High performing public schools vs private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Read a million of posts like this in the independent school forum. So many reasons to go private. If you are thinking the only benefit is a leg up for college, stay public, unless you are legacy to a top school your kid won't benefit in the college game.

Smaller class sizes
Better students - families more focused on education
More resources
More direct attention to your kid
Tailored learning programs
Better coaching (my kid is an artist and they brought resources from outside school to develop her talent)
Engaged teachers
Better parent community
Character development
Social development
More nurturing environment
More community events
And on and on and on

Lots of folks on this forum are only focused on college placement - these are not private school suitable families

When you pay $50k/year for private school tuition, you think of all sorts of justifications/rationalizations for why it's worth it. Case in point.

SMH

+1000. Know plenty of parents who pay private-school tuitions because they think they can offload more parenting to a private school and/or enjoy the conspicuous spending and potential prestige associated therewith.

then.

You actually know these people or you are bias against these people and push your perceptions? My guess is the latter and you have a combination if insecurity and jealousy. I say this as a parent who actually is in both communities. It is very rare to see what you are insinuating in private schools. It's much more common to see disengaged parents in public - yes, even at TJ where my DD attends. There are great parents in both school systems. Many of the bad or mediocre parents are weeded out of the private system by design.

LOL. And we've met obnoxious parents who announce years in advance that their kids will only attend either TJ or a private.

So you get a mix with a lot of privates - some snotty, helicopter parents and obvious social climbers; some parents just trying to offload their parenting to private-school administrators; and some who've genuinely concluded a private school would best meet their kid's needs.

[Anonymous]

Woodson is nowhere near as good as Langley.

Students that attend Langley because they can’t get into Potomac or Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is nowhere near as good as Langley.

Students that attend Langley because they can’t get into Potomac or Sidwell.

Or because their parents believe in public education.

But for academics, you might find better a parent community at McLean. Or you might not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were zoned for a high school such as Langley, Woodson, etc. do you think there's any benefit for going private for high school, aside from any religious aspect?

Nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is nowhere near as good as Langley.

Students that attend Langley because they can’t get into Potomac or Sidwell.

Or because their parents believe in public education.

But for academics, you might find better a parent community at McLean. Or you might not.

There you are! I was wondering how long it would take for the insecure McLean booster to show up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Read a million of posts like this in the independent school forum. So many reasons to go private. If you are thinking the only benefit is a leg up for college, stay public, unless you are legacy to a top school your kid won't benefit in the college game.

Smaller class sizes
Better students - families more focused on education
More resources
More direct attention to your kid
Tailored learning programs
Better coaching (my kid is an artist and they brought resources from outside school to develop her talent)
Engaged teachers
Better parent community
Character development
Social development
More nurturing environment
More community events
And on and on and on

Lots of folks on this forum are only focused on college placement - these are not private school suitable families

When you pay $50k/year for private school tuition, you think of all sorts of justifications/rationalizations for why it's worth it. Case in point.

SMH

+1000. Know plenty of parents who pay private-school tuitions because they think they can offload more parenting to a private school and/or enjoy the conspicuous spending and potential prestige associated therewith.

then.

You actually know these people or you are bias against these people and push your perceptions? My guess is the latter and you have a combination if insecurity and jealousy. I say this as a parent who actually is in both communities. It is very rare to see what you are insinuating in private schools. It's much more common to see disengaged parents in public - yes, even at TJ where my DD attends. There are great parents in both school systems. Many of the bad or mediocre parents are weeded out of the private system by design.

LOL. And we've met obnoxious parents who announce years in advance that their kids will only attend either TJ or a private.

So you get a mix with a lot of privates - some snotty, helicopter parents and obvious social climbers; some parents just trying to offload their parenting to private-school administrators; and some who've genuinely concluded a private school would best meet their kid's needs.

Thank you for confirming you are the latter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is nowhere near as good as Langley.

Students that attend Langley because they can’t get into Potomac or Sidwell.

Or because their parents believe in public education.

But for academics, you might find better a parent community at McLean. Or you might not.

There you are! I was wondering how long it would take for the insecure McLean booster to show up.

+1
The OP didn’t even mention McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better parent community? Character development? You must be joking. There's pros and cons to any school, but you can't make blanket statements like the above.

And on a different note, check out the private school forum and see how frustrated they are about having to pay for extra tutoring and how many privates restrict access to AP coursework to only those who have A grades, which would limit your kids' college opportunities.

Which public school have any resources to develop this (bolded)? My kid's private school make it a point to develop these. My other kids "top" public school does not. I have experience in both arenas. Do you?

I agree to check out the private schools forum. Education is not a one size fits all shoe. You, PP, stay public, you don't prioritize the same things. Clearly, private is not for you and you would be unhappy.

DP. For the "top" public high schools, they have active parent communities. Some private schools have good parent communities but oftentimes there are problems related to the small size and money and status. As for character development, there is more handholding in private schools, which is good for some students and not good for other students.

+1 We've moved in and out of the DMV area and have had experience with both public and private schools. I would never characterize private schools as having a superior parent community. Different perhaps, but not superior, and the good public schools have many parent and community events. As for character development, public schools as well as private schools teach kindness and resilience. I would argue that public school kids are generally a more diverse bunch and that kids can also learn by not being spoonfed everything the way they are in public school. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you were zoned for a high school such as Langley, Woodson, etc. do you think there's any benefit for going private for high school, aside from any religious aspect?

I have math and science children, so a huge no to privates. They cannot compete with the level and quality of classes my children have in their local FCPS.

I have a very math-y kid and a different kid that wants to be a vet and we're going private (zoned for Woodson). I know FCPS can offer more in the way of in-house math, but our private allows dual-enrollment so with a little bit of work my kid can still take linear algebra in high school if they want to be on that track. The science at our future private is very hands-on and they still offer a good number of AP science classes, though not maybe quite as many. Our future private does have science and math specialists in elementary to ensure the younger kids get a strong science and math education. My science-oriented kid is very much looking forward to more hands-on science experiments in ES. I think my oldest kid has done 2 in all of FCPS ES.

We value the stronger elementary education - it's just a fact that most privates knock the socks off of most publics in elementary, even small Catholic parish schools, except maybe math. We know that means the high school education will have a few fewer opportunities for science and math than FCPS, but the kids will hopefully be better prepared and I don't mind doing what it takes to get my kids DE if they need it to make up for where there are gaps in potential APs.

Pretty sure FCPS offers Dual-Enrollment, FWIW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better parent community? Character development? You must be joking. There's pros and cons to any school, but you can't make blanket statements like the above.

And on a different note, check out the private school forum and see how frustrated they are about having to pay for extra tutoring and how many privates restrict access to AP coursework to only those who have A grades, which would limit your kids' college opportunities.

Which public school have any resources to develop this (bolded)? My kid's private school make it a point to develop these. My other kids "top" public school does not. I have experience in both arenas. Do you?

I agree to check out the private schools forum. Education is not a one size fits all shoe. You, PP, stay public, you don't prioritize the same things. Clearly, private is not for you and you would be unhappy.

I'm not sure which public school you've been in, but aren't all the elementaries (and maybe middle/highs) doing positivity project? Our elem level kids get mountains of character development, both in those lessons and constantly being reinforced by the teachers (I volunteer in the classrooms and see it all the time!)

[Anonymous]

Each year more and more bullies and ADHD kids leave our public school for the privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Read a million of posts like this in the independent school forum. So many reasons to go private. If you are thinking the only benefit is a leg up for college, stay public, unless you are legacy to a top school your kid won't benefit in the college game.

Smaller class sizes
Better students - families more focused on education
More resources
More direct attention to your kid
Tailored learning programs
Better coaching (my kid is an artist and they brought resources from outside school to develop her talent)
Engaged teachers
Better parent community
Character development
Social development
More nurturing environment
More community events
And on and on and on

Lots of folks on this forum are only focused on college placement - these are not private school suitable families

I teach in a very expensive private school. I would not allow my own children to attend because of the entitled, arrogant, obnoxious student body. I don't think the parents are "better" either. Many of them are certainly oblivious to the fact that their children have ADHD or autism or some other disability and don't or won't get help for their kids. And our teachers are decent, but they seriously cannot control a classroom. I cannot tell you the number of classes that are wild. We have many fewer resources than public schools. But every school, public or private is different. You do you.

[Anonymous]

If I were lucky enough to be zoned for Langley or Woodson, there's no way I'd pay for private.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are paid less at private - you can figure out where the better teaching is….

[Anonymous]

My late father was the original researcher- compiled statistics, visited neighborhoods and parishes and surveyed colleagues (active duty military) and relatives to determine where exactly he should buy to put his DC in the best school district circa 1975. He even did his own study on FCPS v. Catholic schools.

He always said that he quickly determined that the FCPS of this era was far superior to any Catholic education, so that was an easy first choice and so he proudly decided to move to a modest house in a great FCPS HS pyramid.

All said, DH and I wanted same for our DC: enrolled oldest circa 2005 in FCPS. We fairly quickly became disillusioned and contend 2 decades later that we really should have sent DC to private for the now obvious, clear advantages.

So, if I had to do it all over, I’d send DC to private schools from pre-k-12. Private schools (generalizing here but very familiar with the local ones we all talk about here on dcum) have now surpassed FCPS in every academic standard. FCPS seems one experiment after another and is increasingly losing academic rigor to disciplinary and administrative issues.