Thoughts on families with expensive houses and cars who send kids to public school?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I have done 3 years of private school for my kids and now at a DCPS public. Both options have pros and cons but I prefer public schools at this point. Beside the cost factor, I think it’s better not to cut off children from their communities. Private school kids are generally more lonely and likely in the future to compare themselves to their wealthier friends and therefore feel less than. |
Anonymous
|
I wanted to send my kids where they got the best academic education. I looked at the private schools and they were not worth it. We went the application/exam based STEM magnet public school route.
I also have been supplementing and enriching their education from the time they have been little, so I was not expecting any school to be able to give my kids everything they needed academically. I was doing my due diligence. So, while we could easily afford private schools, we were ok with just having a big house and expensive cars. |
Anonymous
| in this area most homes are “expensive” and you finance it over 30 years. i dont think living in a shack or way out in the suburbs is a worthwhile tradeoff simply to afford private school. private school is great if you can really afford it but not always lots better than public school. thats a lot of money that can be saved for college and otherwise diverted elsewhere. |
Anonymous
This is us. We bought our house for the public schools. We had both gone public. But when we got in the door, it wasn’t what we wanted. We decided that we would look into private and after doing so, we made the leap. No regrets. The comparison to cars is silly. Tuition at a top private for two kids is nearly 90 a year— so we basically pay the equivalent a new car every year. Still no regrets. |
Anonymous
And 30+ students in a class is actually not too bad for a public school. 40+ is more like a norm in my zip code. Of course private school provides a better leaning environment. If your kids can get into Thomas Jefferson or Basis taking exams it would also be a great learning environment but McLean high.... meh |
Anonymous
|
So far we have not switched to private because we have concerns about our kids being in such a rarified atmosphere and are also worried about disruption if our financial situation changes and we would have to pull our kids out of private school. We have a low mortgage so we don't worry about having to move if one of us lost a job.
For now we are saving $80K/year in a brokerage account instead of paying for private school. that is money our kids will have someday. I am not convinced that they would be better off with a private school education vs having that money to pay for their own kids' college educations. |
Anonymous
I am very convinced my son's private school made him more educated and future career oriented. His very fist SAT score was 1380, before he even took prep tutoring for higher score. Needless to say he started in kindergarten with developmental delays. School was providing all kinds of learning specialists (he was reading diagonally at age 7). Boys do much better is smaller classes and it's the major advantage of private schools. My friends' kids from public schools (unless specialty schools) have much lower SAT scores, drugs and partying culture prevails in the schools which are considered "top" public. |
Anonymous
|
This questions presumes:
1. Private school is better. 2. Parents should sacrifice their comfort or convenience for their kids. 3. People should spend as much money as they are able to. I disagree with all of those statements. |
Anonymous
On your question #1 there is statistics. Here's what google gives you right away: "Mean SAT scores for students in public schools were 529 in ERW and 520 in math, while comparable scores for students in religious schools were 581 and 572. Students in independent schools had an average ERW score of 580 and an average math score of 608." 520 average vs 608 average math score is a big difference! And these are just average schools, not top private like Sidwell where presents' kids go. On the other 2 questions - it's individual choice. If people can afford a $3mm house given all equal I don't understand what exact "inconvenience" is to send your kids private. If a family is scrambling to save for a car, the inconvenience is obvious. |
Anonymous
What a dumb take. Aside from the fact that any generalization about private school and public school is basically useless given the broad spectrum of quality among each, average higher SAT scores at privates could by explained by myriad factors having zero to do with the quality of the education, such as: on average more intelligent students, higher average parental education levels and intelligence, higher average resources for tutoring, etc. It's called correlation vs causation. Doesn't mean if you take Kid A and put them in private instead of public they'll have better outcomes. It also doesn't not mean that, but it's situation dependent. As others have stated upthread, spending money on a house vs private school is also fact specific. The number of kids you have is obviously pretty important. There are very few people--even those who can afford a $3m house--who wouldn't consider spending $160k+ on school tuition for 3-4 kids every year to be a serious commitment that's on a whole other plane from having an expensive mortgage/house. I say this as someone who went to private k-12 and whose parents sacrificed for it--including by not having a fancy house. I'm grateful for their decision and I'd make the same one for my kids in their situation--one kid, terrible public schools--but it's not the right call for everyone. |
Anonymous
Yes, it's true that mean SAT scores are higher for private school than public school. Not at all clear if that's BECAUSE of the school. Personally, I got a 1500 on the SATs back when they only went up to 1600, and if public school was good enough for me, it's good enough for my kids. |
Anonymous
Well, having your child studying with classmates whose parents are education-oriented is a serious reason for many parents go private. On costs - at my child's private school 70% are paying reduced tuition, many kids have merits based tuition; some expats have corporate coverage for private school. It has to be the same level of education their kids would have gotten in France or Germany, and somehow their companies agreed that only US private would be an "equivalent" level to German public school |
Anonymous
There are plenty of kids at my kids' public schools in upper NW whose parents are entitled to tuition coverage if they sent them to private school. They're in public school despite that. |
Anonymous
Your last sentence is not necessarily true: public schools have changed since you were a child, and not necessarily for the better. Private schools also changed, and often for the better since they have more resources, access to better professionals, attend more educational exchange programs with best other schools etc. |
Anonymous
Great, sure. I have no doubt private schools have very good PowerPoints about all the ways they've improved. My point remains: Good public schools were just fine for me. I have no doubt they'll be just fine for my kids, who have the same socioeconomic advantages I did when I was there age. |