Private schools. What do you get for your money?

[Anonymous]

I might also agree that in the DC area - private schools appear to offer more than the public options. If you live in some of these MD and VA suburbs with excellent school systems and you send your kid to a private - its an expensive extra - a luxury. But who cares, if you can afford it - but, then, I believe, it is really just about the "name" - who you want to connect with and the sticker on your car window, etc........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in Arlington and, apart from the issue of teaching/prepping for testing and class size, our public schools compare more than favorably to private schools. Kids can choose from immersion schools, a science-focus school, an elementary Montessori school, and several other options. The after-school programs are supposed to be top-notch and the schools are considered some of the best around.]

We are condsidering moving to Arlington; this peaks my interest! Poster, can you tell which is the Montessori elementary? Do you have to be in that district to go? I'd love some info. Thanks much.

The public Montessori school is Drew -- it's a county-wide school and your child needs to have had prior Montessori experience to be able to go.

[Anonymous]

We live in the Janney school district and we plan to apply to private schools in the fall. If you start with the premise that smart kids will learn regardless of where they are educated, we think that our money will get us the following (not in order of importance):

1. Smaller classes - we think our little one is less likley to be ignored/tune out in a smaller setting
2. Extra curricular activities - we want her to be able to swim, play tennis, dance etc and are not in a position to cart her around after 3pm (private schools are a one stop shop)
3. A life long ready made network
4. College placement - I think we can all agree that the average Sidwell/NCS/GDS student has a better change of getting in the top colleges
5. Ethnic diversity - it is sad that one has to pay for this in DC, but it is what it is. The better public schools are in the more affluent areas and these areas are overwhelmingly homogenous
6. Prestige - I know that this may come off badly, but in what I think will be an increasingly competitive world that we live in, having the "right" credentials can often come in very handy espcially if you do not have family connections and legacies. As a poor working class foreigener who ended up at Harvard I am speaking from experience.
7. Similarily situated (in terms of intelligence) students. I like the fact that my daughter will be classes with other bright students.

[Anonymous]

PP: Honest and well-put!

[Anonymous]

I went to an elite private high school. A lot of the things 14:19 says are true. Unfortunately, so is this one: those kids could afford better drugs than their public school peers, and since no one thought they were doing drugs (private school panache), they could get involved far, far deeper with less risk of adults noticing.

[Anonymous]

The previous poster's point about going private for diversity is inaccurate. My kids went to a very good upper NW public school that is as or more diverse than all the private shcools we looked at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The previous poster's point about going private for diversity is inaccurate. My kids went to a very good upper NW public school that is as or more diverse than all the private shcools we looked at.

Unless you are taking about Janney (please confirm), how does your statement make the PP's post incorrect. Are you suggesting that she move?

[Anonymous]

The way I read the PP was that one of the reasons she sent her kids to private schools was because the private schools were more diverse than the public upper NW schools. Not so. This is false; most of the upper NW public schools are as diverse as ANY of the well-known private schools. I have friends with kids at all of them.

[Anonymous]

I would differ with the issue of private schools developing great self esteem. I know that most of the time this is true, but since public schools have done a good job reducing the bullying and intimidation, the private schools are lagging in this area.
Also, because some privates have diversity problems, minorities can have a hard time fitting in.

[Anonymous]

"7. Similarily situated (in terms of intelligence) students. I like the fact that my daughter will be classes with other bright students. "

Please explain this. So a kids brightness is determined by whether or not a parent can afford to send them to a private school? Are you saying kids in public school can't be bright?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

"7. Similarily situated (in terms of intelligence) students. I like the fact that my daughter will be classes with other bright students. "

Please explain this. So a kids brightness is determined by whether or not a parent can afford to send them to a private school? Are you saying kids in public school can't be bright?

Not the PP, but I think what she meant is that good private schools get lots of applicants and can afford to be choosy--to "skim the cream." There are plenty of bright kids in public school, but the range of abilities may be broader.

[Anonymous]

PP - oh please, no one in their right mind would argue that there are no bright kids in public schools. That's absurd. A bright kid will probably do fine in a decent public school. But that is just the problem. The "good" public schools I have seen in this area (i'm talking about MoCo), are just that - fine. Some of us want more than "fine" for our kids education. Why not opt for great, if its an available option and you can afford it?

[Anonymous]

I agree with all of the 02/07/2008 14:19 poster's points except the diversity one. We also live in Upper NW and our local public school is much more diverse than the private school our kids' attend. Many of the schools in NW take out-of-boundary kids so in those cases, there is more diversity in the public school than exists in the surrounding neighborhood.

Some of the NW schools do not take out-of-boundary kids due to limits in class size, so those schools don't have much diversity. However, they all feed into very diverse middle and upper schools. So, throughout the course of the child's education, the public school education in NW DC provides much more diverse classrooms than the private schools.

Also, point 7 has positives and negatives to it. If your child is in private school, and the school takes kids with IQ's in the top 15% for the most part (I'm just using this as an example). Your child then, in theory, would be in the top 15% of his/her class in a public school. But, in private school, your child may not be at the top of his/her class. In fact, he could be at the bottom. That could mean additional tutoring, more time on homework, and possibly esteem issues.

[Anonymous]

If you use G&T in Mont. Co., is there any difference in what privates offer academically?

[Anonymous]

I don't know if any of us can compare our public school experience with today's NCLB-driven public school climate. I spent half my elementary school day in homeroom doing basic reading/writing/arithmetic, and the other half rotating among art, music, science, library, and gym. We had each of those subjects four days a week. I'm finding out that public elementary schools are very different these days due to the emphasis on testing.