Why is private more popular in HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better college counseling

Why do people keep posting that you get into better colleges if you go public?

My local public high school would send 15-20% of the class to college. The private school I attended sent 100%. It creates a different environment.

Maybe, but that 15-20 going gets a huge bump in class rank where as the bottom 50% of the private end up being ranked in the bottom 50%. It doesn't matter for every school, but being in the top 20% or higher does matter for a lot of colleges.

[Anonymous]

I think it is because if you are in a public elementary and everything is going well, you assume your child is getting a good education. No one wants to put too much pressure on young children about education.

We realized around 4th grade that our child was no where near as far along as we thought they should be and then freaked out, feeling like time was flying by and worried that they wouldn't be ready for college. YMMV

[Anonymous]

The writing and critical thinking skills taught at a good private HS are vastly better. I don’t agree that college freshmen catch up after a semester. For me, it has took years if independent reading to know the literary and historical and philosophical references that my kids already know. (I went to a mediocre public HS and had a pre professional college major.) I also think that peer group matters, and that kids at private high schools have many more opportunities for extracurricular leadership.

[Anonymous]

It depends on what your objectives are.

If you think the ultimate and most important thing you get out of HS is to get accepted to the most prestigious college possible, then your best bet is either (a) Big 3 (which are the only private schools around here where school reputation carries any weight at all), (b) a magnet HS or program, or (c) one of the good (not not necessarily the top) public HS + lots of enrichment. (C) is the safest bet of those because of the scarcity of seats in (a) and (b). It is the path that will allow you kid to differentiate themself in the eyes of the colleges.

We chose none of the above, because college admissions is not what we’re trying to get out of HS. Our DC will be ultra-prepared for whatever college they go to. DC’s HS work is and has been very challenging from day 1. Even if their GPA suffers a bit compared to what it would have been otherwise and that means DC goes to a less prestigious college, I’m willing to let the college chips fall where they may and trust that DC will be better prepared than 95% of the class.

[Anonymous]

We were zoned for a really excellent elementary school in APS. The teachers were all top notch. I was just going through my kids' old school work and was really amazed by the assignments, their writing and the things they were doing back then. At the time, I knew it was above and beyond based on nieces/nephews in schools across the DMV--but didn't realize how much. Both of my kids were so far ahead when they arrived at Middle School. Then, we found the public middle school experience to be under-whelming. My oldest had horrible, horrible math teachers. There was very little writing. Looking at writing samples, they regressed from where they were at the end of elementary school/5th grade.

Also, we were disillusioned with the County and the lack of foresight to the high school crowding and direction. What was the real kicker was when my oldest took an Algebra Exemption exam for one of the private high schools in 7th grade after completing a year of Intensified Algebra I (which he appeared to breeze through and get all As)--and he scored a 58% on the exemption exam. Holy wtf? This was also after scoring very high on the math SOL. His writing (and the actual hand writing) had grown so poor at this point.

So--we enrolled him in a private HS where he is thriving and very excited about his teachers and course work. I was worried he might not have drive because by 8th grade he was doing very little, the bare minimum and pulling in all As and just didn't seem to care or be interested as much in school. What a difference Freshmen year, he would come home talking about teachers and courses and have the text book open on the table at dinner in front of him. He joined a bunch of Clubs which I never would have predicted. He always played a travel sport and continued in that sport at the high school.

The services and attention are night and day to what we experienced in APS. My spouse and I aren't involved at all because the school prides itself on making the students fully independent from the minute they start day 1 Freshmen year. He handles everything and I have never even seen assignments, don't have access to his Canvas and have never talked to a teacher or administrator. There is also a very heavy community service element that is built into the school. The values that are taught and the forming of a 'good person' were important to us.

I am also amazed at how the school prepares the students for college application time. Incredibly supportive and guiding with a plan rolled out that starts in 10th grade and follows them through 12th.

It is not a 'pressure cooker' environment with kids stressed out and taking 7 APs each year, but I feel the education is at such a deeper level and the transformation in his writing in this short time has been miraculous.

Covid and the talk of standards-based learning in public just reinforced how happy I am we made the switch for high school. 2 years in I have zero complaints or any faults with the school and neither does he. And, I am someone that can be pretty critical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The writing and critical thinking skills taught at a good private HS are vastly better. I don’t agree that college freshmen catch up after a semester. For me, it has took years if independent reading to know the literary and historical and philosophical references that my kids already know. (I went to a mediocre public HS and had a pre professional college major.) I also think that peer group matters, and that kids at private high schools have many more opportunities for extracurricular leadership.

So you're proud your kids can throw around philosophical references that they probably don't actually understand? Or are your kids actually reading real philosophy in high school? I can't imagine how miserable and unintelligible reading Kant or Hegel would been in high school and I was a philosophy major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The writing and critical thinking skills taught at a good private HS are vastly better. I don’t agree that college freshmen catch up after a semester. For me, it has took years if independent reading to know the literary and historical and philosophical references that my kids already know. (I went to a mediocre public HS and had a pre professional college major.) I also think that peer group matters, and that kids at private high schools have many more opportunities for extracurricular leadership.

Yeah, you career success is largely determined by the spectrum of your high school and college experience. The academic and social skills are hard to develop in just 4 years in a new town while you are also figuring out laundry and holding down a work study job and trying to catch up in a semester what others learned over 4 years.

I attended Princeton at the same time as Mellody Hobson, and I was listening on the radio about how she grew up poor and then went on into great success. I was very impressed and looked her up, and realized she went to a Catholic Prep school in Chicago. Over and over again, I look at folks LinkedIn or even my college paper facebook and high school matters. It sets you up with academic schools as well as how to interact culturally. Sometimes I find an outlier, who maybe just attended a magnet like Stuy, but then their parents are doctors who were Legacy. Publics here are probably better than I had, but I can see the supersized schools warehousing kids and focused on just getting kids through not getting them prepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because if you are in a public elementary and everything is going well, you assume your child is getting a good education. No one wants to put too much pressure on young children about education.

We realized around 4th grade that our child was no where near as far along as we thought they should be and then freaked out, feeling like time was flying by and worried that they wouldn't be ready for college. YMMV

We were so frustrated by our daughters reading skill, even worries she had deslexia or something, but testing showed she was ok and teachers kept saying she was on level. I guess on level is barely literate. We went private and things changed night and day, and she learned to spell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better college counseling

Why do people keep posting that you get into better colleges if you go public?

That's not what PP said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better college counseling

Why do people keep posting that you get into better colleges if you go public?

My local public high school would send 15-20% of the class to college. The private school I attended sent 100%. It creates a different environment.

Maybe, but that 15-20 going gets a huge bump in class rank where as the bottom 50% of the private end up being ranked in the bottom 50%. It doesn't matter for every school, but being in the top 20% or higher does matter for a lot of colleges.

Private schools don't usually rank the class. When you look at a college's common data set and see things like 90% of enrolled students were in the top 10% of their high school class, you also have to look at the number at the bottom that says only 32% of enrolled students submitted a class rank. It isn't a factor in admissions for most private school applicants because ranking doesn't make sense in that context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were zoned for a really excellent elementary school in APS. The teachers were all top notch. I was just going through my kids' old school work and was really amazed by the assignments, their writing and the things they were doing back then. At the time, I knew it was above and beyond based on nieces/nephews in schools across the DMV--but didn't realize how much. Both of my kids were so far ahead when they arrived at Middle School. Then, we found the public middle school experience to be under-whelming. My oldest had horrible, horrible math teachers. There was very little writing. Looking at writing samples, they regressed from where they were at the end of elementary school/5th grade.

Also, we were disillusioned with the County and the lack of foresight to the high school crowding and direction. What was the real kicker was when my oldest took an Algebra Exemption exam for one of the private high schools in 7th grade after completing a year of Intensified Algebra I (which he appeared to breeze through and get all As)--and he scored a 58% on the exemption exam. Holy wtf? This was also after scoring very high on the math SOL. His writing (and the actual hand writing) had grown so poor at this point.

So--we enrolled him in a private HS where he is thriving and very excited about his teachers and course work. I was worried he might not have drive because by 8th grade he was doing very little, the bare minimum and pulling in all As and just didn't seem to care or be interested as much in school. What a difference Freshmen year, he would come home talking about teachers and courses and have the text book open on the table at dinner in front of him. He joined a bunch of Clubs which I never would have predicted. He always played a travel sport and continued in that sport at the high school.

The services and attention are night and day to what we experienced in APS. My spouse and I aren't involved at all because the school prides itself on making the students fully independent from the minute they start day 1 Freshmen year. He handles everything and I have never even seen assignments, don't have access to his Canvas and have never talked to a teacher or administrator. There is also a very heavy community service element that is built into the school. The values that are taught and the forming of a 'good person' were important to us.

I am also amazed at how the school prepares the students for college application time. Incredibly supportive and guiding with a plan rolled out that starts in 10th grade and follows them through 12th.

It is not a 'pressure cooker' environment with kids stressed out and taking 7 APs each year, but I feel the education is at such a deeper level and the transformation in his writing in this short time has been miraculous.

Covid and the talk of standards-based learning in public just reinforced how happy I am we made the switch for high school. 2 years in I have zero complaints or any faults with the school and neither does he. And, I am someone that can be pretty critical.

This is almost exactly our experience!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The writing and critical thinking skills taught at a good private HS are vastly better. I don’t agree that college freshmen catch up after a semester. For me, it has took years if independent reading to know the literary and historical and philosophical references that my kids already know. (I went to a mediocre public HS and had a pre professional college major.) I also think that peer group matters, and that kids at private high schools have many more opportunities for extracurricular leadership.

So you're proud your kids can throw around philosophical references that they probably don't actually understand? Or are your kids actually reading real philosophy in high school? I can't imagine how miserable and unintelligible reading Kant or Hegel would been in high school and I was a philosophy major.

NP: Philosophy is a big part of Catholic high school religion classes, and also at schools where Latin is required. But they won't be reading Kant and Hegel because it's high school, not a college philosophy major. But yes, my kids understand the philosophers they are reading, discussing, debating, comparing, and learning about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is because if you are in a public elementary and everything is going well, you assume your child is getting a good education. No one wants to put too much pressure on young children about education.

We realized around 4th grade that our child was no where near as far along as we thought they should be and then freaked out, feeling like time was flying by and worried that they wouldn't be ready for college. YMMV

Agree. At least for some parents, they realize their kids aren’t thriving in the public environment so they seek out an alternative.

Also for some parents, their careers and earnings have progressed to the point where they can avoid private when the kids are older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Better college counseling

Why do people keep posting that you get into better colleges if you go public?

My local public high school would send 15-20% of the class to college. The private school I attended sent 100%. It creates a different environment.

Maybe, but that 15-20 going gets a huge bump in class rank where as the bottom 50% of the private end up being ranked in the bottom 50%. It doesn't matter for every school, but being in the top 20% or higher does matter for a lot of colleges.

Private schools don't usually rank the class. When you look at a college's common data set and see things like 90% of enrolled students were in the top 10% of their high school class, you also have to look at the number at the bottom that says only 32% of enrolled students submitted a class rank. It isn't a factor in admissions for most private school applicants because ranking doesn't make sense in that context.

Right, the "class rank" metric itself may not be most salient factor... but overall if you look at the matriculation for a private where X kids out of the class get into an Ivy, and Y kids into other high-ranked privates, and Z kids into top state schools like UVA. And then compare to publics, and the numbers aren't all that different. But at a public, the kid with similar aptitude and SAT scores and grades and so on is competing against a smaller pool of kids for those spots than they would be coming out of a private school.

[Anonymous]

For us, our DC just wasn't getting challenged in MS, despite taking all the advanced classes, and did not like things specific to our public HS (even though it is a very good HS).

I don't think it's true that class rank matters more if you come from an area public. Most of the good publics do not do class rank, either. But I thought both public and privates give info about the range of grades in the class and/or approximately where the student falls (e.g., top 10%, top 25%).