly bullied by the offspring of entitled, Instagram Mommy wannabe's but the school did little to upset parents with deep pockets. After all, Margarita's gotta bankroll her sprawling Riviera estate somehow.
Also BEWARE: When it comes time to give their recommendations of your child to the next school, they don't hold back any details. From how you, as parents, participated in fundraising and underwriting opportunities, to whether or not you have the Rolodex to connect the school to famous thought-leaders, to how much you volunteered time at event preparations, and how much you can publicly advocate on behalf of the school, they tell ALL.
And regarding your children, they share everything, too, including medical information (illegal) and details that might actually make your children look bad. Do you really want to place this power into someone else's hands?
There's an unbelievably high rate of teacher turnover; many are fresh out of college. And the ones who had "ins" at Harvard Westlake, Brentwood, and Marlborough are now gone. As are many wonderful families who decided they had had enough. We also decided to cut the chord. Though our first child graduated, we didn't want to repeat our mistakes with our second one.
