Choosing public when you can afford private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that OP is looking for an argument to stay public if you can afford private and this is on a public school forum, however, we did not have a good experience with MCPS and it is not a universally awesome option. You have to know your child.

We moved to Bethesda because we believed what we were told: the BEST schools. That was not our experience at all. Kids stayed in public through ES, but moved to private for MS and HS. For our kids, public was a disaster and private was excellent. Of course it’s possible for a kid to get a great education/have a great experience in mcps, but the opposite is also true. We chose to forgo elaborate bar mitzvahs, big ticket vacations, and expensive summer camp for our kids so they could continue at private and that’s a choice our family feels good about.

We have friends who stayed. Some of their kids have had what appears to be a fantastic experience at mcps, but others very clearly have not. What’s interesting to me is that those who have not, twist themselves into knots trying to justify why they stayed.

Well aren't you smug.

Too bad your kids are so screwed up that they can't handle a good public school system and have to have their hands held in a private.

NP here. Maybe PP is smug, but you are clearly tightly wound.

That said, I thought I would chime in as I had one who did MCPS through middle school and one who did private all the way through.

The older one moved to private in 9th grade. He was well prepared in math, but sorely unprepared for English/writing. We all know that MCPS does a terrible job preparing our kids as writers and they suffer in college. Luckily we moved him to a private school that helped him become an excellent writer. He went to his dream college.

Younger one is in HS now, but she did private all the way through. First a small Catholic parochial and then an elite all girls HS. She is thriving. Luckily during covid, her middle school opened in September of 2020 and never closed. She didn't miss a beat. Her high school has very small classes (15-20 students) and keeps APs away from students until junior year. This keeps the stress level/competition down until they are more mature. She took many honors classes in the meantime, but by the time she graduates, she will have taken only 6 AP classes. This will still make her eligible for a T20 school as many who do the same curriculum matriculate to ivies and T20 schools. My older one had a similar experience (took 6 APs and got into a T20).

DD just learned she is in Cum Laude Society (private school version of NHS, but more selective). Cum Laude means top 10% of class. For my daughter's school, that's about 10 girls. Very exclusive and she will stand out on her college apps.

All in all, having experienced both MCPS and private schools, if I had to do it over again, I would have never enrolled my kids in MCPS. But we can easily afford private school now. That wasn't the case when my older son was in elementary school, which is why we did MCPS initially. So we didn't break the bank...we did what we could afford. Luckily MCPS was a bit better when my son attended...it has deteriorated since then.

Yea, you're the one blathering on and on on another thread about this society which is so "exclusive" that it has chapters in Ohio, Tennessee and New Jersey public high schools and a bunch of little Christian privates who nobody's ever heard of. So good for you.

We don't "all" think that writing skills aren't adequately taught at MCPS either. You don't speak for "all" of us.

And plenty of kids are getting into top colleges from MCPS without throwing their money away on privates and thinking they're better than everybody else.

Again, if your kids need their hands held that much it's not the school system's fault. Some kids are just of hardier stock than others. Maybe it's the parenting. Who knows.

Wait, what public schools are members of Cum Laude? I think none..certainly none from New Jersey. The most elite private schools are members. Take a look if you are interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cum_Laude_Society_chapters

Why is this a noteworthy thing? All schools have NHS, Cum Laude Society , or some other types of group/award that acknowledges the top 5-10% of students. What’s the brag here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that OP is looking for an argument to stay public if you can afford private and this is on a public school forum, however, we did not have a good experience with MCPS and it is not a universally awesome option. You have to know your child.

We moved to Bethesda because we believed what we were told: the BEST schools. That was not our experience at all. Kids stayed in public through ES, but moved to private for MS and HS. For our kids, public was a disaster and private was excellent. Of course it’s possible for a kid to get a great education/have a great experience in mcps, but the opposite is also true. We chose to forgo elaborate bar mitzvahs, big ticket vacations, and expensive summer camp for our kids so they could continue at private and that’s a choice our family feels good about.

We have friends who stayed. Some of their kids have had what appears to be a fantastic experience at mcps, but others very clearly have not. What’s interesting to me is that those who have not, twist themselves into knots trying to justify why they stayed.

Well aren't you smug.

Too bad your kids are so screwed up that they can't handle a good public school system and have to have their hands held in a private.

NP here. Maybe PP is smug, but you are clearly tightly wound.

That said, I thought I would chime in as I had one who did MCPS through middle school and one who did private all the way through.

The older one moved to private in 9th grade. He was well prepared in math, but sorely unprepared for English/writing. We all know that MCPS does a terrible job preparing our kids as writers and they suffer in college. Luckily we moved him to a private school that helped him become an excellent writer. He went to his dream college.

Younger one is in HS now, but she did private all the way through. First a small Catholic parochial and then an elite all girls HS. She is thriving. Luckily during covid, her middle school opened in September of 2020 and never closed. She didn't miss a beat. Her high school has very small classes (15-20 students) and keeps APs away from students until junior year. This keeps the stress level/competition down until they are more mature. She took many honors classes in the meantime, but by the time she graduates, she will have taken only 6 AP classes. This will still make her eligible for a T20 school as many who do the same curriculum matriculate to ivies and T20 schools. My older one had a similar experience (took 6 APs and got into a T20).

DD just learned she is in Cum Laude Society (private school version of NHS, but more selective). Cum Laude means top 10% of class. For my daughter's school, that's about 10 girls. Very exclusive and she will stand out on her college apps.

All in all, having experienced both MCPS and private schools, if I had to do it over again, I would have never enrolled my kids in MCPS. But we can easily afford private school now. That wasn't the case when my older son was in elementary school, which is why we did MCPS initially. So we didn't break the bank...we did what we could afford. Luckily MCPS was a bit better when my son attended...it has deteriorated since then.

Yea, you're the one blathering on and on on another thread about this society which is so "exclusive" that it has chapters in Ohio, Tennessee and New Jersey public high schools and a bunch of little Christian privates who nobody's ever heard of. So good for you.

We don't "all" think that writing skills aren't adequately taught at MCPS either. You don't speak for "all" of us.

And plenty of kids are getting into top colleges from MCPS without throwing their money away on privates and thinking they're better than everybody else.

Again, if your kids need their hands held that much it's not the school system's fault. Some kids are just of hardier stock than others. Maybe it's the parenting. Who knows.

Wait, what public schools are members of Cum Laude? I think none..certainly none from New Jersey. The most elite private schools are members. Take a look if you are interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cum_Laude_Society_chapters

Look more closely at your list, my friend. Cherry Hill East High School, the 77th best PUBLIC high school in New Jersey, is on the list.

An anomaly. Seems like a pretty exclusive list to me!

Yea, you're right. Anderson High School is the 12th best public school in the Cincinnati area, Byram Hills the 38th best public in the NYC Metro, and Collierville is the fourth best public school in Memphis. My bad.

Do we even know if this list is legit? The cum laude website doesn’t list its chapters so there is no way to know if this is accurate. Around here there seems to be only high performing private schools.

It's legit. You can find the chapters right on each school's individual website. Sorry to burst your bubble. 500 chapters doesn't make anything "elite."

Look, I don't mean to sidetrack the thread. But it's really annoying when somebody gets on a public school thread where the question is "why are you still here when you can afford private" to say they're NOT here and instead brag about their private school kid being in some "elite" society. I had to call it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that OP is looking for an argument to stay public if you can afford private and this is on a public school forum, however, we did not have a good experience with MCPS and it is not a universally awesome option. You have to know your child.

We moved to Bethesda because we believed what we were told: the BEST schools. That was not our experience at all. Kids stayed in public through ES, but moved to private for MS and HS. For our kids, public was a disaster and private was excellent. Of course it’s possible for a kid to get a great education/have a great experience in mcps, but the opposite is also true. We chose to forgo elaborate bar mitzvahs, big ticket vacations, and expensive summer camp for our kids so they could continue at private and that’s a choice our family feels good about.

We have friends who stayed. Some of their kids have had what appears to be a fantastic experience at mcps, but others very clearly have not. What’s interesting to me is that those who have not, twist themselves into knots trying to justify why they stayed.

1. Privates do not perform higher than public in 95% of the cases and definitely not in the DMV.
2. No one is twisting themselves into justifying why they stayed with public. We have some of the best publics in this country the DMV. Why are red states always at the bottom for public education? Anyone with a brain knows why.
3. It is financially stupid to pay for private if your kid can go to public as long as there is no glaring reason they need a private that specializes in some learning disability. Even that publics do a dam good job.
4. I am the 1% of course my kids went to public school I raised them to understand why we have public education.
5. Religious privates are especially egregious in many states they don't even have to follow basic requirements. Families that do those and send their kids to schools like Liberty University have not educated their kids to the best education which is a failure of those parents.

Well aren't you smug.

Too bad your kids are so screwed up that they can't handle a good public school system and have to have their hands held in a private.

NP here. Maybe PP is smug, but you are clearly tightly wound.

That said, I thought I would chime in as I had one who did MCPS through middle school and one who did private all the way through.

The older one moved to private in 9th grade. He was well prepared in math, but sorely unprepared for English/writing. We all know that MCPS does a terrible job preparing our kids as writers and they suffer in college. Luckily we moved him to a private school that helped him become an excellent writer. He went to his dream college.

Younger one is in HS now, but she did private all the way through. First a small Catholic parochial and then an elite all girls HS. She is thriving. Luckily during covid, her middle school opened in September of 2020 and never closed. She didn't miss a beat. Her high school has very small classes (15-20 students) and keeps APs away from students until junior year. This keeps the stress level/competition down until they are more mature. She took many honors classes in the meantime, but by the time she graduates, she will have taken only 6 AP classes. This will still make her eligible for a T20 school as many who do the same curriculum matriculate to ivies and T20 schools. My older one had a similar experience (took 6 APs and got into a T20).

DD just learned she is in Cum Laude Society (private school version of NHS, but more selective). Cum Laude means top 10% of class. For my daughter's school, that's about 10 girls. Very exclusive and she will stand out on her college apps.

All in all, having experienced both MCPS and private schools, if I had to do it over again, I would have never enrolled my kids in MCPS. But we can easily afford private school now. That wasn't the case when my older son was in elementary school, which is why we did MCPS initially. So we didn't break the bank...we did what we could afford. Luckily MCPS was a bit better when my son attended...it has deteriorated since then.

Yea, you're the one blathering on and on on another thread about this society which is so "exclusive" that it has chapters in Ohio, Tennessee and New Jersey public high schools and a bunch of little Christian privates who nobody's ever heard of. So good for you.

We don't "all" think that writing skills aren't adequately taught at MCPS either. You don't speak for "all" of us.

And plenty of kids are getting into top colleges from MCPS without throwing their money away on privates and thinking they're better than everybody else.

Again, if your kids need their hands held that much it's not the school system's fault. Some kids are just of hardier stock than others. Maybe it's the parenting. Who knows.

Wait, what public schools are members of Cum Laude? I think none..certainly none from New Jersey. The most elite private schools are members. Take a look if you are interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cum_Laude_Society_chapters

Look more closely at your list, my friend. Cherry Hill East High School, the 77th best PUBLIC high school in New Jersey, is on the list.

An anomaly. Seems like a pretty exclusive list to me!

Yea, you're right. Anderson High School is the 12th best public school in the Cincinnati area, Byram Hills the 38th best public in the NYC Metro, and Collierville is the fourth best public school in Memphis. My bad.

Do we even know if this list is legit? The cum laude website doesn’t list its chapters so there is no way to know if this is accurate. Around here there seems to be only high performing private schools.

It's legit. You can find the chapters right on each school's individual website. Sorry to burst your bubble. 500 chapters doesn't make anything "elite."

Look, I don't mean to sidetrack the thread. But it's really annoying when somebody gets on a public school thread where the question is "why are you still here when you can afford private" to say they're NOT here and instead brag about their private school kid being in some "elite" society. I had to call it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Science and math are not up to par in private schools. If your kid is gifted in these areas, some public schools are better (not all).

This. Very true, and for this reason never considered private, even though we, like many, could easily afford it. Private school friends were way behind in math upon graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the MCPS magnet programs are far more academically rigorous than DC area privates, and they're free of charge. SO there's that.

were.

They still are. You still get the advanced math and heavy science classes with some great teachers that private schools are not even close to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that OP is looking for an argument to stay public if you can afford private and this is on a public school forum, however, we did not have a good experience with MCPS and it is not a universally awesome option. You have to know your child.

We moved to Bethesda because we believed what we were told: the BEST schools. That was not our experience at all. Kids stayed in public through ES, but moved to private for MS and HS. For our kids, public was a disaster and private was excellent. Of course it’s possible for a kid to get a great education/have a great experience in mcps, but the opposite is also true. We chose to forgo elaborate bar mitzvahs, big ticket vacations, and expensive summer camp for our kids so they could continue at private and that’s a choice our family feels good about.

We have friends who stayed. Some of their kids have had what appears to be a fantastic experience at mcps, but others very clearly have not. What’s interesting to me is that those who have not, twist themselves into knots trying to justify why they stayed.

Well aren't you smug.

Too bad your kids are so screwed up that they can't handle a good public school system and have to have their hands held in a private.

NP here. Maybe PP is smug, but you are clearly tightly wound.

That said, I thought I would chime in as I had one who did MCPS through middle school and one who did private all the way through.

The older one moved to private in 9th grade. He was well prepared in math, but sorely unprepared for English/writing. We all know that MCPS does a terrible job preparing our kids as writers and they suffer in college. Luckily we moved him to a private school that helped him become an excellent writer. He went to his dream college.

Younger one is in HS now, but she did private all the way through. First a small Catholic parochial and then an elite all girls HS. She is thriving. Luckily during covid, her middle school opened in September of 2020 and never closed. She didn't miss a beat. Her high school has very small classes (15-20 students) and keeps APs away from students until junior year. This keeps the stress level/competition down until they are more mature. She took many honors classes in the meantime, but by the time she graduates, she will have taken only 6 AP classes. This will still make her eligible for a T20 school as many who do the same curriculum matriculate to ivies and T20 schools. My older one had a similar experience (took 6 APs and got into a T20).

DD just learned she is in Cum Laude Society (private school version of NHS, but more selective). Cum Laude means top 10% of class. For my daughter's school, that's about 10 girls. Very exclusive and she will stand out on her college apps.

All in all, having experienced both MCPS and private schools, if I had to do it over again, I would have never enrolled my kids in MCPS. But we can easily afford private school now. That wasn't the case when my older son was in elementary school, which is why we did MCPS initially. So we didn't break the bank...we did what we could afford. Luckily MCPS was a bit better when my son attended...it has deteriorated since then.

Yea, you're the one blathering on and on on another thread about this society which is so "exclusive" that it has chapters in Ohio, Tennessee and New Jersey public high schools and a bunch of little Christian privates who nobody's ever heard of. So good for you.

We don't "all" think that writing skills aren't adequately taught at MCPS either. You don't speak for "all" of us.

And plenty of kids are getting into top colleges from MCPS without throwing their money away on privates and thinking they're better than everybody else.

Again, if your kids need their hands held that much it's not the school system's fault. Some kids are just of hardier stock than others. Maybe it's the parenting. Who knows.

Wait, what public schools are members of Cum Laude? I think none..certainly none from New Jersey. The most elite private schools are members. Take a look if you are interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cum_Laude_Society_chapters

Why is this a noteworthy thing? All schools have NHS, Cum Laude Society , or some other types of group/award that acknowledges the top 5-10% of students. What’s the brag here?

NHS honors a much wider group of kids. I believe it is based on a gpa limit that varies school to school. It could end up top 30%+ depending on the level of grade inflation, which has been rampant at MCPS.

[Anonymous]

I’m in upper NWDC, not Moco, but can provide some perspective as my kids have been in both highly rated public and highly regarded private. My neighborhood is about 1/2 public and 1/2 private.

There are some families that only ever plan to send their kids to private. These lifers won’t tell you why. It’s like if you need to ask you’ll never know. These people skew wealthy and full pay. You don’t have the lifer mentality because you asked this question.

There are some families that put their kids into one or the other for specific reasons - kid has some anxiety and does better in a small more nurturing environment; sports focus; special needs; acceleration. These people you can talk to because they will tell you their reasons. They will also admit one on one that private school is elitist but they do it anyway because it’s better for their particular kid.

There are some newer money, maybe people call them strivers, who go for the highest rated private they can get into because they assume it must be better. It’s so expensive and the people they aspire to be send their kids to private.

I’m in the middle group. I’ve made some generalizations of course.

There are a lot of cons to private (besides money) the big ones being living in a privileged bubble, kids not having neighborhood friends and having to drive them all over to see their friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m in upper NWDC, not Moco, but can provide some perspective as my kids have been in both highly rated public and highly regarded private. My neighborhood is about 1/2 public and 1/2 private.

There are some families that only ever plan to send their kids to private. These lifers won’t tell you why. It’s like if you need to ask you’ll never know. These people skew wealthy and full pay. You don’t have the lifer mentality because you asked this question.

There are some families that put their kids into one or the other for specific reasons - kid has some anxiety and does better in a small more nurturing environment; sports focus; special needs; acceleration. These people you can talk to because they will tell you their reasons. They will also admit one on one that private school is elitist but they do it anyway because it’s better for their particular kid.

There are some newer money, maybe people call them strivers, who go for the highest rated private they can get into because they assume it must be better. It’s so expensive and the people they aspire to be send their kids to private.

I’m in the middle group. I’ve made some generalizations of course.

There are a lot of cons to private (besides money) the big ones being living in a privileged bubble, kids not having neighborhood friends and having to drive them all over to see their friends.

You forgot people who choose private for religious reasons. Many Catholics would never send their kid to a public school and only Catholic schools. That's us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in upper NWDC, not Moco, but can provide some perspective as my kids have been in both highly rated public and highly regarded private. My neighborhood is about 1/2 public and 1/2 private.

There are some families that only ever plan to send their kids to private. These lifers won’t tell you why. It’s like if you need to ask you’ll never know. These people skew wealthy and full pay. You don’t have the lifer mentality because you asked this question.

There are some families that put their kids into one or the other for specific reasons - kid has some anxiety and does better in a small more nurturing environment; sports focus; special needs; acceleration. These people you can talk to because they will tell you their reasons. They will also admit one on one that private school is elitist but they do it anyway because it’s better for their particular kid.

There are some newer money, maybe people call them strivers, who go for the highest rated private they can get into because they assume it must be better. It’s so expensive and the people they aspire to be send their kids to private.

I’m in the middle group. I’ve made some generalizations of course.

There are a lot of cons to private (besides money) the big ones being living in a privileged bubble, kids not having neighborhood friends and having to drive them all over to see their friends.

You forgot people who choose private for religious reasons. Many Catholics would never send their kid to a public school and only Catholic schools. That's us.

Fair enough. My experience is with secular very expensive private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately because of MAGA morons public will be destroyed in the near future. By 2028.

Only the 1% will get educated.

I just set up funds for our nieces and nephews to go to privates that are not religious.

Cost will be over $100,000 per kid by the time Repukes are done with their plans to disolve education and the US.

And for God's sake do not have any more children.

OP is asking about K-12 schools in Montgomery County, MD. These schools, including all those in the DMV are governed by Ds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the topic of safety, I’m curious why this topic was shut down so quickly by one of the PPs here, in response to another PP saying shootings motivated her friend to choose private.

I’m all for going to a local public to save money and build community.

But we KNOW that school shootings are far more likely to happen at a public school (9-10x as likely, per the Cato Institute and Washington Post’s latest reporting). In the last few years, Bethesda Today magazine has regularly reported (weekly!) allegations of unsafe classrooms, bomb threats, and lockdowns. This must do a real number on kids’ and parents’ mental health. And it’s getting worse, not better, nationally.

Can someone explain why this isn’t a valid case for private?

NP. "Valid" for some parents maybe, but I don't find it persuasive. School shootings are incredibly rare at any kind of school, bomb threats are almost universally hoaxes, and lockdowns are mostly the unnecessary result of hyper vigilance, rather than an actual safety issue. The real dangers in a K-12 classroom are things like bullying which you'll find at both kinds of schools.

+1.

Thinking you're insulated from random acts of violence because you pay for school (likely in a building that's far less monitored and regulated) is silly. No one is safe, but people like to feel as if they have control. School shooting are more common in public schools, but by no means "do not occur" in private schools.

What kind of school did you attend that failed to teach your statsitics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in upper NWDC, not Moco, but can provide some perspective as my kids have been in both highly rated public and highly regarded private. My neighborhood is about 1/2 public and 1/2 private.

There are some families that only ever plan to send their kids to private. These lifers won’t tell you why. It’s like if you need to ask you’ll never know. These people skew wealthy and full pay. You don’t have the lifer mentality because you asked this question.

There are some families that put their kids into one or the other for specific reasons - kid has some anxiety and does better in a small more nurturing environment; sports focus; special needs; acceleration. These people you can talk to because they will tell you their reasons. They will also admit one on one that private school is elitist but they do it anyway because it’s better for their particular kid.

There are some newer money, maybe people call them strivers, who go for the highest rated private they can get into because they assume it must be better. It’s so expensive and the people they aspire to be send their kids to private.

I’m in the middle group. I’ve made some generalizations of course.

There are a lot of cons to private (besides money) the big ones being living in a privileged bubble, kids not having neighborhood friends and having to drive them all over to see their friends.

You forgot people who choose private for religious reasons. Many Catholics would never send their kid to a public school and only Catholic schools. That's us.

Fair enough. My experience is with secular very expensive private.

DCUM does not count Catholic schools as “private.” So far as they’re concerned a school like Burke is by definition better than a school like Georgetown Prep or the Abbey regardless of every objective data point saying the contrary. It’s an anti-Catholic thing. Very odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in upper NWDC, not Moco, but can provide some perspective as my kids have been in both highly rated public and highly regarded private. My neighborhood is about 1/2 public and 1/2 private.

There are some families that only ever plan to send their kids to private. These lifers won’t tell you why. It’s like if you need to ask you’ll never know. These people skew wealthy and full pay. You don’t have the lifer mentality because you asked this question.

There are some families that put their kids into one or the other for specific reasons - kid has some anxiety and does better in a small more nurturing environment; sports focus; special needs; acceleration. These people you can talk to because they will tell you their reasons. They will also admit one on one that private school is elitist but they do it anyway because it’s better for their particular kid.

There are some newer money, maybe people call them strivers, who go for the highest rated private they can get into because they assume it must be better. It’s so expensive and the people they aspire to be send their kids to private.

I’m in the middle group. I’ve made some generalizations of course.

There are a lot of cons to private (besides money) the big ones being living in a privileged bubble, kids not having neighborhood friends and having to drive them all over to see their friends.

You forgot people who choose private for religious reasons. Many Catholics would never send their kid to a public school and only Catholic schools. That's us.

Fair enough. My experience is with secular very expensive private.

DCUM does not count Catholic schools as “private.” So far as they’re concerned a school like Burke is by definition better than a school like Georgetown Prep or the Abbey regardless of every objective data point saying the contrary. It’s an anti-Catholic thing. Very odd.

DP - there's considerable variation in quality among religious schools and, of course, secular private schools. Prep and Stone Ridge has more in common with Sidwell than it does with Holy Child, but the religious aspect is, to someone not religious like me, a relevant distinction, particularly if religion is the primary motivating factor behind seeking non-public education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that OP is looking for an argument to stay public if you can afford private and this is on a public school forum, however, we did not have a good experience with MCPS and it is not a universally awesome option. You have to know your child.

We moved to Bethesda because we believed what we were told: the BEST schools. That was not our experience at all. Kids stayed in public through ES, but moved to private for MS and HS. For our kids, public was a disaster and private was excellent. Of course it’s possible for a kid to get a great education/have a great experience in mcps, but the opposite is also true. We chose to forgo elaborate bar mitzvahs, big ticket vacations, and expensive summer camp for our kids so they could continue at private and that’s a choice our family feels good about.

We have friends who stayed. Some of their kids have had what appears to be a fantastic experience at mcps, but others very clearly have not. What’s interesting to me is that those who have not, twist themselves into knots trying to justify why they stayed.

I’m usually mostly interested and humored by those twisting themselves in knots trying to justify why they are paying so much for private or in what ways it’s better that justify the increased cost.

I honestly think if people paid more taxes to the tune of half the cost of private school kids public schools would be even better and no one would bat an eye.

Having done both, the main difference of private is that it’s a selected group of students and families. Based upon that and the cost it should be worlds better but often isn’t. The marketing is awesome though.

I’m the PP you are responding to. One of the big upsides for private was accountability, communication, and independence to change course if something isn’t working for the community. Both kids were in private when Covid hit and we were so impressed with how our kids’ schools handled that really challenging time.

Their day to day experience is very different (better) than what their day to day would look like in the schools we are zoned for. For us, private is the best choice even if by strictly financial or ROI arguments suggest otherwise. I’m not twisting myself into a knot defending our decision because it’s the very clear best option for our family. Your kid might be doing great at your zones HS and that’s awesome. Ours wasn’t going to work.

Private isn’t right for all. Some are pretty terrible. Some are awesome. Kids are different. Families prioritize different things. The families that I mentioned who try to rationalize their decision to stay public are very vocal about how much they loathe mcps. They are people who also opted to join a CC or routinely go on lavish vacations so I know private is within their means. They’ve just made different decisions for their family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get that OP is looking for an argument to stay public if you can afford private and this is on a public school forum, however, we did not have a good experience with MCPS and it is not a universally awesome option. You have to know your child.

We moved to Bethesda because we believed what we were told: the BEST schools. That was not our experience at all. Kids stayed in public through ES, but moved to private for MS and HS. For our kids, public was a disaster and private was excellent. Of course it’s possible for a kid to get a great education/have a great experience in mcps, but the opposite is also true. We chose to forgo elaborate bar mitzvahs, big ticket vacations, and expensive summer camp for our kids so they could continue at private and that’s a choice our family feels good about.

We have friends who stayed. Some of their kids have had what appears to be a fantastic experience at mcps, but others very clearly have not. What’s interesting to me is that those who have not, twist themselves into knots trying to justify why they stayed.

I’m usually mostly interested and humored by those twisting themselves in knots trying to justify why they are paying so much for private or in what ways it’s better that justify the increased cost.

I honestly think if people paid more taxes to the tune of half the cost of private school kids public schools would be even better and no one would bat an eye.

Having done both, the main difference of private is that it’s a selected group of students and families. Based upon that and the cost it should be worlds better but often isn’t. The marketing is awesome though.

I’m the PP you are responding to. One of the big upsides for private was accountability, communication, and independence to change course if something isn’t working for the community. Both kids were in private when Covid hit and we were so impressed with how our kids’ schools handled that really challenging time.

Their day to day experience is very different (better) than what their day to day would look like in the schools we are zoned for. For us, private is the best choice even if by strictly financial or ROI arguments suggest otherwise. I’m not twisting myself into a knot defending our decision because it’s the very clear best option for our family. Your kid might be doing great at your zones HS and that’s awesome. Ours wasn’t going to work.

Private isn’t right for all. Some are pretty terrible. Some are awesome. Kids are different. Families prioritize different things. The families that I mentioned who try to rationalize their decision to stay public are very vocal about how much they loathe mcps. They are people who also opted to join a CC or routinely go on lavish vacations so I know private is within their means. They’ve just made different decisions for their family.

I am not sure exactly what you are thinking of but I’m a PP who could afford private if we had to. But my oldest in particular is a twice exceptional, profoundly gifted but SN child. We literally cannot identify a private that anyone thinks would be a good fit for them. I may not go into detail about how brilliant my kid is when talking to you but the reason I am so frustrated with some of the boneheaded decisions MCPS made (especially during the pandemic, god!!) is there really isn’t a great alternative for my child in the DMV. It’s not always about $.

We may eventually move our other child to a private. There are options that might be able to work for them, with just the regular downsides of private.