Regretting private high school investment because of colleges want more public school graduates

[Anonymous]

I know the numbers.

Total BS.

Private school by far. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm a 30 year professor at a major university. I can say two things with confidence:
1) We are not fond of AP courses. Freshman admits coming in with AP courses can't think for themselves. The HS AP courses teach to the test rather than actual teach. Bad news.
2) See no difference or even trending difference between Public School or Private School admits on the whole. What we do see is that students who hold a job during high school (not just summer jobs) do very well! They are self starters, great at managing their time, organized, pro-active, and respectfully assertive.

I call BS. Your over generalizations suggest more than a little mendacity.

Major universities have freshman classes in the thousands. There’s no way you’d know enough of them sufficiently well to conclude that they can’t think for themselves because of the AP courses they took.

Independent thinking does not go downhill because of an AP course or even a slew of AP courses but because of bad teaching overall.

APs are taught differently at different schools. The mindless teach-to-the-test approach is typical of public high schools. From experience, I can tell you that’s not the way it’s taught at the elite privates.

No professor worth the name would make such asinine generalizations with no data to back them up.

Obviously it suits you to disregard my opinion and that of my immediate colleagues and that's more than fine. I know who I am and where I work and how worthy I am to have earned a Ph.D. and the title of Associate Professor. Take Care.

Let’s see. A 30-year old associate professor with extensive teaching experience opining and speaking for multiple disciplines, an entire profession, and universities in general. Yes, you have tons of credibility.

Not 30 years old. A professor for 30 years. Not speaking for an entire profession or universities in general. Speaking of my experience and that of my colleagues at one university. Like I said, it obviously suits you to disregard my opinion. No problem. You should move on now.

Perhaps you should have similarly caveated your earlier statements but you instead implied that your statements were indicative of macro trends.

DP. It was pretty obvious that the “we” referred to the professors at that university. And that a “30 year professor” is one that has been doing the job for 30 years, not one that is 30 years old.

I always find it amusing how poor the reading skills are on the education-related forums.

I always find it amusing how poorly posters claiming to be educated write. 30 year professor is grotesque syntax.

Don’t be mad because you couldn’t figure it out.

Amused that someone who has been an assistant professor for 30 years would post about it. That just screams academic mediocrity, which explains the bad writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a 30 year professor at a major university. I can say two things with confidence:
1) We are not fond of AP courses. Freshman admits coming in with AP courses can't think for themselves. The HS AP courses teach to the test rather than actual teach. Bad news.
2) See no difference or even trending difference between Public School or Private School admits on the whole. What we do see is that students who hold a job during high school (not just summer jobs) do very well! They are self starters, great at managing their time, organized, pro-active, and respectfully assertive.

I call BS. Your over generalizations suggest more than a little mendacity.

Major universities have freshman classes in the thousands. There’s no way you’d know enough of them sufficiently well to conclude that they can’t think for themselves because of the AP courses they took.

Independent thinking does not go downhill because of an AP course or even a slew of AP courses but because of bad teaching overall.

APs are taught differently at different schools. The mindless teach-to-the-test approach is typical of public high schools. From experience, I can tell you that’s not the way it’s taught at the elite privates.

No professor worth the name would make such asinine generalizations with no data to back them up.

Obviously it suits you to disregard my opinion and that of my immediate colleagues and that's more than fine. I know who I am and where I work and how worthy I am to have earned a Ph.D. and the title of Associate Professor. Take Care.

Let’s see. A 30-year old associate professor with extensive teaching experience opining and speaking for multiple disciplines, an entire profession, and universities in general. Yes, you have tons of credibility.

Not 30 years old. A professor for 30 years. Not speaking for an entire profession or universities in general. Speaking of my experience and that of my colleagues at one university. Like I said, it obviously suits you to disregard my opinion. No problem. You should move on now.

Perhaps you should have similarly caveated your earlier statements but you instead implied that your statements were indicative of macro trends.

DP. It was pretty obvious that the “we” referred to the professors at that university. And that a “30 year professor” is one that has been doing the job for 30 years, not one that is 30 years old.

I always find it amusing how poor the reading skills are on the education-related forums.

I always find it amusing how poorly posters claiming to be educated write. 30 year professor is grotesque syntax.

Don’t be mad because you couldn’t figure it out.

Amused that someone who has been an assistant professor for 30 years would post about it. That just screams academic mediocrity, which explains the bad writing.

I’m not a PP but I’m more amused at how you: 1) misunderstood the 30 year reference, 2) lead your posts with so much aggression / arrogance, and 3) won’t stop even after making an ass of yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Been told by our college counselor that this year colleges are turning away from selecting most private high school kids because of their privileged education. That you now have a better chance coming from a public high school with good grades and top scores and activities. There’s no advantage anymore paying more money for private. None at all.

So for those of you looking to go private, don’t waste your money. Your private school kid, despite top gpa and test scores, will probably will be bumped in favor of someone from a good public school.

Regrets, regrets, regrets…

bs

Our private is having a great year with the top schools, especially as money is tightening up and colleges see private schools as filled with full pay students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a 30 year professor at a major university. I can say two things with confidence:
1) We are not fond of AP courses. Freshman admits coming in with AP courses can't think for themselves. The HS AP courses teach to the test rather than actual teach. Bad news.
2) See no difference or even trending difference between Public School or Private School admits on the whole. What we do see is that students who hold a job during high school (not just summer jobs) do very well! They are self starters, great at managing their time, organized, pro-active, and respectfully assertive.

I call BS. Your over generalizations suggest more than a little mendacity.

Major universities have freshman classes in the thousands. There’s no way you’d know enough of them sufficiently well to conclude that they can’t think for themselves because of the AP courses they took.

Independent thinking does not go downhill because of an AP course or even a slew of AP courses but because of bad teaching overall.

APs are taught differently at different schools. The mindless teach-to-the-test approach is typical of public high schools. From experience, I can tell you that’s not the way it’s taught at the elite privates.

No professor worth the name would make such asinine generalizations with no data to back them up.

Obviously it suits you to disregard my opinion and that of my immediate colleagues and that's more than fine. I know who I am and where I work and how worthy I am to have earned a Ph.D. and the title of Associate Professor. Take Care.

Let’s see. A 30-year old associate professor with extensive teaching experience opining and speaking for multiple disciplines, an entire profession, and universities in general. Yes, you have tons of credibility.

Not 30 years old. A professor for 30 years. Not speaking for an entire profession or universities in general. Speaking of my experience and that of my colleagues at one university. Like I said, it obviously suits you to disregard my opinion. No problem. You should move on now.

Perhaps you should have similarly caveated your earlier statements but you instead implied that your statements were indicative of macro trends.

DP. It was pretty obvious that the “we” referred to the professors at that university. And that a “30 year professor” is one that has been doing the job for 30 years, not one that is 30 years old.

I always find it amusing how poor the reading skills are on the education-related forums.

I always find it amusing how poorly posters claiming to be educated write. 30 year professor is grotesque syntax.

Don’t be mad because you couldn’t figure it out.

Amused that someone who has been an assistant professor for 30 years would post about it. That just screams academic mediocrity, which explains the bad writing.

S/he said associate professor.

Still can’t figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Been told by our college counselor that this year colleges are turning away from selecting most private high school kids because of their privileged education. That you now have a better chance coming from a public high school with good grades and top scores and activities. There’s no advantage anymore paying more money for private. None at all.

So for those of you looking to go private, don’t waste your money. Your private school kid, despite top gpa and test scores, will probably will be bumped in favor of someone from a good public school.

Regrets, regrets, regrets…

Not seeing this at all OP. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Been told by our college counselor that this year colleges are turning away from selecting most private high school kids because of their privileged education. That you now have a better chance coming from a public high school with good grades and top scores and activities. There’s no advantage anymore paying more money for private. None at all.

So for those of you looking to go private, don’t waste your money. Your private school kid, despite top gpa and test scores, will probably will be bumped in favor of someone from a good public school.

Regrets, regrets, regrets…

Not seeing this at all OP. Sorry.

Yeah, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Been told by our college counselor that this year colleges are turning away from selecting most private high school kids because of their privileged education. That you now have a better chance coming from a public high school with good grades and top scores and activities. There’s no advantage anymore paying more money for private. None at all.

So for those of you looking to go private, don’t waste your money. Your private school kid, despite top gpa and test scores, will probably will be bumped in favor of someone from a good public school.

Regrets, regrets, regrets…

Not at our Big 3. More than half of the kids are attending top 25 SLACs or universities this fall. Most of the Remaining students are in top 40.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The outcomes at the DC area private schools have been pretty stellar — I don’t think anyone at our school is unhappy with their outcomes.

And how many of those stellar results were direct legacy/legacy at any Ivy?

[Anonymous]

LOL, there are way more Ivy legacies in MCPS, FCPS, Arlington, et al. than all the private schools combined.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL, there are way more Ivy legacies in MCPS, FCPS, Arlington, et al. than all the private schools combined.

yes obviously my point is the private schools touting their great numbers are fully aware that their stellar admits are mostly Ivy legacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:There are bunch of drama queens on this thread.

Public schools are not unilaterally in shambles people, come on. Ask any parent or kid at a higher achieving school in MCPS or FCPS or at Walls or similar and you will see: high achieving kids anywhere have similar outcomes. Account for wealth and SES, even more so.

The PP touting a 30% ivy admit rate would find that a similar demographic of kids at NCS and Churchill, or Bullis and Whitman, are going to have very similar outcomes.

Public schools are great for some kids, and the more people who send their kids to public school the stronger our schools are for it as a public good. That said, opting out for private schools is better for some kids and I don't wholly begrudge that, but you are being dishonest if you think that private schools aren't part of a larger societal problem, or that school shootings can only happen in public schools.

Do what is best for your family. But you're ignorant and short-sighted if you think private school alone is going to get your kid into Yale, or if you think dumb kids from public school took your kid's spot, or if you think all public schools are bad and all private schools are better. Be a little more honest and rigorous in your analysis.

Genuine question - how are privates a part of a larger societal problem?

Using Fairfax County as example, there are nearly 100 private schools with over 20,000 students enrolled. The average cost to educate a student in FCPS is $19,750. If we got rid of privates, these +20K students would cost FCPS another $400M and that doesn’t include cost of building additional classrooms. These private school families are already paying property and state income taxes that fund the public schools so, you can’t expect them to pay more. If anything, they are freeing up resources for public schools students.

I think you know but if you genuinely don't, I can explain.

The majority of parents who choose private school are weathier, and relatedly, value education. Basically all of the high-risk, low-SES, underperforming kids in the country attend public schools. Opting out of public school makes public schools lose resources, affects the demographics of a school or system, and perpetuates a growing divide. It's a classic example of valuing individuals over communities, which we would probably ALL do, but it's not good for society. To. be fair, moving to a "good school district" which almost always has higher priced housing is the same concept. We made this choice, so I am not attacking anyone. But all of us are smart enough to recognize that these things create problems, specifically for disadvantaged black and brown kids at scale.

How does opting out of public deprive public of their resources? Had we stayed, we would have consumed the limited resources at our. Since we don’t have school vouchers, we’re not taking the taxes that we paid for our child’s education with us to private.

I don’t buy your argument on valuing the individual over community. We’re choosing to be with a different community. We’re not homeschooling or hiring private instructors, we’re sending her to a different school. Our responsibility is to make sure our child receives the best educational experience we can provide her. If every family did the same, we wouldn’t have the problems we do in public schools.

Objectively speaking, the fact that public schools try to provide the best education experience to all students vs the amount of funding and supports they have is a huge part of the problems in public schools. Someone earlier listed the average pp cost as something like $19k. But that cost also accounts for significant things that many private schools don't have or cover. For example, More expansive Special Needs, Transportation, Meals, ESL, etc. Public schools have problems because they lack the actual funding/resources (buildings, people, external resources) to support its required mission of educating all students.

[Anonymous]

Are you serious about wanting public school education for your kid? I mean unless they are going to the top few, I suggest never going to college and going to a top private school till grad will serve them better in life overall.

In this day and age y'all gotta get over going to the best college.

I recruit out of top MBA programs and will tell you just about any good college has employers recruiting out of it due to competition in the market. As well, there's 100000 ways to make a living. You do not need to be 1 of 100000 UVA or Yale grad to be successful in life.

You do however need to understand how to learn, why it's important to learn and be well rounded enough and articulate enough to present yourself effectively. I'll take a private school education 9 times out of 10 for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you serious about wanting public school education for your kid? I mean unless they are going to the top few, I suggest never going to college and going to a top private school till grad will serve them better in life overall.

In this day and age y'all gotta get over going to the best college.

I recruit out of top MBA programs and will tell you just about any good college has employers recruiting out of it due to competition in the market. As well, there's 100000 ways to make a living. You do not need to be 1 of 100000 UVA or Yale grad to be successful in life.

You do however need to understand how to learn, why it's important to learn and be well rounded enough and articulate enough to present yourself effectively. I'll take a private school education 9 times out of 10 for my kid.

You have 10 kids? Go public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL, there are way more Ivy legacies in MCPS, FCPS, Arlington, et al. than all the private schools combined.

yes obviously my point is the private schools touting their great numbers are fully aware that their stellar admits are mostly Ivy legacies.

What's your evidence that Ivy legacy admits are more likely to be from private schools than public?