Cons of private school?

[Anonymous]

If you are a private school parent, what are the cons of being at a private school? Aside from money Either something you knew going in, or something that surprised you? (Specifically interested in high school/middle school experience, but lower school info good too.) Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Smaller classes = more limited friend group
Tendency to have events in the middle of the work day
Long holiday breaks (can be pro or con)

I know somebody will say the kids are spoiled. IME the kids aren't bratty or rude but they do tend to be assertive in ways our public school friends are not. They are encouraged to ask for what they'd like - a break, another turn - and within reason they generally get it. That may be a pro or a con depending on where you sit when they're asking.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the school the class sizes can be really small. For example i just moved DC from a Middle School with a total class size of 21. DC really struggled socially because of it. We moved her to a bigger school with 3 classes of 8th graders school and she's much happier. Also, if the school is on the smaller size it's easy to attract too much attention for being different or getting corrections.

[Anonymous]

Warped perspective on the world wrt socioeconomic situations

[Anonymous]

Hi -- I have two: long holiday breaks and fewer school days than public, plus often kids live far from friends.

[Anonymous]

More spread out geographically

[Anonymous]

Your child is less likely to live near their friends.

Many of the students are very entitled and have a blinkered/very narrow world view.

If school is too small -limits social opportunities and is harder to find their tribe.

[Anonymous]

Wish I had dug a little deeper and realized how little they push the kids in math.

I stupidly went into this thinking that smaller class size means my kid gets a lot more attention than in public. Actually my kid is getting a little bit more attention, because all of the families are expecting their kid (and themselves as parents/consumers) to get a lot more attention than in public. I also stupidly thought that all the kids at our not-that-competitive private would be bright and have no major issues, when in fact many of them are at this school precisely *because* they need extra help and were falling behind.

[Anonymous]

How awkward it is that we can't really reciprocare the things DD gets invited to do (like, ski vacations to Colorado). I really am grateful that she is included and try to be a fun and caring house to visit and sleep over, but there's just no way we can afford what other parents are spending on my kid.

[Anonymous]

Holidays that aren't on my radar screen... Diwali, Eid, etc

[Anonymous]

One thing to consider, or a way to look at it, is the kid may ultimately be in the same job as others who went to public school the whole way through. I grew up locally and run into this.

[Anonymous]

Fewer opportunities. Our private is 90 kids per grade. Our public is 500 kids/grade. It's a lot easier to find enough kids to form a robotics club, debate team, or rowing team with 500 to choose from.

[Anonymous]

No mandate to innovate. Many teachers using approaches and texts that my grandmother probably used. In public school, compared to my DC's private school in grades 4-5, there's more groupwork, more independent work, more emphasis on writing in different genres, more rote work, and less feedback on written work than what my child is getting at private school. I'm shocked that with all that money for PD and such small classes to teach, there's so little innovation. Maybe this is just the one school--I certainly hope I am wrong and am wondering if our choice was the right one.

[Anonymous]

* Sorry--I don't know why I threw 'independent work' in there--that made no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holidays that aren't on my radar screen... Diwali, Eid, etc

Huh? I am on the PTA board at our public and we take note of those and other holidays when planning our events, and post a holiday greeting on our facebook page for each.