How many of you send your kids to private school versus public?

[Anonymous]

I'm the product of a good midwestern public school system, as is my husband, and we both turned out well - got into good colleges (not ivy) and got good jobs. We're comfortable with the idea of public school. If our daughter turned out to have special needs or other needs that couldn't be met in the public school system, we'd consider private, but we're hoping that we'll be just fine with the public schools in Arlington. (currently in Fairfax but the commute to DC is making me cranky.)

[Anonymous]

I live in Alexandria City and there are 5 or 6 elementary schools that I would not send my son too. We'll be moving hopefully in a few months. If we happen to find the perfect home in a not-so-good school district then we'll start in private. Although we would go private the way of catholic school and not country day schools or the $20k + each year schools.

[Anonymous]

A small private (i.e., not the $30 - $35,000 schools everyone on here talks about). I'm in MoCo and just didn't feel the large classes would be good for my elementary-aged child. We might go public when he hits middle school. Definitely for high school. I'm generally very pro-public. I just felt I had to do what was best for my particular child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DCPS elementary -is- one of the 3 or 4 best but we still chose private.

I hate, with every fiber of my being, what NCLB has done to the "curriculum" and the general school day, even in supposedly awesome districts like the 2 that people are always telling us to move into so we can "save that tuition money for ___".

It's worse in DCPS, of course, where you have gigantic disparity among the student body and so all (curricular and instructional) attention is paid -- appropriately -- to the kids who need the most assistance. However after a lot of study and discussion, I'm not wowed by what's going on at the elementary level in my neighboring districts, either. [I feel different about H.S., though]

So yeah, we opted out.

*Sigh* I feel the exact same way. I hate that a parent like me, who should be the core of the public school support, is forced to go private not to get the blue blood experience but to get a non pressure cooker environment where the children develop a love of learning. DCPS seems like a punishment to kids to me, not a way to foster learning. That said, my child is very young. We are trying to get involved with our schools in order to see what we can do to strengthen them and help undo the damage of NCLB. We'll see.

I appreciate your tone but even so this kind of statement is just so offensive.

I am doing everything I can to support public schools but I will not send my child into the NCLB environment as it is because I believe it sucks the fun out of learning. I believe homework for little kids is unacceptable. I believe that school becomes a chore for many kids. If your kids love school, or don't feel that way, then my statement should seem inaccurate to you, or maybe irrelevant to your school, but I don't get how my opinion is offensive. I believe it, unfortunately. If you disagree, please tell me why. I would love to hear some things that change my mind; and not just things about one school, something that speaks to all or at least most DCPS. But I will say I've investigated the situation and do not feel optimistic I'm going to hear much to change my mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DCPS elementary -is- one of the 3 or 4 best but we still chose private.

I hate, with every fiber of my being, what NCLB has done to the "curriculum" and the general school day, even in supposedly awesome districts like the 2 that people are always telling us to move into so we can "save that tuition money for ___".

It's worse in DCPS, of course, where you have gigantic disparity among the student body and so all (curricular and instructional) attention is paid -- appropriately -- to the kids who need the most assistance. However after a lot of study and discussion, I'm not wowed by what's going on at the elementary level in my neighboring districts, either. [I feel different about H.S., though]

So yeah, we opted out.

*Sigh* I feel the exact same way. I hate that a parent like me, who should be the core of the public school support, is forced to go private not to get the blue blood experience but to get a non pressure cooker environment where the children develop a love of learning. DCPS seems like a punishment to kids to me, not a way to foster learning. That said, my child is very young. We are trying to get involved with our schools in order to see what we can do to strengthen them and help undo the damage of NCLB. We'll see.

I appreciate your tone but even so this kind of statement is just so offensive.

I am doing everything I can to support public schools but I will not send my child into the NCLB environment as it is because I believe it sucks the fun out of learning. I believe homework for little kids is unacceptable. I believe that school becomes a chore for many kids. If your kids love school, or don't feel that way, then my statement should seem inaccurate to you, or maybe irrelevant to your school, but I don't get how my opinion is offensive. I believe it, unfortunately. If you disagree, please tell me why. I would love to hear some things that change my mind; and not just things about one school, something that speaks to all or at least most DCPS. But I will say I've investigated the situation and do not feel optimistic I'm going to hear much to change my mind.

Well, for starters, how many DCPS schools have you visited? How many classes have you sat in on? How many students have you spoken with? You are saying that you think DCPS parents are punishing their children and that they don't care about learning. This in an offensive opinion.

It's offensive b/c the idea that those of us choosing DCPS are punishing our kids is offensive. People are doing the best they can and clearly there are a lot of people who don't feel thi

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS - because its a very good school system and we have a very good elementary school, ms and hs. I bought a house specifically to take advantage of good public schools. I like knowing kids in my neighborhood that go to the public school in my neighborhood. Neither my husband nor I went to private school, and, frankly, I am uncomfortable with the gobs of money crowd that exists in many (not all) private schools as well as certain subsets of helicopter moms (and to a lesser extent, dads) that appear to be more prevalent in private schools.

This is stereotyping, you know. You mean like the helicopter parents who call their kid's teacher to ask why their kindergartener wasn't assigned to the advanced math group? This is what my friends with kids in our local MCPS school did!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because they are so much better than public schools in many cases. I feel that you get what you pay for.

Depends on your school district. Remember for public schools, you DO pay through your taxes and your neighbor who has no kids pays too so that your kids don't grow up to be ignorant fools that think public school operates on 0 budget.

[Anonymous]

Public and supplement with us as parents helping/teaching in any way our children need. We'd prefer to pay for college and graduate school as no one cares where you went to k-12 once you are older, but they do care about college and graduate school. The best "gift" I can teach my child is about how to spend money wisely (and earn) and getting them through school as debt free as possible so they can do the same for their children and start saving for retirement right after they graduate as we did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public and supplement with us as parents helping/teaching in any way our children need. We'd prefer to pay for college and graduate school as no one cares where you went to k-12 once you are older, but they do care about college and graduate school. The best "gift" I can teach my child is about how to spend money wisely (and earn) and getting them through school as debt free as possible so they can do the same for their children and start saving for retirement right after they graduate as we did.

This works best when the children are young, but as your children get older, it'll be more difficult and you may reassess. In order to get into a great college, it helps to be in a high school that will prep your children for college. Many parents I know are just not equipped to prep their children the way that private schools can with regard to course preparation, school activities, and college counseling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public and supplement with us as parents helping/teaching in any way our children need. We'd prefer to pay for college and graduate school as no one cares where you went to k-12 once you are older, but they do care about college and graduate school. The best "gift" I can teach my child is about how to spend money wisely (and earn) and getting them through school as debt free as possible so they can do the same for their children and start saving for retirement right after they graduate as we did.

This works best when the children are young, but as your children get older, it'll be more difficult and you may reassess. In order to get into a great college, it helps to be in a high school that will prep your children for college. Many parents I know are just not equipped to prep their children the way that private schools can with regard to course preparation, school activities, and college counseling.

Not the PP. But there are public high schools capable of prepping kids for college. My high school was. And there are also private schools that are not great. It really depends on the individual school.

[Anonymous]

I went to both - including an excellent private school for half of middle and all of high school and though I got a great education, there were downsides that were not as prevelant in public schools (wealth etc.).

We are definitely doing public for elementary as we have access to a great school and classes are reasonably small (this year's K has 17 kids per class) and will reassess for middle school. We have magnet program options for high school if we are still in this area.

It really depends on the kid. I thrived in private school setting's small classes but my husband would have thrived anywhere, and did so in public schools. We both went to great colleges and have fulfulling careers. It will come to benefits vs. costs for us, and of course, financial reality. Parents are still the biggest influencers - provided the school is at least decent and safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to both - including an excellent private school for half of middle and all of high school and though I got a great education, there were downsides that were not as prevelant in public schools (wealth etc.).

We are definitely doing public for elementary as we have access to a great school and classes are reasonably small (this year's K has 17 kids per class) and will reassess for middle school. We have magnet program options for high school if we are still in this area.

It really depends on the kid. I thrived in private school setting's small classes but my husband would have thrived anywhere, and did so in public schools. We both went to great colleges and have fulfulling careers. It will come to benefits vs. costs for us, and of course, financial reality. Parents are still the biggest influencers - provided the school is at least decent and safe.

sorry - spelled prevalent wrong!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public and supplement with us as parents helping/teaching in any way our children need. We'd prefer to pay for college and graduate school as no one cares where you went to k-12 once you are older, but they do care about college and graduate school. The best "gift" I can teach my child is about how to spend money wisely (and earn) and getting them through school as debt free as possible so they can do the same for their children and start saving for retirement right after they graduate as we did.

This works best when the children are young, but as your children get older, it'll be more difficult and you may reassess. In order to get into a great college, it helps to be in a high school that will prep your children for college. Many parents I know are just not equipped to prep their children the way that private schools can with regard to course preparation, school activities, and college counseling.

This is just silly. The majority of students in colleges (even top schools) are products of public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS - because its a very good school system and we have a very good elementary school, ms and hs. I bought a house specifically to take advantage of good public schools. I like knowing kids in my neighborhood that go to the public school in my neighborhood. Neither my husband nor I went to private school, and, frankly, I am uncomfortable with the gobs of money crowd that exists in many (not all) private schools as well as certain subsets of helicopter moms (and to a lesser extent, dads) that appear to be more prevalent in private schools.

This is stereotyping, you know. You mean like the helicopter parents who call their kid's teacher to ask why their kindergartener wasn't assigned to the advanced math group? This is what my friends with kids in our local MCPS school did!

That's in fact NOT what I meant, as I think advocating for your child to be properly educated is something that a public school parent may need to do MORE of not less than a private school parent, given larger class sizes and a more one-size fits all approach. But yes, it was stereotyping, which is why I had the caveats "appear to be more prevalent" and "certain subsets" of helicopter parenting. Helicopter parenting as a whole, I think, is more prevalent in this area, regardless of public vs. private, but I think private may have it more in some schools for some subsets. I am just giving my impression and why I chose public. Whether that is an empirically accurate impression is wholly beside the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS seems like a punishment to kids to me, not a way to foster learning. That said, my child is very young. We are trying to get involved with our schools in order to see what we can do to strengthen them and help undo the damage of NCLB. We'll see.

I appreciate your tone but even so this kind of statement is just so offensive.

I am doing everything I can to support public schools but I will not send my child into the NCLB environment as it is because I believe it sucks the fun out of learning. I believe homework for little kids is unacceptable. I believe that school becomes a chore for many kids. If your kids love school, or don't feel that way, then my statement should seem inaccurate to you, or maybe irrelevant to your school, but I don't get how my opinion is offensive. I believe it, unfortunately. If you disagree, please tell me why. I would love to hear some things that change my mind; and not just things about one school, something that speaks to all or at least most DCPS. But I will say I've investigated the situation and do not feel optimistic I'm going to hear much to change my mind.

Well, for starters, how many DCPS schools have you visited? How many classes have you sat in on? How many students have you spoken with? You are saying that you think DCPS parents are punishing their children and that they don't care about learning. This in an offensive opinion.

It's offensive b/c the idea that those of us choosing DCPS are punishing our kids is offensive. People are doing the best they can and clearly there are a lot of people who don't feel thi

To answer your questions: I've visited my local school and the local school in the previous community (where we lived before we moved) as well as a few other neighborhood schools and a charter school. I have sat in on the PK classes at the school where my child will be in-bounds for next year. Very academic. NOT play-based. Not at all. I've talked to teachers at my in-bounds school. I met with the principal at my in-bounds school. I believe she has her heart in the right place but the way they push the testing curriculum is terrible. My inbounds area does not have a middle or high school. The middle schoolers are just part of the elementary school but there are no facilities for them. No algebra. Not even pre-algebra. No athletics. No music classes. I have a feeling that YOUR ward and my ward look very different in terms of education, if you are in the DC system. Or did you do the lottery? I've spoken with dozens of kids. I know some of them are doing really well. Specifically I know kids who love their schools (elementary kids). But not all kids do. Not all DCPS are the same or equal or even equivalent. Many are not even in the same ballpark. And at even the best, the way they craft their curriculum seems like punishment TO ME. I did not say that you are punishing your children by sending them to public schools. You're taking my quote out of context and doing so really deliberately. We probably do not even disagree that much. Maybe we have a lot in common. I WANT to support public schools. I will continue to put my efforts behind them. But my personal feeling as a parent is that homework at a young age, all that focusing on tests, all that stress that the kids are dealing with, and the lack of amenities for over 50 percent of the city's schools (amenities = algebra or a foreign language class for middle schoolers. YES, MANY SCHOOLS IN THIS CITY DO NOT HAVE THAT!!) is appalling. And yes, I would consider it punishment. I wouldn't say YOU are punishing your kids simply because they go to public. I'm talking about my kids, lady. Seriously, chill out! I don't know why I'm letting your comments rile me up so much. I think it's just because you are so deliberately misunderstanding me.