Would you switch a happy thriving kid from public?

[Anonymous]

He's better off at the public, OP. You can invest the money you'd had spent on a private and be even wealthier.

Private is for families who can't make public work, or who don't even notice the tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an elementary child who is perfectly happy and content at the local public. He has a lot of friends, is doing well in school and seems to be getting everything he needs from the local school. He attended a preschool that is a private school feeder so most of his former preschool classmates are attending various private schools in the DMV. We can easily afford private school. I can’t help but feel we are somehow hurting our child by sending him to public by not providing the best education we can give to him. He is the type of kid who would do well anywhere. He was very well liked in preschool and had is also well liked now in public. Our preschool had children of famous parents.

You gave away your actual concern in the last sentence. This isn't about the best education for your kid, but whether you think he'll be missing out not to hobnob with the children of wealthier parents.

We live in a wealthy area. The kids in our school are all UMC. My kid’s public school class has parents who are ivy educated, children of diplomats, lots of lawyers and doctors.

We definitely have some disruptive kids in the class. I suspect they may be on the spectrum and class sizes are bigger than I prefer. There is no shortage of bright kids in the class and grade.

We don’t get the individualized attention. At our preschool, there would be multiple socials to meet teachers and parents. We got pages of commentary about my child’s strengths and weaknesses. I felt like the teachers really knew my kid. In public, my kid gets good grades and we get two sentences that I’m pretty sure the teacher cut and paste for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
He's better off at the public, OP. You can invest the money you'd had spent on a private and be even wealthier.

Private is for families who can't make public work, or who don't even notice the tuition.

I wouldn’t say we won’t notice the tuition but we do have a seven figure HHI. The tuition costs would not affect us at all. We can afford it.

[Anonymous]

It would depend for me on the school you were considering. That said, we really miss the smaller classes at the private my DD attended. She was much more focused and had great relationships with the teachers. She's done well at her public magnet HS, but she misses the smaller environment. If you are going to switch him, do it now. The social scene at private is very different, and not for the better. But there is no perfect school.

[Anonymous]

Wait until MS at the earliest or HS. My kids did K-8 in public. The oldest is vying for valedictorian at his private HS.

[Anonymous]

I would love for my child to thrive in our good public school! To think what I could do with an extra $50K a year! Unfortunately my child needs smaller class sizes and more individual attention. We don’t do private to hang out with rich people! There are plenty of wealthy, influential people in our public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an elementary child who is perfectly happy and content at the local public. He has a lot of friends, is doing well in school and seems to be getting everything he needs from the local school. He attended a preschool that is a private school feeder so most of his former preschool classmates are attending various private schools in the DMV. We can easily afford private school. I can’t help but feel we are somehow hurting our child by sending him to public by not providing the best education we can give to him. He is the type of kid who would do well anywhere. He was very well liked in preschool and had is also well liked now in public. Our preschool had children of famous parents.

What does the last line have to do with anything?

I'm curious, what made you decide to go the public school route to begin with, since most of his preschool classmates went to private ones and money is not an issue? Has anything changed with that consideration?

My niece went to private k-12 b/c the publics in her area do not provide a good education. My best friend pulled her son out of private for public when he showed learning disabilities and the private is too small to offer meaningful help. The public school is actually better funded for students needing additional resources.

So it really depends.

We attended this preschool because it was close to our house and convenient, not for prestige. When we got there, we encountered some famous families. We never applied to any private schools when everyone else was because we are zoned for a really good public school district.

This cracks me up. This is DC not LA. Are we talking DC famous? You keep bringing it up, but really?

[Anonymous]

Depends on what your private options are.

[Anonymous]

You all are complete suckers. Troll.

[Anonymous]

Private 100%

[Anonymous]

Honestly you sound like a private school fangirl.

[Anonymous]

No. Don’t switch if your child is thriving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an elementary child who is perfectly happy and content at the local public. He has a lot of friends, is doing well in school and seems to be getting everything he needs from the local school. He attended a preschool that is a private school feeder so most of his former preschool classmates are attending various private schools in the DMV. We can easily afford private school. I can’t help but feel we are somehow hurting our child by sending him to public by not providing the best education we can give to him. He is the type of kid who would do well anywhere. He was very well liked in preschool and had is also well liked now in public. Our preschool had children of famous parents.

You gave away your actual concern in the last sentence. This isn't about the best education for your kid, but whether you think he'll be missing out not to hobnob with the children of wealthier parents.

We live in a wealthy area. The kids in our school are all UMC. My kid’s public school class has parents who are ivy educated, children of diplomats, lots of lawyers and doctors.

We definitely have some disruptive kids in the class. I suspect they may be on the spectrum and class sizes are bigger than I prefer. There is no shortage of bright kids in the class and grade.

We don’t get the individualized attention. At our preschool, there would be multiple socials to meet teachers and parents. We got pages of commentary about my child’s strengths and weaknesses. I felt like the teachers really knew my kid. In public, my kid gets good grades and we get two sentences that I’m pretty sure the teacher cut and paste for everyone.

That's not a difference between public and private, that's a difference between preschool and elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Of course. He’s thriving and happy because of his life as a whole not because of public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course. He’s thriving and happy because of his life as a whole not because of public school.

This.

OP, I don't know if you every look at the pubic school forums here, but most public schools are a hot mess. Lots of grade inflation, large class sizes, etc. Your child is young, and this is the time to make the switch and it sounds like money is not an issue for you. If private doesn't work out for whatever reason, you can always go back to public school or find another private school. But know that the reason you kid is doing well is not necessarily because he is bright. It may very well be that he is bright, but the school is not challenging him, likely because of equity. Leave now while it is an easy transition. It gets more difficult in the later years and they will fall behind with the lax curriculum.