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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
Baltimore - Bnos Yisroel v Bais Yaakov
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mommalah




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 12:30 am
Ok, can anyone please tell me if you agree with the assumption that Bais Y is more academic than Bnos. From what I've heard, Bnos's focus is on developing middos and being a good person and that BY has that but that they are more academic oriented. Now we all know that most of the teachers in both schools aren't secularly educated with real teaching degrees and such, so how does this work? Please enlighten me my fellow Baltimorons.

BTW, all this is based on things acquaintances have mentioned to me. Don't know any of it for a fact.
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amother


 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 12:36 am
I heard this same thing years ago when B'nos first opened. We have since moved away, so I don't know where each school is holding now, however.
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amother


 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 1:23 am
baltimorons!!!!! Rolling Laughter
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amother


 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 1:27 am
all I know is that my cousin who is switching from bnos to bais yaakov needs a tutpr this summer so she can catch up.

I was in bais yaakov and also in schools in NY and I can tell you that bais yaakov is really not that academic either. NY schools are much tougher
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amother


 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 8:22 am
we are sending to Bnos this year and the impression we got is that when initially bnos was started, it was less academic bec. they were attracting kids with more "issues." but now that they are more mainstream, it seems like they are upping the academic level. the parents of young kids we spoke to in the school felt that the academic level was very high and they have curriculum coordinators working very hard to keep moving up in that regard.
both schools are working very hard to attract kids and realize what the other one has to offer and therefore, BY has added more "middos" stuff and Bnos has added more academic stuff.
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energy11




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 8:46 am
I had daughters in both.
Unfortunately I didn't like those schools.
Bnos supposedly works on Middos but as of today, based on what I hear from few friends, lots of girls are real snobby and bully others terribly.
Please check it out!

As of Beis yaacok, more friendly as of the kids, but some teachers have arrogant atitudes.
My kids always complained of the teachers yelling all day long.

Lots of parents homeschool in Baltimore, due to their dissatisfaction from the Baltimorons schools.
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amother


 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 10:10 am
mommalah wrote:
Ok, can anyone please tell me if you agree with the assumption that Bais Y is more academic than Bnos. From what I've heard, Bnos's focus is on developing middos and being a good person and that BY has that but that they are more academic oriented. Now we all know that most of the teachers in both schools aren't secularly educated with real teaching degrees and such, so how does this work? Please enlighten me my fellow Baltimorons.

BTW, all this is based on things acquaintances have mentioned to me. Don't know any of it for a fact.


Wait a minute - I teach at the BY, and we are required to be certified teachers. My girls have gotten an excellent education there, and we are NOT "Baltimorons."
BTW, I am only amother because I don't want to be "outed."
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mommalah




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 10:34 am
amother wrote:
mommalah wrote:
Ok, can anyone please tell me if you agree with the assumption that Bais Y is more academic than Bnos. From what I've heard, Bnos's focus is on developing middos and being a good person and that BY has that but that they are more academic oriented. Now we all know that most of the teachers in both schools aren't secularly educated with real teaching degrees and such, so how does this work? Please enlighten me my fellow Baltimorons.

BTW, all this is based on things acquaintances have mentioned to me. Don't know any of it for a fact.


Wait a minute - I teach at the BY, and we are required to be certified teachers. My girls have gotten an excellent education there, and we are NOT "Baltimorons."
BTW, I am only amother because I don't want to be "outed."


What type of certification do you have?
Please don't take offense at the term I used above. All in good humor.
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amother


 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 12:42 pm
OK, mammalah. Sorry - you caught me in the middle of back to school planning. I have a bachelors in education. We actually had to turn in a transcript and a diploma before being hired. I'm not sure if that's always been the case - this is my fourth year. Me and my girls have been happy here - it's a very "yecky" type school - you're expected to do things "just so", and not everybody likes it, but we've been happy.
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Hashem_Yaazor




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 12:45 pm
My sister has been trying to get a job teaching (with a bachelor's degree), but Bais Yaakov told her they prefer teachers to have experience (this was chol, not kodesh, if that makes any difference).
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Tova




 
 
    
 

Post Mon, Aug 23 2010, 2:34 pm
I got a teaching job in BY high school right out of seminary (but I was an alumna and it was a "minor" once a week subject - parsha to two classes).
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purity




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Sep 21 2016, 9:58 pm
my older daughter was bored to tears academically at Bnos so we sent our younger daughter to Bais Yaakov. She is also really smart, BH. I can't say that it is super challenging for her, but she is not at all bored. Bnos was extraordinarily warm and heimish, but my younger daughter feels completley happy and excited about school and has mostly had really great teachers.
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amother
Slategray


 

Post Wed, Jan 30 2019, 8:09 pm
I know this is old-but I wanted to revive this thread to ask mothers again their impression of both Bnos and Bais Yaakov now in 2019.

Where does Bnos hold academically? What kind of families and students are there ? Impressions?

As for Bais Yaakov- are the academics overly stressful as the girls get older? Impressions?

Thanks!
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amother
Teal


 

Post Wed, Jan 30 2019, 11:16 pm
Bais Yaakov is more academic than Bnos Yisroel, but still does not compare to the more challenging NY schools in terms of rigor.

Actually I am very satisfied with my children’s BY experience thus far, aside from the fact that it is not academic enough to my liking ;-).

That being said, my children are still in elementary school.
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amother
Fuchsia


 

Post Thu, Jan 31 2019, 8:38 am
I went to Bais Yaakov and now send my daughter to Bnos Yisroel. Both are good schools but different. We chose bnos for the individualized attention and warmth. Bais Yaakov is huge now (which is good for some and bad for others) with 7+ parallel classes. My kids are very bright and I figured my daughter would be bored in either school, so I figured at least let my daughter love school and learn and not have the added stress/pressure. Bais Yaakov is more academic and has a lot of pressure. It works for some, doesn't for others. Bnos used to attract the weaker kids who were falling through the cracks in Bais Yaakov, but not any longer. It's very hard to get in to Bnos as they only take 40 kids per grade. My daughter is still in preschool, but I absolutely love Bnos.
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amother
Rose


 

Post Thu, Jan 31 2019, 8:53 am
I wrote a whole post about this last night but thought twice and deleted it. I'll write it again.

My teenager is in Bnos high school. Last night was their production. I drove 2 BY high schoolers there and back, my daughters best friend and her friend. The BY production was 2 weeks ago, so on the way home, all 3 girls were comparing them. The BY girls explained that at BY, there is a hierarchy of "coolness" to the different aspects of their production. There are well over 100 girls in each grade, compared to Bnos with about 100 girls in the entire high school. So the BY girls were explaining that to get into the more desired parts of their production, you need to be friends with the heads or the head teachers, or the head teacher's daughters. Some girls who are very talented MAY get the good parts, but they said its well known that thats not how it works. My daughter, with pride in her voice, said that at Bnos, its so small that there ARE no cool girls, and each girl counts, which is why she loves it there. Each girl had to participate in multiple aspects of production. The BY girls commented that it was so nice that each choir had a real space on the stage and could be SEEN. The BY production was in the same space and it was very crowded and not pleasant. [I][u] Were all of the performers good? No. Were all of the soloists good? No. Did each girl shine? YES. It was a night that was inspiring and we all left on such a high (and no holocaust/shidduch/marriage in the play! It was a mechaya!)

The theme of each girl counting is major for Bnos. Its so small, yet they make sure to be everything for everyone. In fact, Bnos has received high acclaim not just in the frum school sector but in the national spot light, for their science program in cooperation with NIH (see this https://baltimorejewishlife.co.....64007). A number of years ago, two girls asked the school for MORE in terms of science. So they made a call to a local doctor who made a call to a frum person at NIH who said that he had BEEN WAITING FOR THIS CALL FOR YEARS. Now, the girls have a full program working along side scientists in the labs. Where else does this happen?

And I'll say this as well, in terms of the so called academic vigor that BY prides itself on. Yes, they are at a high level. I have friends who send their girls to BY and the girls are very stressed out all the time because of the high level of work that they need to do. But WHY? Where are these girls going after high school? SOME may go to University of MD. A few. The majority dont. I was a student at Maalot a few years ago (I went back to finish my degree) and for two years I sat in classes there with Bnos and BY grads. So where did all of that high stress work get them? Right next to their Bnos peers. Was it worth all that stress? And let me tell you, I could tell who had gone to BY and who had gone to Bnos. I've even told Bnos that the girls at Maalot from Bnos were much more menchlich to the teachers than the By girls.

Look. Both are really good schools. But when you are a factory like BY is, you lose that personal touch. BY IS A GOOD SCHOOL but in my opinion, it leaves much to be desired. Every girl needs to matter, which is why we love Bnos. They are small and are staying small intentionally.
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mommy27




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 31 2019, 9:22 pm
I have girls at BY and I just couldn't let that be the last post since it seemed so disparaging of the girls production without the mother having been there or witnessed what went into it. It was a great performance, with plenty of "uncool" kids getting parts and participating. I also know that the administration tries their best to get all the students involved. Ok, it's a big school, so you get a smaller spotlight on the stage? This should not be the focus of how you make a big decision. There will always be tradeoffs between a small and a big school and you should concentrate on what really matters. Small schools also have cliques and the uncool kids, by the way, and I should know, since my whole high school when I graduated was about 100 kids and even my class of less than 20 had its groups.

I think everyone should just be happy that Baltimore has 2 excellent girls schools that each shine in their own ways. Bnos is small and has the NIH program, plus probably more that I don't know about. BY is big and has a STEM program and science and robotics clubs. I send to BY and am happy with it, but had circumstances been different, I would be equally happy with Bnos (I have good friends and relatives with girls there too).
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amother
Chocolate


 

Post Thu, Jan 31 2019, 11:00 pm
I completely agree with mommy27. Ive had four girls go through BY and while it hasn't been perfect, no school really is perfect, is it? My girls have gotten great educations and each has had their own separate social experience. With so many girls, everybody can find their niche. My quieter girls have found small groups of close friends, and the social butterflies have had positive experiences. There are cliques, of course, but that's high school. As for Bnos being small, they won't accept past 2 classes per grade, which is why BY is so big. Personally, I would love to see a third option open up.
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Rubber Ducky




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jan 31 2019, 11:38 pm
Darchei Noam Montessori has been adding grades and goes through 6th grade now. There are separate boys and girls classes from 1st grade up. Still a small school.
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amother
Brown


 

Post Thu, Jan 31 2019, 11:55 pm
I dont have girls in either school. I went to the BY production because it was at a more convenient time than the bnos production. It was beautiful and seemed like everyone got to be in a dance or choir.
I think there is a benefit to being challenged accademically. Firstly it pushes the girls to work hard which is a great lifeskill. It creates the need for self discipline amd working hard towards something. A child shouldnt be under too much pressure, but for those who can handle it, there is an advantage of it over going through an entire childhood without having to exert much effort.
40 girls in a grade is hardly "small". Im sure each class has groups/clicks.
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