Did you try out public school before starting your child in private school?

[Anonymous]

We did public first with dc 2 and have never regretted it. It made us see how much we wasted with dc 1.

[Anonymous]

Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

While your experience with public may not be great, I am not sure (though i guess ) what you mean by civil servants they are. We switched from private to public. We have found the teachers at our MCPS Middle school to be interesting, excited to be teaching, try to be creative and engaging while teaching and overall really care about the kids they are teaching. We have been at 5 different private schools. There has been a range of teachers, some fabulous and really care about their students, some horrific and never should be teaching kids. It is really hard in private for a bad teacher to get fired especially if they have been there a while. Political correctness exists all over the place. Just take a look at the calendars of most private schools to see that. many private schools have not moved into the digital age. Grades are not posted on line, nothing posted regarding assignments, inability to do classwork on line.

Just look at all the private schools still using Every day Math. Aggressive parents? Have you ever attended a sports game at any of the many privates that have competitive sports team. Ever seen the jockeying to get into AP classes or honor classes? Privates and Public both have positives and negatives. Depends on the kid and the school as to which will work well. Not all privates are equal. There are better teachers and better academics at some schools than MCPS and MCPS has better academics and teachers than other schools. You just need to find the best fit. But to insult a whole body of mostly hard working caring teachers is just not necessary.

I am not a teacher. Just hate to see the bashing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

While your experience with public may not be great, I am not sure (though i guess ) what you mean by civil servants they are. We switched from private to public. We have found the teachers at our MCPS Middle school to be interesting, excited to be teaching, try to be creative and engaging while teaching and overall really care about the kids they are teaching. We have been at 5 different private schools. There has been a range of teachers, some fabulous and really care about their students, some horrific and never should be teaching kids. It is really hard in private for a bad teacher to get fired especially if they have been there a while. Political correctness exists all over the place. Just take a look at the calendars of most private schools to see that. many private schools have not moved into the digital age. Grades are not posted on line, nothing posted regarding assignments, inability to do classwork on line.

Just look at all the private schools still using Every day Math. Aggressive parents? Have you ever attended a sports game at any of the many privates that have competitive sports team. Ever seen the jockeying to get into AP classes or honor classes? Privates and Public both have positives and negatives. Depends on the kid and the school as to which will work well. Not all privates are equal. There are better teachers and better academics at some schools than MCPS and MCPS has better academics and teachers than other schools. You just need to find the best fit. But to insult a whole body of mostly hard working caring teachers is just not necessary.

I am not a teacher. Just hate to see the bashing.

I'm sure others have had good experiences at public schools and bad ones at private schools.

I was just reporting our experience.

It wasn't until we got a son at a private school that we could see just how unpleasant and mind-numbing our experience in the Whitman cluster had been. The boys were happier and we parents were much happier. We were cast into a new environment that was much more relaxed and at the same time much more efficient. We were free from "resource teams" who swooped in on imagined problems and demanded our attention. The boys were out from under the teachers (almost all women) who really wanted to teach little girls, who were very good at sitting and listening. The air seemed fresher and the sky more blue. Food tasted better.

Public schools is a mis-nomer. They really ought to be called what they are, "Government Schools".

[Anonymous]

Yes, we did public first. Now in private, but going back to public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

While your experience with public may not be great, I am not sure (though i guess ) what you mean by civil servants they are. We switched from private to public. We have found the teachers at our MCPS Middle school to be interesting, excited to be teaching, try to be creative and engaging while teaching and overall really care about the kids they are teaching. We have been at 5 different private schools. There has been a range of teachers, some fabulous and really care about their students, some horrific and never should be teaching kids. It is really hard in private for a bad teacher to get fired especially if they have been there a while. Political correctness exists all over the place. Just take a look at the calendars of most private schools to see that. many private schools have not moved into the digital age. Grades are not posted on line, nothing posted regarding assignments, inability to do classwork on line.

Just look at all the private schools still using Every day Math. Aggressive parents? Have you ever attended a sports game at any of the many privates that have competitive sports team. Ever seen the jockeying to get into AP classes or honor classes? Privates and Public both have positives and negatives. Depends on the kid and the school as to which will work well. Not all privates are equal. There are better teachers and better academics at some schools than MCPS and MCPS has better academics and teachers than other schools. You just need to find the best fit. But to insult a whole body of mostly hard working caring teachers is just not necessary.

I am not a teacher. Just hate to see the bashing.

I'm sure others have had good experiences at public schools and bad ones at private schools.

I was just reporting our experience.

It wasn't until we got a son at a private school that we could see just how unpleasant and mind-numbing our experience in the Whitman cluster had been. The boys were happier and we parents were much happier. We were cast into a new environment that was much more relaxed and at the same time much more efficient. We were free from "resource teams" who swooped in on imagined problems and demanded our attention. The boys were out from under the teachers (almost all women) who really wanted to teach little girls, who were very good at sitting and listening. The air seemed fresher and the sky more blue. Food tasted better.

Public schools is a mis-nomer. They really ought to be called what they are, "Government Schools".

Need some Immodium for your verbal diarrhea? Not sure what would address the gender bashing. Are you at one of those creepy all boy Opus Dei schools?

[Anonymous]

No Op -- we never tried public because we live in DC and only have 1 kid. But, the cost of private has gotten so high we probably could not afford the starting costs now for Pre-K at places like Beauvoir. I think the DC publics are improving a bit now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

While your experience with public may not be great, I am not sure (though i guess ) what you mean by civil servants they are. We switched from private to public. We have found the teachers at our MCPS Middle school to be interesting, excited to be teaching, try to be creative and engaging while teaching and overall really care about the kids they are teaching. We have been at 5 different private schools. There has been a range of teachers, some fabulous and really care about their students, some horrific and never should be teaching kids. It is really hard in private for a bad teacher to get fired especially if they have been there a while. Political correctness exists all over the place. Just take a look at the calendars of most private schools to see that. many private schools have not moved into the digital age. Grades are not posted on line, nothing posted regarding assignments, inability to do classwork on line.

Just look at all the private schools still using Every day Math. Aggressive parents? Have you ever attended a sports game at any of the many privates that have competitive sports team. Ever seen the jockeying to get into AP classes or honor classes? Privates and Public both have positives and negatives. Depends on the kid and the school as to which will work well. Not all privates are equal. There are better teachers and better academics at some schools than MCPS and MCPS has better academics and teachers than other schools. You just need to find the best fit. But to insult a whole body of mostly hard working caring teachers is just not necessary.

I am not a teacher. Just hate to see the bashing.

I'm sure others have had good experiences at public schools and bad ones at private schools.

I was just reporting our experience.

It wasn't until we got a son at a private school that we could see just how unpleasant and mind-numbing our experience in the Whitman cluster had been. The boys were happier and we parents were much happier. We were cast into a new environment that was much more relaxed and at the same time much more efficient. We were free from "resource teams" who swooped in on imagined problems and demanded our attention. The boys were out from under the teachers (almost all women) who really wanted to teach little girls, who were very good at sitting and listening. The air seemed fresher and the sky more blue. Food tasted better.

Public schools is a mis-nomer. They really ought to be called what they are, "Government Schools".

Are you representative of how conservatives use logic and reason? I'm stunned. And not in a good way. But I'm happy for you, if your kids are out from under the thumbs of women teachers, and you now feel completely free to ignore problems you think were "imagined" by concerned public school teachers - so long as you're happy! And the sophomoric joke about "government schools" - words fail, just like the seem to fail you. What private school is lucky enough to have your family?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

While your experience with public may not be great, I am not sure (though i guess ) what you mean by civil servants they are. We switched from private to public. We have found the teachers at our MCPS Middle school to be interesting, excited to be teaching, try to be creative and engaging while teaching and overall really care about the kids they are teaching. We have been at 5 different private schools. There has been a range of teachers, some fabulous and really care about their students, some horrific and never should be teaching kids. It is really hard in private for a bad teacher to get fired especially if they have been there a while. Political correctness exists all over the place. Just take a look at the calendars of most private schools to see that. many private schools have not moved into the digital age. Grades are not posted on line, nothing posted regarding assignments, inability to do classwork on line.

Just look at all the private schools still using Every day Math. Aggressive parents? Have you ever attended a sports game at any of the many privates that have competitive sports team. Ever seen the jockeying to get into AP classes or honor classes? Privates and Public both have positives and negatives. Depends on the kid and the school as to which will work well. Not all privates are equal. There are better teachers and better academics at some schools than MCPS and MCPS has better academics and teachers than other schools. You just need to find the best fit. But to insult a whole body of mostly hard working caring teachers is just not necessary.

I am not a teacher. Just hate to see the bashing.

I'm sure others have had good experiences at public schools and bad ones at private schools.

I was just reporting our experience.

It wasn't until we got a son at a private school that we could see just how unpleasant and mind-numbing our experience in the Whitman cluster had been. The boys were happier and we parents were much happier. We were cast into a new environment that was much more relaxed and at the same time much more efficient. We were free from "resource teams" who swooped in on imagined problems and demanded our attention. The boys were out from under the teachers (almost all women) who really wanted to teach little girls, who were very good at sitting and listening. The air seemed fresher and the sky more blue. Food tasted better.

Public schools is a mis-nomer. They really ought to be called what they are, "Government Schools".

Are you representative of how conservatives use logic and reason? I'm stunned. And not in a good way. But I'm happy for you, if your kids are out from under the thumbs of women teachers, and you now feel completely free to ignore problems you think were "imagined" by concerned public school teachers - so long as you're happy! And the sophomoric joke about "government schools" - words fail, just like the seem to fail you. What private school is lucky enough to have your family?

.

Isn't it great that our public school boosters are always on here to tell us what a mistake it is to send our DC's to private schools. Is it envy that motivates them?

[Anonymous]

We went straight to private based on our child's personality and the local school he would attend. Our preschool director also really emphasized private based on personality as well. The director's concern was a quiet/shy child in a large classroom with one teacher would likely not get pushed to capacity, whereas a smaller environment would allow the teachers to get a sense of what DC was capable of and to foster that.

[Anonymous]

We started in (very small) private and moved to public. Haven't looked back much. Dc has a much better peer group in the larger setting. He has some resource needs that were not met at the private. I do miss those long in depth report cards but if I need more I ask for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

While your experience with public may not be great, I am not sure (though i guess ) what you mean by civil servants they are. We switched from private to public. We have found the teachers at our MCPS Middle school to be interesting, excited to be teaching, try to be creative and engaging while teaching and overall really care about the kids they are teaching. We have been at 5 different private schools. There has been a range of teachers, some fabulous and really care about their students, some horrific and never should be teaching kids. It is really hard in private for a bad teacher to get fired especially if they have been there a while. Political correctness exists all over the place. Just take a look at the calendars of most private schools to see that. many private schools have not moved into the digital age. Grades are not posted on line, nothing posted regarding assignments, inability to do classwork on line.

Just look at all the private schools still using Every day Math. Aggressive parents? Have you ever attended a sports game at any of the many privates that have competitive sports team. Ever seen the jockeying to get into AP classes or honor classes? Privates and Public both have positives and negatives. Depends on the kid and the school as to which will work well. Not all privates are equal. There are better teachers and better academics at some schools than MCPS and MCPS has better academics and teachers than other schools. You just need to find the best fit. But to insult a whole body of mostly hard working caring teachers is just not necessary.

I am not a teacher. Just hate to see the bashing.

I'm sure others have had good experiences at public schools and bad ones at private schools.

I was just reporting our experience.

It wasn't until we got a son at a private school that we could see just how unpleasant and mind-numbing our experience in the Whitman cluster had been. The boys were happier and we parents were much happier. We were cast into a new environment that was much more relaxed and at the same time much more efficient. We were free from "resource teams" who swooped in on imagined problems and demanded our attention. The boys were out from under the teachers (almost all women) who really wanted to teach little girls, who were very good at sitting and listening. The air seemed fresher and the sky more blue. Food tasted better.

Public schools is a mis-nomer. They really ought to be called what they are, "Government Schools".

Are you representative of how conservatives use logic and reason? I'm stunned. And not in a good way. But I'm happy for you, if your kids are out from under the thumbs of women teachers, and you now feel completely free to ignore problems you think were "imagined" by concerned public school teachers - so long as you're happy! And the sophomoric joke about "government schools" - words fail, just like the seem to fail you. What private school is lucky enough to have your family?

.

Isn't it great that our public school boosters are always on here to tell us what a mistake it is to send our DC's to private schools. Is it envy that motivates them?

I did not take it that the poster you quote was making a comment about public vs private. Wasn't the comment directed at the anti-woman tea bagger rhetoric?

[Anonymous]

We started in public, moved to private for a number of years, now back in public. Honestly, I don't know which was best. Private had soem advantages, but the hefty tuition x 3 kids was just too much for us. Still, I sort of miss the personalized attention and less bureaucracy of the idenpendent school environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience in the Montgomery County Public Schools with three boys was what interested us in private schools. Once we took one boy out of the local public and sent him to a private high school, we were shocked by the difference and put the other two in privates at the first opportunity.

We found the public schools to be mindlessly-bureaucratic. The teachers behaved like the civil servants they are ... with a heavy overlay of political correctness. Aggressive parents jockeying for position gamed the system relentlessly. The schools were rife with "Edu-Speak" and resource teams and all sorts of nonsense driven by top-heavy bureaucracies. Montgomery County schools has thousands of employees who are not classroom teachers.

Private school for us was like a return to the world of the sane. Things were in perspective and were understandable.

While your experience with public may not be great, I am not sure (though i guess ) what you mean by civil servants they are. We switched from private to public. We have found the teachers at our MCPS Middle school to be interesting, excited to be teaching, try to be creative and engaging while teaching and overall really care about the kids they are teaching. We have been at 5 different private schools. There has been a range of teachers, some fabulous and really care about their students, some horrific and never should be teaching kids. It is really hard in private for a bad teacher to get fired especially if they have been there a while. Political correctness exists all over the place. Just take a look at the calendars of most private schools to see that. many private schools have not moved into the digital age. Grades are not posted on line, nothing posted regarding assignments, inability to do classwork on line.

Just look at all the private schools still using Every day Math. Aggressive parents? Have you ever attended a sports game at any of the many privates that have competitive sports team. Ever seen the jockeying to get into AP classes or honor classes? Privates and Public both have positives and negatives. Depends on the kid and the school as to which will work well. Not all privates are equal. There are better teachers and better academics at some schools than MCPS and MCPS has better academics and teachers than other schools. You just need to find the best fit. But to insult a whole body of mostly hard working caring teachers is just not necessary.

I am not a teacher. Just hate to see the bashing.

I'm sure others have had good experiences at public schools and bad ones at private schools.

I was just reporting our experience.

It wasn't until we got a son at a private school that we could see just how unpleasant and mind-numbing our experience in the Whitman cluster had been. The boys were happier and we parents were much happier. We were cast into a new environment that was much more relaxed and at the same time much more efficient. We were free from "resource teams" who swooped in on imagined problems and demanded our attention. The boys were out from under the teachers (almost all women) who really wanted to teach little girls, who were very good at sitting and listening. The air seemed fresher and the sky more blue. Food tasted better.

Public schools is a mis-nomer. They really ought to be called what they are, "Government Schools".

Are you representative of how conservatives use logic and reason? I'm stunned. And not in a good way. But I'm happy for you, if your kids are out from under the thumbs of women teachers, and you now feel completely free to ignore problems you think were "imagined" by concerned public school teachers - so long as you're happy! And the sophomoric joke about "government schools" - words fail, just like the seem to fail you. What private school is lucky enough to have your family?

.

Isn't it great that our public school boosters are always on here to tell us what a mistake it is to send our DC's to private schools. Is it envy that motivates them?

I did not take it that the poster you quote was making a comment about public vs private. Wasn't the comment directed at the anti-woman tea bagger rhetoric?

Yes, that was me. I have had kids in both private and public schools, like another poster on this thread, so no envy here. My comments were directed at the anti-woman tea bagger rhetoric, as you say.

Also, I know enough not to put an apostrophe in the plural DCs. Just sayin'.

[Anonymous]

I have a quesiton to the prior posters -- if you tried out public before starting your kid in private school, did you worry that you perhaps would not be able to get into private schools? Or are there enough private schools of various kinds in the DC area that you were pretty sure you could get into a private school down the road?

I don't live in the DC area, but am currently applying to private Pre-K programs in Dallas. It seems like this is the year to apply as after this year there are 1-2 openings (depending on the school). There are more openings down the road in Middle School, but it still seems hard to get in (versus now when there are more slots).