Why Apply Anywhere Other Than the Big Three?

[Anonymous]

Why apply anywhere other than the Big Three?

Because your child might not get accepted by any of the Big Three. Duh!

[Anonymous]

We live in close-in MoCo and our local public ES is a well-regarded one. At the same time, the classes are overcrowded, the principal is more of a bureacrat than an educator, and the school is extremely test-driven with very little room in the day for science, the arts, etc. We considered two of the "big 3" and only applied to one of the three, because the others weren't a good fit. We ended up at a different private school, and we couldn't be more thrilled. We are having a very hard time paying tuition for two children but it is completely worth it. I think it is very short-sighted to think that only three schools out there are better than public.

[Anonymous]

OP, I agree with your assessment generally. Our view is that private is only worth it if it offers something better/is a better fit than our public school (wood acres/pyle/whitman). However I don't agree that that only includes the big 3. We did choose to send both kids to a private k-8 for many of the reasons others have noted - small classes/high teacher ratios, less emphasis on testing, classes like language, music, art integrated into the curriculm, etc. However as we now look at HS we have concluded that for this particular kid 2 of the big 3 are the only ones that are a better fit for him than Whitman. If he doesn't get in we save $30k+ per year.

[Anonymous]

And the funniest thing in all of this is that I am 40 years old and have no idea where any of my or my husband's very successful co-workers went to college much less high school or elementary school. I'd bet many of them are public school products working next to prep school grads.

In the end it's what your child grows up to make of him/herself, not whether they glazed pottery in PreK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Does everyone else on this site also agree that private school tuition is not a significant dent in their household budgets like the PP.

We live in Fairfax, our tuition payment is our entire discretionary income. No vacations. No stuff. Kid is in a K-8 VA private and there's no way a public school could touch the kinds of experiences and personalized attention she gets. That said, I am looking forward to public HS, and some travel when we're done with this. (Ouch. Don't kill travel plans. I don't want to think about college tuition at this moment.)

Please provide us some examples of the experiences your child receives at your $30K per year private school that they could not get (1) at public school (2) at your home or (3) if you took that $30K and spent time as a family seeing the world. You say public school can't touch these experiences, so I'm curious what they actually are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

please provide us some examples of the experiences your child receives at your $30K per year private school that they could not get (1) at public school (2) at your home or (3) if you took that $30K and spent time as a family seeing the world. You say public school can't touch these experiences, so I'm curious what they actually are.

I'm not the pp you asked, but for our 25K at WIS, our DC is bilingual. That we couldn't get in our public school or at home. We do travel the world, and in many countries DC can play with the children in their langauge. Priceless. But I wouldn't have bothered with any other private school.

[Anonymous]

I think you're absolutely right. We're in the Wootton cluster--which is well regarded in Montgomery County and is listed as one of the top high schools in the country by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. We do well--but we are not rich by any means. So if I am going to pay $30K a year for private school (and shell out an extra $3K per month in a 10-month school year), it really does have to be one for one of the top schools. Otherwise we simply can't justify stretching our budgets to spend the money.

Anonymous wrote:Let me start off by saying Im not trying to start some huge fight which seems to happen often here. But, Im new to the area, moved here from Los Angeles so Im a little clueless on these issues. I visited the "Big Three" and agree that they all seem to be extraordinary schools and we would be honored to attend any of them. But, for those who live in Fairfax or Montgomery (like us), where they have some of the best public schools in the country for free, I cant fathom why you send your kids to a private school for a prince's ransom unless it is a pretty darn good school--which the Big Three seem to be. The other ones, I was a little underwhelmed and cant justify to myself paying that much for them. It seems lots of people seem angry that some people might only want to send their kids to the BIg Three, but (at least for me) this is not because Im being arrogant or pretentious, its that Im trying to make a rational cost-benefit calculation. Sure, if I won the lottery and my money was burning a hole through my pockets, I could do whatever the heck I wanted. But, it seems to me, in this economy, only the Big Three are worth the money they charge. The situation would also be different if we did not have access to Whitman and Churchill and Wayside and Hoover etc etc, but we do. So, like any good free market proponent, the independent schools should also step up to the plate and offer something other than a nice country club atmosphere to entice families and their kids (as well as their money).

[Anonymous]

But you probably could get that bilingual experience at one of the Montgomery County Spanish, French or Chinese immersion schools--which are free. Or you could send your child to public school and simply pay for language classes for your DC--it probably would cost you a few thousand dollars per year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

please provide us some examples of the experiences your child receives at your $30K per year private school that they could not get (1) at public school (2) at your home or (3) if you took that $30K and spent time as a family seeing the world. You say public school can't touch these experiences, so I'm curious what they actually are.

I'm not the pp you asked, but for our 25K at WIS, our DC is bilingual. That we couldn't get in our public school or at home. We do travel the world, and in many countries DC can play with the children in their langauge. Priceless. But I wouldn't have bothered with any other private school.

[Anonymous]

I believe that the experiences of pottery glazing do matter. The very nice teachers and peaceful environment are important. There is some evidence that certain children thrive in nurturing environments. Did anyone see the Atlantic article about orchid kids?
I remember my stressful elementary school and I remember the nurturing one. I shut down for two years in the hell house. That said, public schools can be nurturing, and some privates can have very mean staff members. But from what I have seen, a teacher with an ugly tone wont last at Norwood.

[Anonymous]

Our children go to a school that's near our house and less than 20k. It's often derided here so I won't name it. It's affiliated with a church and there's religious instruction. We can't get that in public school. You will say we could send them to Sunday school, and we do, but that's not the same to us as the many school hours they spend in a school where the emphasis is on a caring moral environment, where everyone in the building knows their names, and where the academics are challenging, they're with peers who are from diverse backgrounds and share many values, there no state assessments, there's an emphasis on science, art, music and PE, emphasis on writing, etc. etc.

There's a one stop shopping aspect to it. If I were to sign them up for lessons in all the things I like about their school that I wouldn't like as well in public school, I might save some money but I'd kill our afterschool time running around to all these lessons.

[Anonymous]

I can only speak for the private we chose, which is in the NOVA burbs, but we got a lot more than our well regarded FCPS schools offered for less than 20K a year. My child had studied French, Shakespeare, Algebra & Latin before graduating 8th grade. Small class sizes, great field trips and school that enforced civil behavior and respect.

We are thrilled with the outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you're absolutely right. We're in the Wootton cluster--which is well regarded in Montgomery County and is listed as one of the top high schools in the country by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. We do well--but we are not rich by any means. So if I am going to pay $30K a year for private school (and shell out an extra $3K per month in a 10-month school year), it really does have to be one for one of the top schools. Otherwise we simply can't justify stretching our budgets to spend the money.

Hi, neighbor.

For the OP, my son's in a much cheaper, smaller private elementary school in MoCo. I'm in an excellent school district (as noted above, Wootton), but I wanted a more progressive, experiential type of education than what the public schools offer.

There are a variety of schools out there simply because not any one school (or Big 3) will meet every child's needs.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't know what the real point of your question was. But there are many reasons parents opt for independent schools, and not everyone buys into the so-called "Big Three" business. I'm sure you will begin to understand that when you've been here longer.

[Anonymous]

OP, you are admittedly new to the area and "clueless" -- which is borne out by your ridiculous question. Why don't you just chill out, learn some more about the area and the schools, and talk to parents, instead of posting silly threads? Unless you're deliberately trying to start something? Honestly, I think most of the stupid and judgmental postings on this thread are from people who are recent arrivals.

Signed,
Someone who's lived here for 30 years.

[Anonymous]

OF course, 30-year poster - aren't you being a bit judgmental as well. I think people have provided very thoughtful responses - and if you had bothered to read through them, which I doubt you did before pushing the send button, you'd realize that several people took the effort to respond thoughtfully - not with something that degenerated into name-calling - like "silly" or "judgmental" - Pot - meet - Kettle...