Forum Index
»
Schools and Education General Discussion
The whole "best public schools" in the nation is such a farce
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Sure the schools in the suburbs are better than those in Alabama or some other fly over state but those of you who flock to the burbs just for the schools are really getting the wool pulled over your eyes. Even though I spend roughly 95k a year to educate my 3 kids in a DC private I'll do with a huge smile as I write the check rather than send my kids to an overcrowded, understaffed, budget crunched, problem ridden school out in the burbs. That's why I don't have to move out to the burbs and a lot of DC families feel the same way they just wont say it. Your kids aren't getting a great education, they are being taught to test, and moved along like assembly line widgets and while one or 2 of them will be a gold standard the majority will end up in a large Tier II state school with all the other public school kids. So stop the "best schools" in the nation nonsense. |
Anonymous
| Gosh, I hope your kids turn out as delightful as you are. Geez. |
Anonymous
I could have told you this 30 years ago when I moved to the high school in MoCo with the then best SAT scores. The aggressive curriculum at my small public high school in Ohio was far superior and much better at college prep. I couldn't convince anyone in MoCo that I had already had 5 years of French and that I had used the book they had in the class they stuck me in 2 years before until I aced every test. I missed reading somewhere close to 35 mandatory books, and studied Sophmore year in Ohio literature that wasn't touched until honors English in senior year in MoCo. Nothing's really changed in MoCo in those 30 years except to standardized the testing to a lower common denominator and offer IB classes. |
Anonymous
| Hey, is this the "all private are better than all public" poster from the other thread? Weren't getting enough attention there? |
Anonymous
| Seriously, you have no idea about *all* public schools. I don't think that there is a better education to be had than what is offered at the public high school I went to in a suburb of NYC. No doubt property is expensive, so it isn't really available to everyone, but it is in fact public and awesome! |
Anonymous
I forgot to mention that, despite the fact that I think that there are public schools, such as the one that I attended, that are equal to - if not better than - the top private schools, I will likely be sending my child to private school here. This is not to say anything negative about the "good" public schools in the suburbs here, as I know little about them - I just don't want to leave the city. But, I would never say that private is always better than public. |
Anonymous
If you're going to be all rational, how will we be able to bicker? |
Anonymous
| I hate to break it to you, but the majority of the kids at your fancy private school will end up at Tier 2 State schools, as well, and that's after you've shelled out over $300K for their education. OUCH! |
Anonymous
|
I'm curious. Does anyone know the annual budget of MCPS, especially the cost per student figure? And how does that compare to the taxpayer base in Montgomery County? I think I read somewhere that it's something like $12-17k per student, which is pretty heavy spending. But that could be totally wrong.
Anyone with info? |
Anonymous
That hasn't been my experience. My experience is that the private school kids go to small Tier 2 liberal arts colleges. |
Anonymous
Mont Co refused to participate in the WABE survey this past year. It's only conjecture, but some believe it is due to the dollars per student figure not looking as good as it has in the past. http://www.fcps.edu/fs/budget/wabe/ |
Anonymous
|
Private school kids are "taught to the test" too. I went to observe one of the top tier private preschoolers and saw kids practicing shaking hands, and standing up straight, and making polite conversation. It was like a 1/2 day of practice for an admissions playdate at Beauvoir. K-8 programs in DC do a huge amount of test prep for the SSATs, and time spent on interviewing skills.
Personally, if I'm going to prepare my kid for a test, I'd just as soon have it be one that tests reading, writing, math, problem solving etc . . . You can send your child where you like. I actually think my kid would be happy at a private and would thrive, but since he's happy and thriving in public I see no need to pay. If you have 90K to spare, then spend it as you like, but don't judge me and my choices. |
Anonymous
couldn't have said it better myself. I attended public school in a no-name district up through 8th grade. For HS, my parents decided the public schools could no longer offer me the challenge I needed and sent me to a parochial HS (this was not in the DC area, but it was in MD). Honestly, I think up to HS, most schools are about the same, private or public. HS is where you really need to look at the curriculum and challenge and decide for yourself if your kid is going to be prepared for college. I started life in a trailer park and went on to a top university. If you're a bright kid with involved parents, you can make it anywhere. I don't even know if "top university" is on our wish list for our kid anymore, considering the insane cost of college tuition these days. If she gets a scholarship somewhere, great. If not, there is nothing wrong with state school in most cases. |
Anonymous
Sounds like the real smart families homeschool. 
|
Anonymous
Wow, that's eye-opening. Major districts like Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and Montgomery County are spending $15-20k per pupil per year. That's more than many private schools. Now I'm very curious how Fairfax County gets away with spending only $13k per student. Is Fairfax particularly efficient with its spending? Or particularly resistant to taxes? Or is there some disparity between tax base and # of students that explains it? Also, does anyone know how DC compares? |