What matters more- the parents or the school?
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Anonymous
Not necessarily. The majority of private schools have mediocre academics. The parents just want their kids away from the poors. There are highly rigorous private schools that you have to test into and have an exclusive admissions process, but that is not most. |
Anonymous
| Parents 100% matter more. This is why failing schools will still be failing schools no matter what the teachers do or how much money is thrown (wasted) at them. You just can’t. It’s the parents. Parents are the single most important factor in a child’s education. |
Anonymous
+1 definitely for ES. For HS, the school matters more- does it offer a wide range of advanced classes, extracurricular activities. motivated peer group. |
Anonymous
I agree with this completely, but the reason OP is asking is to try to decide whether, because "parents matter more," is it okay to send their kid to a crappy school? One thing that parents who care about education do is make sacrifices so that their children are in the best educational environments. This could mean private school. This could mean moving to a boring neighborhood in a good public school district. This could mean paying a lot and/or driving them to outside academic enrichment. This could mean scheduling and paying for tutors. This could mean spending hours every night sitting with them, reading together or talking about math problems or whatever else. It's not simply that wealthy parent = great outcome for the kid. It's that wealthy parents tend to care about the educational development of their kid, and they devote resources (time, money or both) to fostering that development. You can't skip the middle step. |
Anonymous
Yes, it is. In fact, they can benefit even more. “Crappy” schools often have tons of resources poured into them that are underutilized. Motivated kids can take advantage of this without any competition. My kids go to a crappy school and are doing amazingly well. They found some like-minded kids to be friends with, are helpful in class, and have developed a lot of empathy and tolerance. My 8th grader is in precalc- it has not hindered them academically in the least. The school does far more to get their academic needs met and challenged, through outside programs, if necessary, than a better performing public school or average private would be willing to do |
Anonymous
| You start with the local public and see if your kid does well and if so just stay public. |
Anonymous
LOL |
Anonymous
You laugh, but you do realize private school admissions at least for K-8 are much more about the parents than the kids, right? And not just about income levels (though yes, about that). |
Anonymous
| Parents have more of an impact for kids in the middle of the pack. For those on either end of the needs or abilities spectrum, the school has more of an impact. Choosing a private school is making a choice on both levels, parent and school. |
Anonymous
Disagree with this. The school is best for average kids. If your kid is well above or below average, then their needs fall back on the parent. The school can only accommodate do much outside of average. |
Anonymous
| Parents always matter more. Specifically, parental income and support of academics matters more. |
Anonymous
| School, but in all reality its the particular teacher your child has and are they a good fit. You can be at the best school with a bad teacher and it be a terrible experience. You can be at the worst school with a great teacher and it be a good experience. |
Anonymous
| Parents matter much more. As long as the school draws from families with good parents that care about education and manners and kindness and all that, it'll be fine. |
Anonymous
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Parents matter the most, but that doesn’t mean the school doesn’t matter.
A lot of families leave DCPS around middle school for this reason. |