Obama's girls are enrolling

After reading that President-elect Obama's two daughters were going to attend Sidwell Friends school, I thought "great!" After all, that's my "alma mater."

When I attended Sidwell in Bethesda, Md., it was known as "Longfellow School." In 1963, it became a second campus for Sidwell Friends, which was founded in the District of Columbia in 1883. For many years, the school has appealed to Washington's upper crust. Chelsea Clinton went there. Joe Biden's grandchildren are now students as well.

So how did I end up in such a prestigious school?

In the late 1950s, my family moved from Long Beach to Bethesda. Before that time, I thought school was a piece of cake. I had coasted my way through the fifth and sixth grades. A distorted view of educator John Dewey's philosophy was in vogue during that time in California. This meant we didn't do much reading or memorization. The belief was that children could learn by "dramatic play." For example, instead of going to the library to expand our microscopic minds, we built little wagons, made broomstick guns and funky-looking 19th century clothes. Then we would go out on the playground and pretend we were pioneers crossing the plains.

No doubt that was fun, but it certainly did not prepare me for what was coming next at North Bethesda Junior High School.

The parents in this community (where the average education was a masters degree) were not interested in "dramatic play." The objective was quite simple. That was to get their offspring into the most prestigious universities. For D.C. suburbanites, that meant no institutions outside of the New England/New York/Washington corridor.

Needless to say, my first report card in this new environment was not exactly Harvard material. My mother did not understand the difference in philosophies between the two worlds. She blamed me for "goofing off." I got the lecture of a lifetime that seemed to last for hours. Obviously, this did not magically accelerate my skills out of the "experiential" sandbox. It only made my anxiety worse.

Later, I suggested that a private school might be more appropriate. The student/teacher ratio at Longfellow was only 8:1. A friend of mine, with a similar background, was going there and doing quite well. My father was not keen on the idea, as it was quite a financial sacrifice. The cost was $1,000 per year, without room and board, which in those days, was no paltry sum (a full ride at UOP was $3,000).

The school was not excited about taking me since I scored two years behind on the entrance achievement test (the exact amount of time I had spent in Long Beach.) However, I was accepted on a probationary basis.

The place had a different culture as compared to public schools. The social prominence of many kids had been established for several generations. Not all were in this category, however. Some were less fortunate than I. Two had lost their fathers and were being supported by struggling, hard-working mothers. Some came from high-ranking military or political families.

I did not find the wealthier kids to be "snobs," as one might assume. However, they did have a sense of entitlement. It was known that if they performed reasonably well on the academic scale, their connected families would assure future successes.

Was a private education from an exclusive school better than a public one? I liked the smaller classes and the cohesiveness of the comparatively small school. No doubt it was superior to what was happening in Long Beach at the time. But to assume that educational standards were better than Washington suburban public schools was open to question. That's why I left for Walter Johnson High School in my senior year.

Certainly, "education for the masses" did not hurt commentator Cal Thomas, who graduated from the same public high school. Nor someone else who was attending the neighboring Montgomery Blair High School during that same time period: Ben Stein.

Steve Hansen is a Lodi writer.

Reader Feedback

dyan wrote on Dec 8, 2008 9:01 PM:

" You're probably speakin' Greek to that boy. "

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Bob Loblaw wrote on Dec 8, 2008 2:28 PM:

" Does this ring a bell? 'Buehler? Buehler? Buehler?...... (he was the teacher).

He also co-hosted 'Win Ben Stein's Money' along with Jimmy Kimmel. "

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Scrutiny wrote on Dec 5, 2008 3:17 PM:

" Ben Stein served in the Reagan administration and now does political commentary/comedy. "

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If Sidwell Friends School is so selective, how did I end up going there?

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