Is private school that much better?
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Anonymous
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We are trying to decide whether to move to the suburb for the schools or try to see if we can afford private school. I know I may sound naive, but I simply have zero experience with the US school system to understand just how much difference does it make between the private school and a really good public school. I grew up overseas and went to public schools, however, this country had pretty aggressive academic program in comparison with the US and the overall culture was very conservative as far as drug/alcohol/sex in school is concerned.
So, is this worth it to move to the suburb with the good schools like Mclean, for example and save on having to send two kids to private school? Will we be doing our kids a disservice if we could afford private school with some sacrifice (living in a cheaper area, small house, no exciting vacations, etc)? Our budget for a house is about 800K in order for us to afford private school. I am not a troll, so please no nasty remarks, I am sure there has been debates on that, I am just specifically trying to compare the public schools in Fairfax (Mclean pyramid) with the private schools in the district. Are they that much better to make sacrifices? |
Anonymous
| Depends what better means to you, OP. Go over to the private school forum and read the threads on whether private school is worth it and the different perspectives. For us, it is. We rae buying a certain school experience that we think has value - smaller classes, character education, more art, music and PE, ability grouping from Kindergarten without the dreaded TAG label. Do top-performing kids at public school perform just as well as top private school kids on SATs and so on and in college placement? You betcha. Some say better. That is not why we write the check, and we would be idiots if we were doing it for that reason. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| lookup the FARMS and the Test Scores at http://www.greatschools.net to make the comparison. In DC all the public schools are bad and private is a must. In most of FCPS and MOCO the pulics are as good as the privates. |
Anonymous
Thank you. We have looked at this website before and also have talked to people from the area. We were thinking moving somewhere with Mclean pyramid. Were looking at places zoned for FranklinSherman/Longfellow/Mclean and churchill/Cooper/Langley. |
Anonymous
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I think the answer depends on two things:
(1) How much will private tuition affect your family economic stability over the long run? (i.e. if you can part with $60K each year and still save for retirement and live the life you want, then it's a much easier road to "YES" than if you can do it, but you will no longer be saving for retirement). and (2) Which private school are you considering? Some privates are not really superior to public schools. They may be smaller, but they may have lots of kids/parents who couldn't get along in the public school. They may not be able to offer the high end or the special needs like the public schools. On the other hand, there are many private schools that are superior in that they have kids whose parents value education and achievement. The kids come from high income/education homes. The schools have smaller class sizes and they do teach at a higher level b/c they don't have to deal with kids barely meeting benchmarks. Would I LOVE to send my kids to schools with smaller classes and greater discipline/respect --- yes! Am I willing to spend $60K x 12 yrs. for that? --- no. If money was not an issue, I'd do it. But in the real world, money matters and I don't feel like the concerns I have with public school are worth "fixing" for $60K each year (two kids). Retirement savings are taking precedent over private school. |
Anonymous
| If you aren't sure, and you end up in Fairfax, Arlington, Montgomery County, or NW DC, you should probably visit the public elementary, browse the curriculum on their district websites, and talk to local parents before choosing private. To answer your question directly, no, in this area not all private schools are better than public schools. Culture is also an issue. I went to good public schools for most of my education and then private school at the end, and while academics may have been marginally better at my private school, the culture was wrong for me, as it was highly focused on sports and there was significant hazing/bullying. |
Anonymous
If anyone believes this simple generalization then they belong in a school that sucks 30K out of them a year in exchange for shallow status and a cushy comfy lack of diversity for their little snowflake. |
Anonymous
What a crock of shit. All of the DC public schools are NOT bad. You clearly live in Ashburn someone and are afraid to come to the city. If you don't prefer the city, that's fine, but don't put those generalizations out there. For the most part, the schools west of the park are far better even though there are some gems in Capitol Hill. I know quite a few people with means who send their kids to public school, including me. Our kids attend a charter school. We may not be in the 1% of DC, but our HHI is $600K and we like our public school, thank you very much! |
Anonymous
Since when is the TAG label dreaded? |
Anonymous
For me, not long after I got the label in 1976. If you grew up with it, you might not think it is so great. My DH had the same thing and has the same view, and we aren't the only ones. There are threads on this if you search. |
Anonymous
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23:06, I got the label around the same time as you did and it was not the great thing some of the parents around here seem to think it is. By the time I got to college, I was pretty sick of only being exposed to the honors/AP/GT kids, so I didn't take any honors classes in college. It was kind of nice. I assume my daughter will be TAG because her dad and I both were, but I wouldn't be terribly upset if she isn't identified as such.
then again, maybe it had a "geek" stigma in the 70's and it doesn't now? |
Anonymous
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Depends on the schools available, the disposition of your children, and (importantly) what you will have to give up to afford private school.
We chose the suburbs partly for schools. We certainly could have paid for private, but it would have meant that many of the things we do, like expensive sports, interesting trips, therapy, and not thinking twice before replacing the furnace or the roof... all that would have been out the window. Later my husband got very sick, and it was really nice that our expenses were fairly low. |
Anonymous
| Agree that, in this area especially, private schools are not better. You may be buying a smaller class size or lower teacher/student ratio, though that depends on which schools you are comparing. You may be buying certain special educational features - foreign language immersion, for example, or special ed, or a specialized way of teaching, such as Montessori - that publics may not offer or do as well or with as much focus. But the fact is that the good quality publics in this area (whether in D.C., MD or VA - they are all over) do just as good of a job if not better as the privates. |
Anonymous
| One thing I would focus on is the ability of any school (public or private) to provide at least some differentiated instruction based on abilities. If your child is ahead in some things, can they foster that? If s/he is behind, can they help with that as well? Especially in the younger grades, children can have very uneven abilities. |