Thoughts on families with expensive houses and cars who send kids to public school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

I think with colleges it's also a very different situation: after our private kids go to MIT, Calitech, Berkeley, Duke, Cornell. Many top kids have SAT around 1500 which opens up doors into these colleges. Even when families send their kids to a state school, kids perform way better while in college. Some skip whole first year in college and already have google CS certifications at age 19; others study on top of their class and are in general very career oriented. It gets into your blood during all these years in private that education, career is what you focus in younger age. All families are similarly professionally oriented. I do agree that kids are less socially connected but it works for me that my child is not partying and goes home to study after school robotically. Better than drugs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Actually, the title of the thread is "Thoughts on families with expensive houses and cars who send kids to public school?" and the first post is "

The point is that even if your car cost $30k and your colleague's cost $80k, that's a $50k delta, which is basically 1 year of private school, maybe 1.5, for one kid. If your colleague has more than one kid, they could drive an $800 beater and it would still cost more than the Tesla to put multiple kids through one year of private school.

For families with multiple kids, it's rare that lifestyle changes like downgrading a house or buying cheaper cars would come anywhere close to equating to the annual cost of private school tuition.

This thread discusses families who CAN afford smilingly a private school but still spend this extra money on houses, boats, new cars every year and (as one PP mentioned) their own savings of $150k/year. I would absolutely consider her a better parent if she drives Honda and not Tesla, but sends her kid to a good private school.

Many kids who are smart enough to get accepted by private schools get tuition discounts. Our private school tuition is 46K but families with multiple kids pay under 20K or so, as school has wealthy donors and its co-funded by corporate sponsors who cover their employees' kids at 100%. So one Tesla is more of a 5 years tuition which would be a huge change for a child in DC, for example where there are simply no comparable public schools

Where do you read that in the thread title or first post?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

Weird flex. Its fairly common at our run of the mill non-special public HS for students to start college with enough AP credit to be considered a sophomore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Actually, the title of the thread is "Thoughts on families with expensive houses and cars who send kids to public school?" and the first post is "

The point is that even if your car cost $30k and your colleague's cost $80k, that's a $50k delta, which is basically 1 year of private school, maybe 1.5, for one kid. If your colleague has more than one kid, they could drive an $800 beater and it would still cost more than the Tesla to put multiple kids through one year of private school.

For families with multiple kids, it's rare that lifestyle changes like downgrading a house or buying cheaper cars would come anywhere close to equating to the annual cost of private school tuition.

This thread discusses families who CAN afford smilingly a private school but still spend this extra money on houses, boats, new cars every year and (as one PP mentioned) their own savings of $150k/year. I would absolutely consider her a better parent if she drives Honda and not Tesla, but sends her kid to a good private school.

Many kids who are smart enough to get accepted by private schools get tuition discounts. Our private school tuition is 46K but families with multiple kids pay under 20K or so, as school has wealthy donors and its co-funded by corporate sponsors who cover their employees' kids at 100%. So one Tesla is more of a 5 years tuition which would be a huge change for a child in DC, for example where there are simply no comparable public schools

Where do you read that in the thread title or first post?

That was the line of argument from PPs who said they would rather save $150k/year and send their kids to regular public schools, than spending money on private. I do realize that an expensive home and a good car doesn't necessarily mean level of wealth where people have extra 100K to spend on private schools. No arguing about it: but then just acknowledge it's a financial restrain. What people do instead is arguing that 300 points on SAT doesn't matter, partying doesn't matter, "kids are able to protect themselves better" in public schools and so on.

Note that a few people who are happy with public send their kids to "specialty" STEM programs, not standard DC public schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

Weird flex. Its fairly common at our run of the mill non-special public HS for students to start college with enough AP credit to be considered a sophomore.

It's not fairly common for public schools and also depends which college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am literally stunned by people who don’t understand this:

Whether your kid will succeed or not is based on you (and their DNA).

Like straight up. So so many people in the Ivy League are from public school. I really don’t know why people think private school will make a mediocre kid something special.

Much of what ends up being financial success depends on connections. I’m a product of independent schools and then graduated from NYU. I got excellent internships through my network and then all of my subsequent jobs. I don’t think people who haven’t lived in these circles have even the vaguest understanding of this concept. I CAN send my kids to an expensive independent school and they do start life in 3rd base because that’s what my DH and I had. Does anyone here actually think my kids will have to grind it out to find a great internship at one of the big 3? When your kid is hanging out at the home of a MBB partner for years on end and your vacationing at each other’s summer homes what do you think happens when they need a solid? It’s no accident that there are a ton is social events hosted through the independent schools.I’m reality these are networking events.

Personally I didn't want to deal with ^^ types. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of annoying parents at public school, but it wasn't a willfully obtuse/obnoxious fest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

Weird flex. Its fairly common at our run of the mill non-special public HS for students to start college with enough AP credit to be considered a sophomore.

It's not fairly common for public schools and also depends which college.

Whelp don’t know what to tell you. My kids go to a public school that most people on this board would never send their kids to and there are plenty of kids with 8 AP classes over the course of their HS experience which would make them technically a college sophomore. It’s available and an option to kids academically capable. Just off the top of my head kids can take AP in the following:


Calc AB
Calc BC
Stats
World history
US history
Government
World geography
Bio
Chem
Physics
French
Spanish
Latin
German
Literature

I’m sure I’m missing some…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am literally stunned by people who don’t understand this:

Whether your kid will succeed or not is based on you (and their DNA).

Like straight up. So so many people in the Ivy League are from public school. I really don’t know why people think private school will make a mediocre kid something special.

Much of what ends up being financial success depends on connections. I’m a product of independent schools and then graduated from NYU. I got excellent internships through my network and then all of my subsequent jobs. I don’t think people who haven’t lived in these circles have even the vaguest understanding of this concept. I CAN send my kids to an expensive independent school and they do start life in 3rd base because that’s what my DH and I had. Does anyone here actually think my kids will have to grind it out to find a great internship at one of the big 3? When your kid is hanging out at the home of a MBB partner for years on end and your vacationing at each other’s summer homes what do you think happens when they need a solid? It’s no accident that there are a ton is social events hosted through the independent schools.I’m reality these are networking events.

Personally I didn't want to deal with ^^ types. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of annoying parents at public school, but it wasn't a willfully obtuse/obnoxious fest.

Our private school has a lot of expats, executives who move into area and leave in 2-3 years thus I didn't feel like we personally or our child gained many connections. But my child is not particular social either. I also don't think that hanging out in HS offers access to higher level jobs in 10 years . To me the benefits of a private school is safety, overall learning and social environment, interesting teachers (our advanced math teacher is a retired investment banker and his annuities presentations are amazing).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

Weird flex. Its fairly common at our run of the mill non-special public HS for students to start college with enough AP credit to be considered a sophomore.

It's not fairly common for public schools and also depends which college.

Whelp don’t know what to tell you. My kids go to a public school that most people on this board would never send their kids to and there are plenty of kids with 8 AP classes over the course of their HS experience which would make them technically a college sophomore. It’s available and an option to kids academically capable. Just off the top of my head kids can take AP in the following:


Calc AB
Calc BC
Stats
World history
US history
Government
World geography
Bio
Chem
Physics
French
Spanish
Latin
German
Literature

I’m sure I’m missing some…

Of course I agree all these are available but the environment wouldn't be conducive of learning: larger classes, teachers have less time to support through a number of AP classes, fighting, partying or very sexually active classmates. All families with daughters enrolled in public schools have issues with girls de-facto living with boyfriends (not at parents' home) in HS. These are McLean High, WW, Poolsville schools which are not bad at all. Kids just don't want and don't take these courses because it;s not "popular" that's it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

Weird flex. Its fairly common at our run of the mill non-special public HS for students to start college with enough AP credit to be considered a sophomore.

It's not fairly common for public schools and also depends which college.

My son graduated from a public HS in Vienna and graduated from UVA engineering in 3 years...3 out of 5 of his UVA apartment mates also graduated early, none of them attended private HS

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Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

Weird flex. Its fairly common at our run of the mill non-special public HS for students to start college with enough AP credit to be considered a sophomore.

It's not fairly common for public schools and also depends which college.

Whelp don’t know what to tell you. My kids go to a public school that most people on this board would never send their kids to and there are plenty of kids with 8 AP classes over the course of their HS experience which would make them technically a college sophomore. It’s available and an option to kids academically capable. Just off the top of my head kids can take AP in the following:


Calc AB
Calc BC
Stats
World history
US history
Government
World geography
Bio
Chem
Physics
French
Spanish
Latin
German
Literature

I’m sure I’m missing some…

Of course I agree all these are available but the environment wouldn't be conducive of learning: larger classes, teachers have less time to support through a number of AP classes, fighting, partying or very sexually active classmates. All families with daughters enrolled in public schools have issues with girls de-facto living with boyfriends (not at parents' home) in HS. These are McLean High, WW, Poolsville schools which are not bad at all. Kids just don't want and don't take these courses because it;s not "popular" that's it

Pardon, I didn't mean all families but all my friends whose kids attend the named schools. They don't even see their children come back home until well past midnight. These are wealthy established households (no divorces, abuse at home, professional parents). Do you really think their kids study till midnight?

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Anonymous wrote:I know people who are deemed as highly intelligent who buy Teslas, but their kids go to very crappy schools.

I don’t know what they’re thinking. Maybe that education is not important, maybe they think academics are not that important and they are teaching kids the necessary skills themselves. Who knows.

In our private school many kids go to the same state schools as the public school kids.

Aren't you sort of contradicting yourself here? Why does it matter if a kid goes to private school if he or she will just end up at VT, JM, or College Park anyway?

Because it’s not about the college, at least for me. I want to provide a thriving environment for my kid for 12 years that are formative development years.

My colleague drives a Tesla while his kids experience fights with hair pulling, smashing bodies into walls and floors, regular lockdowns for gun threats, low academic standards, prevalent drugs, etc.

I drive a Honda, but my kid is in a calm learning environment with high academic standards, teachers who work in making learning joyful, kids that are
motivated to succeed.

Sorry, that does not make you a better parent

I would disagree. Parents willing to sacrifice to provide their kids better experiences are indeed better parents.

It's not about "willing to sacrifice." Is it really a "better" experience to be in a little bubble of privilege for your formative years? I don't think that's clear at all.

It's not a bubble of privilege, it's an elite-college like learning experience while on a safe campus with similarly minded HS students. If you never experienced it, you can't really judge. People want to be in a certain environment, have smaller classes, have extra time to meet with teachers discuss their science assignments, have involved college advisors, meetings with corporate leaders describing their achievements, travel abroad and exchange experience.
It is indeed a huge difference and knowing it I would be very frustrated not to allow my child experience that, when I can afford it

Did you know that you can find all of those things in a public HS? I have one who graduated from an elite private school and one in a magnet program. The magnet program ticks all of those boxes (probably more than the elite private school), plus has my kid taking more classes, with more advanced STEM options, and an internship experience on top of it. The private school was good for the kid in its own way, but the public magnet is no slouch at preparing a kid to be successful in college.

I do realize it but I still doubt specifically for DC that a local magnet school would be better than an advanced class in a private school where my child is. We were accepted by couple Virginia magnet schools but didnt want to move there. It would be a very long commute from DC for both parents and early morning wake ups/late arrival from school leaving little time do to a typical 4-5 hour long HW assignments. My child is higher level than AP (will be able to skip his freshman's year in college as he already would have taken these course in his HS program)

Weird flex. Its fairly common at our run of the mill non-special public HS for students to start college with enough AP credit to be considered a sophomore.

It's not fairly common for public schools and also depends which college.

Whelp don’t know what to tell you. My kids go to a public school that most people on this board would never send their kids to and there are plenty of kids with 8 AP classes over the course of their HS experience which would make them technically a college sophomore. It’s available and an option to kids academically capable. Just off the top of my head kids can take AP in the following:


Calc AB
Calc BC
Stats
World history
US history
Government
World geography
Bio
Chem
Physics
French
Spanish
Latin
German
Literature

I’m sure I’m missing some…

Of course I agree all these are available but the environment wouldn't be conducive of learning: larger classes, teachers have less time to support through a number of AP classes, fighting, partying or very sexually active classmates. All families with daughters enrolled in public schools have issues with girls de-facto living with boyfriends (not at parents' home) in HS. These are McLean High, WW, Poolsville schools which are not bad at all. Kids just don't want and don't take these courses because it;s not "popular" that's it

“All families with daughters enrolled in public school” most definitely DO NOT have these issues. WTH are you talking about. I’m sure some do, as I’m sure some private kids do. But you apparently know nothing about public school if you think this.