We were watching the news last night, and they had a story on my alma mater, Lisgar (two different links). It seems that, as with every year, there is an insane line-up for parents to register their children for admission to Lisgar. By "insane" I mean that this line-up competes with that of Future Shop on boxing day or previous Canadian Idol lineups. People start at like 4am or earlier to get there for the 8am opening because there are only 78 spaces! And, on the news, they showed people in TENTS in the dustbowl that we used as a field. TENTS!! One person even built a QUINZEE to stay amongst the tents! A QUINZEE!!
THIS IS RIDICULOUS, PEOPLE!! Granted, Lisgar is a good school. They have some good programs that are not offered elsewhere (notably, the strings). I admit that I would never have picked up a violin if not for Lisgar. Their English department is great, and I would not be such a stickler for the Oxford comma or the MLA format if I had gone to a different school. I would have to say, for the most part, that Lisgar is a relatively safe school. I remember in both my grade 9 and 10 years, there were stabbings at our rival school, Glebe. The worst that happened in grade 9 was a food fight. We did have our share of fights (one was brilliantly held on the nearby Department of National Defence grounds and of course was all on tape).
Yes, I am proud to say that I am a Lisgar alumna, but reeeaally. I think Lisgar's reputation has been just a *little* hyped up over its 160+ years. I know many Lisgar alumni that haven't turned out to be upstanding model citizens. I know some that really aren't doing much with their lives right now. So what's so special about Lisgar? We had our share of famous alumni, notably Adrienne Clarkson or Lorne Greene (to be fair, Peter Jennings never actually graduated - although his obituary did make the alumni newsletter).
In all fairness, I did spend all my high school years at Lisgar, so I can't really compare, but I doubt it was any less of a high school experience or education had I gone to another high school (except maybe the ones that are truly deplorable, like Rideau or something...hehe... j/k!). I mean, I've heard from people who changed schools and claimed to do less work and got 10-15% higher grades! What's up with that?! If I had gone to any other school and had way higher grades, I could've gotten more scholarships and had an easier time with university applications! Yeesh...
In sum, yes, Lisgar has its good points. It also has its downsides - my one major beef is that it is very academically-focused. Lisgar preps you for a great future in medicine, law, business, or engineering (the Asian dream). I was so sheltered in high school that I was never pushed to look beyond what was offered, which is why I was stuck in an economics major for 2 years. University is where your life options start to open up and it is then that the world is your oyster (whatever the heck that means). I suppose if I took into account my interest in all those 3rd language courses (which have since been cancelled, might I add), I could've figured that I'd have an interest in Linguistics, but hindsight is always 20/20. At least I've found a profession where I can put my interest in the nit-pickings of the English language and interest in other languages to good use.
To those parents camping out in the tents and quinzees on a snow-covered field... WoW. This may be the most important part of your kid's life to date, but really - your kid is only 12. High school shapes a student to a certain extent, but there's much that you can do as a parent to push your kid the way they do at Lisgar. I think post-secondary is the educational experience that really shapes a person (especially now that they start at like, 17!), and there's no need to line up with tents and quinzees for universities or colleges. Pick your battles.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS, PEOPLE!! Granted, Lisgar is a good school. They have some good programs that are not offered elsewhere (notably, the strings). I admit that I would never have picked up a violin if not for Lisgar. Their English department is great, and I would not be such a stickler for the Oxford comma or the MLA format if I had gone to a different school. I would have to say, for the most part, that Lisgar is a relatively safe school. I remember in both my grade 9 and 10 years, there were stabbings at our rival school, Glebe. The worst that happened in grade 9 was a food fight. We did have our share of fights (one was brilliantly held on the nearby Department of National Defence grounds and of course was all on tape).
Yes, I am proud to say that I am a Lisgar alumna, but reeeaally. I think Lisgar's reputation has been just a *little* hyped up over its 160+ years. I know many Lisgar alumni that haven't turned out to be upstanding model citizens. I know some that really aren't doing much with their lives right now. So what's so special about Lisgar? We had our share of famous alumni, notably Adrienne Clarkson or Lorne Greene (to be fair, Peter Jennings never actually graduated - although his obituary did make the alumni newsletter).
In all fairness, I did spend all my high school years at Lisgar, so I can't really compare, but I doubt it was any less of a high school experience or education had I gone to another high school (except maybe the ones that are truly deplorable, like Rideau or something...hehe... j/k!). I mean, I've heard from people who changed schools and claimed to do less work and got 10-15% higher grades! What's up with that?! If I had gone to any other school and had way higher grades, I could've gotten more scholarships and had an easier time with university applications! Yeesh...
In sum, yes, Lisgar has its good points. It also has its downsides - my one major beef is that it is very academically-focused. Lisgar preps you for a great future in medicine, law, business, or engineering (the Asian dream). I was so sheltered in high school that I was never pushed to look beyond what was offered, which is why I was stuck in an economics major for 2 years. University is where your life options start to open up and it is then that the world is your oyster (whatever the heck that means). I suppose if I took into account my interest in all those 3rd language courses (which have since been cancelled, might I add), I could've figured that I'd have an interest in Linguistics, but hindsight is always 20/20. At least I've found a profession where I can put my interest in the nit-pickings of the English language and interest in other languages to good use.
To those parents camping out in the tents and quinzees on a snow-covered field... WoW. This may be the most important part of your kid's life to date, but really - your kid is only 12. High school shapes a student to a certain extent, but there's much that you can do as a parent to push your kid the way they do at Lisgar. I think post-secondary is the educational experience that really shapes a person (especially now that they start at like, 17!), and there's no need to line up with tents and quinzees for universities or colleges. Pick your battles.
