Want to Hear from Parents Who Live In Excellent Public School Districts But Chose Private Instead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeez, the way people talk on this thread makes it sound like no one can be successful coming from a public school. That simply is not true. Yes, public schools include those that are destined for non-college jobs, but they also include those that are destined for politics, law, medicine, etc.

At the rate public schools are deteriorating and the overcrowding in the remaining decent ones, it will become harder and harder for kids to be successful unless they and their parents are motivated and spend a ton of money on extracurriculars and or tutoring to get ahead.

That’s B.S.

Why?! Because you can’t afford private? Too cheap to spend money on private? Or you have your head so far up your ass you can’t see that a classroom with 20+ kids is not one in which kids can thrive and develop skills necessary for the tech dominated society that lies ahead for these kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeez, the way people talk on this thread makes it sound like no one can be successful coming from a public school. That simply is not true. Yes, public schools include those that are destined for non-college jobs, but they also include those that are destined for politics, law, medicine, etc.

At the rate public schools are deteriorating and the overcrowding in the remaining decent ones, it will become harder and harder for kids to be successful unless they and their parents are motivated and spend a ton of money on extracurriculars and or tutoring to get ahead.

That’s B.S.

Why?! Because you can’t afford private? Too cheap to spend money on private? Or you have your head so far up your ass you can’t see that a classroom with 20+ kids is not one in which kids can thrive and develop skills necessary for the tech dominated society that lies ahead for these kids.

Do you hear yourself? Geez, take a break. Your post is at least as ridiculous as the one to which you are responding.

[Anonymous]

Both of our kids are in private.
DD started school when we lived in Silver Spring and didn't feel too comfortable with sending her public w/o immersion. Now we are in Bethesda and when it came time to apply for high school we asked her what she wanted and she said she wanted to stay private so we did that.
We were already in Bethesda when DS was starting school and the plan had been for him to go public but he has certain special needs that we felt would be better attended to in certain privates.
I was private and DH was public so we were always comfortable with/knowing of both.
Both kids have neighborhood friends as well so it doesn't feel as if they're missing out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neighbors who do this (MoCo, W cluster) do it because:
- family 1: wanted a religion-based education, always planned to go private
- family 2: special needs kid, just felt like private was a better fit; never planned to go private
- family 3: status/want to show off money; have several kids, all in different privates and travel sports; probably always planned to go private
- family 4: both parents teach at the same private school, tuition is covered and it's convenient; would switch to public if the circumstances changed

Not your neighbor but also in Bethesda. Add this:
Family 5: kids turned off by rote “multiple choice” teaching, lack of discipline and rowdiness in classrooms, overcrowded schools where kids felt like “numbers,” ridiculous curriculum with known mistakes not corrected, teachers who can’t spell, etc., etc. The “best” public’s are not at all like the publics we attended years ago.

[Anonymous]

Our school district is great if you don’t have special needs. Opted private for one and public for the other. For us, private school for one of our kids borders on a medical necessity so we don’t consider it a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeez, the way people talk on this thread makes it sound like no one can be successful coming from a public school. That simply is not true. Yes, public schools include those that are destined for non-college jobs, but they also include those that are destined for politics, law, medicine, etc.

At the rate public schools are deteriorating and the overcrowding in the remaining decent ones, it will become harder and harder for kids to be successful unless they and their parents are motivated and spend a ton of money on extracurriculars and or tutoring to get ahead.

That’s B.S.

Why?! Because you can’t afford private? Too cheap to spend money on private? Or you have your head so far up your ass you can’t see that a classroom with 20+ kids is not one in which kids can thrive and develop skills necessary for the tech dominated society that lies ahead for these kids.

Why?
Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.
But your head is so far up your ass, you can't even see that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

TJ

[Anonymous]

Not many kids in the DC area are actually enrolled in TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

Just take a look at the Intel scholars and any other math and science winners. The vast majority are from public schools.
Here is this year intel/Regeneron scholars. Only one from a private school in the DC area.
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2018-scholars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

Just take a look at the Intel scholars and any other math and science winners. The vast majority are from public schools.
Here is this year intel/Regeneron scholars. Only one from a private school in the DC area.
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2018-scholars

As many may have already stated (haven't read through the posts), unless your DC is extremely gifted or one who has a serious special need, he or she will likely fly under the radar in public school. The majority of students do not have the ability to excel like those in the link, including my DS, who is very bright but not a superstar student. His private school gives him the ability to shine in other ways, not to mention the smaller class sizes, religious education, and network for life. These are things that can never be offered in a public school environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

Just take a look at the Intel scholars and any other math and science winners. The vast majority are from public schools.
Here is this year intel/Regeneron scholars. Only one from a private school in the DC area.
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2018-scholars

As many may have already stated (haven't read through the posts), unless your DC is extremely gifted or one who has a serious special need, he or she will likely fly under the radar in public school. The majority of students do not have the ability to excel like those in the link, including my DS, who is very bright but not a superstar student. His private school gives him the ability to shine in other ways, not to mention the smaller class sizes, religious education, and network for life. These are things that can never be offered in a public school environment.

Also forgot to mention one reason public school students are majority is a sheer numbers game. You are pitting a much larger population against a very small group of students comparing public vs private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

Just take a look at the Intel scholars and any other math and science winners. The vast majority are from public schools.
Here is this year intel/Regeneron scholars. Only one from a private school in the DC area.
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2018-scholars

As many may have already stated (haven't read through the posts), unless your DC is extremely gifted or one who has a serious special need, he or she will likely fly under the radar in public school. The majority of students do not have the ability to excel like those in the link, including my DS, who is very bright but not a superstar student. His private school gives him the ability to shine in other ways, not to mention the smaller class sizes, religious education, and network for life. These are things that can never be offered in a public school environment.

Also forgot to mention one reason public school students are majority is a sheer numbers game. You are pitting a much larger population against a very small group of students comparing public vs private.

Agree. I just looked at the list quickly Not that many form TJ for all of the hoopla around that school (I saw 3, there may be more). Compare that the the Harker School in San Jose (a private school). It had more. I also saw plenty of other private schools. First, this is only one list and second, I think the maybe DC private schools do not focus as much on stem as, say, the Silicon Valley private schools. If you did a national comparison, comparing the relative numbers at those schools, I would imagine private stacks up nicely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

Just take a look at the Intel scholars and any other math and science winners. The vast majority are from public schools.
Here is this year intel/Regeneron scholars. Only one from a private school in the DC area.
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2018-scholars

As many may have already stated (haven't read through the posts), unless your DC is extremely gifted or one who has a serious special need, he or she will likely fly under the radar in public school. The majority of students do not have the ability to excel like those in the link, including my DS, who is very bright but not a superstar student. His private school gives him the ability to shine in other ways, not to mention the smaller class sizes, religious education, and network for life. These are things that can never be offered in a public school environment.

Also forgot to mention one reason public school students are majority is a sheer numbers game. You are pitting a much larger population against a very small group of students comparing public vs private.

Agree. I just looked at the list quickly Not that many form TJ for all of the hoopla around that school (I saw 3, there may be more). Compare that the the Harker School in San Jose (a private school). It had more. I also saw plenty of other private schools. First, this is only one list and second, I think the maybe DC private schools do not focus as much on stem as, say, the Silicon Valley private schools. If you did a national comparison, comparing the relative numbers at those schools, I would imagine private stacks up nicely.

Nope, private schools do not stack up nicely against public schools when it comes to math, science and technology.
The Harker School has 4, TJ has 7.
Some other privates have 1 or two, but the majority are from the public schools. Many from MD public schools : Blair (11), Centennial, Poolesville, Whitman, Churchill etc..
It’s a known fact that public schools dominate the STEM field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would I pay money for an inferior product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.

I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.

Just take a look at the Intel scholars and any other math and science winners. The vast majority are from public schools.
Here is this year intel/Regeneron scholars. Only one from a private school in the DC area.
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2018-scholars

As many may have already stated (haven't read through the posts), unless your DC is extremely gifted or one who has a serious special need, he or she will likely fly under the radar in public school. The majority of students do not have the ability to excel like those in the link, including my DS, who is very bright but not a superstar student. His private school gives him the ability to shine in other ways, not to mention the smaller class sizes, religious education, and network for life. These are things that can never be offered in a public school environment.

Also forgot to mention one reason public school students are majority is a sheer numbers game. You are pitting a much larger population against a very small group of students comparing public vs private.

Agree. I just looked at the list quickly Not that many form TJ for all of the hoopla around that school (I saw 3, there may be more). Compare that the the Harker School in San Jose (a private school). It had more. I also saw plenty of other private schools. First, this is only one list and second, I think the maybe DC private schools do not focus as much on stem as, say, the Silicon Valley private schools. If you did a national comparison, comparing the relative numbers at those schools, I would imagine private stacks up nicely.

Nope, private schools do not stack up nicely against public schools when it comes to math, science and technology.
The Harker School has 4, TJ has 7.
Some other privates have 1 or two, but the majority are from the public schools. Many from MD public schools : Blair (11), Centennial, Poolesville, Whitman, Churchill etc..
It’s a known fact that public schools dominate the STEM field.

Dp, if you are so interested in stem, you surely realize that to have a meaningful comparison, one would need to look at what percentage of the overall private school students population place at top competitions vs. what percentage of overall public school school student population. Given that the demoninator for the later is so much larger, the argument you are currently making is ridiculous.