Politically Incorrect Private School Thread What Do You Really Think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think private school parents (and I am one of them) are just lazy and pay the big bucks to let the school do all the work for them in terms of their children's academic career and enrichment opportunities. In public schools parents have to give their children more guidance and often times they have to do more of the leg work involved in the process.

There is said it!

That's an interesting perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What do I really think? Your private school kid couldn't cut it in the competitive atmosphere of public school.

Like the PP said, her son was not competitive enough to get into advanced classes so she sent him to private school.

Nothing wrong with that per se, of course at some point in his life he will probably be competing against all these smart public school kids and it may come as a bit of a shock when his mom and dad can't "pull him out" of those situations as well.

Really? Every private school kid couldn't cut it in the public school world?

Of course not. Lots of bright super smart kids go to private school. But they round out the school with mediocre students whose parents can afford full tuition. I get it that a B student in public school may be an A student with lots of help, and that's appealing to a lot of parents. But don't kid yourself that your barely A student at private can compete with the AP/magnet students in public.

Seriously? I went to private and public schools and I can assure you that A students in public typically weren't A students in private. In fact, my friends and I always joked that whenever a public school kid told us their GPA, we'd subtract .6 to get their GPA at our school..

Wait, what? Are you sure this isn't your fake "16-year-old DD" allegedly making stupid comments again? You sound like that particular troll. Viz, maybe you switched between schools in back in East Podunk Town 30 years ago (that is, if you're not the troll). Still, you have no idea how the rest of your classmates would have faired in different schools, especially in comparisons between elite privates and magnets.

Funny this. I too went to private and public schools, and so have both my kids. The public school had all the national merit semifinalists and the professors' kids, and the private school had all the ... wait for it... so-so kids of divorced parents. I can't explain that. Although there were some smart kids at the private school too. Guess what: there are great and not-so-great kids in both public and private schools.

What's wrong with kids of divorced parents? That's pretty elitist..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do I really think? Your private school kid couldn't cut it in the competitive atmosphere of public school.

Like the PP said, her son was not competitive enough to get into advanced classes so she sent him to private school.

Nothing wrong with that per se, of course at some point in his life he will probably be competing against all these smart public school kids and it may come as a bit of a shock when his mom and dad can't "pull him out" of those situations as well.

Really? Every private school kid couldn't cut it in the public school world?

Of course not. Lots of bright super smart kids go to private school. But they round out the school with mediocre students whose parents can afford full tuition. I get it that a B student in public school may be an A student with lots of help, and that's appealing to a lot of parents. But don't kid yourself that your barely A student at private can compete with the AP/magnet students in public.

Seriously? I went to private and public schools and I can assure you that A students in public typically weren't A students in private. In fact, my friends and I always joked that whenever a public school kid told us their GPA, we'd subtract .6 to get their GPA at our school..

Wait, what? Are you sure this isn't your fake "16-year-old DD" allegedly making stupid comments again? You sound like that particular troll. Viz, maybe you switched between schools in back in East Podunk Town 30 years ago (that is, if you're not the troll). Still, you have no idea how the rest of your classmates would have faired in different schools, especially in comparisons between elite privates and magnets.

Funny this. I too went to private and public schools, and so have both my kids. The public school had all the national merit semifinalists and the professors' kids, and the private school had all the ... wait for it... so-so kids of divorced parents. I can't explain that. Although there were some smart kids at the private school too. Guess what: there are great and not-so-great kids in both public and private schools.

What's wrong with kids of divorced parents? That's pretty elitist..

Where did I imply there's anything wrong with kids of divorced parents? That's being over-sensitive. In fact, I hadn't noticed it myself until my BFF pointed out that I was the only kid in the class with both parents at home. Just an observation, you put whatever spin you want on it.

[Anonymous]

Here are the schools that pretty much anyone with a GED can get into:
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-acceptance-rate?src=stats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do I really think? Your private school kid couldn't cut it in the competitive atmosphere of public school.

Like the PP said, her son was not competitive enough to get into advanced classes so she sent him to private school.

Nothing wrong with that per se, of course at some point in his life he will probably be competing against all these smart public school kids and it may come as a bit of a shock when his mom and dad can't "pull him out" of those situations as well.

Really? Every private school kid couldn't cut it in the public school world?

Of course not. Lots of bright super smart kids go to private school. But they round out the school with mediocre students whose parents can afford full tuition. I get it that a B student in public school may be an A student with lots of help, and that's appealing to a lot of parents. But don't kid yourself that your barely A student at private can compete with the AP/magnet students in public.

Seriously? I went to private and public schools and I can assure you that A students in public typically weren't A students in private. In fact, my friends and I always joked that whenever a public school kid told us their GPA, we'd subtract .6 to get their GPA at our school..

Wait, what? Are you sure this isn't your fake "16-year-old DD" allegedly making stupid comments again? You sound like that particular troll. Viz, maybe you switched between schools in back in East Podunk Town 30 years ago (that is, if you're not the troll). Still, you have no idea how the rest of your classmates would have faired in different schools, especially in comparisons between elite privates and magnets.

Funny this. I too went to private and public schools, and so have both my kids. The public school had all the national merit semifinalists and the professors' kids, and the private school had all the ... wait for it... so-so kids of divorced parents. I can't explain that. Although there were some smart kids at the private school too. Guess what: there are great and not-so-great kids in both public and private schools.

What's wrong with kids of divorced parents? That's pretty elitist..

Where did I imply there's anything wrong with kids of divorced parents? That's being over-sensitive. In fact, I hadn't noticed it myself until my BFF pointed out that I was the only kid in the class with both parents at home. Just an observation, you put whatever spin you want on it.

You said "the public school had professors kids and the private school had so-so kids of divorced parents."

Nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...At least at our public school there is a very large group of motivated students who go to top colleges. While the percentages might be lower, the sheer numbers are large. So maybe 20-30% of the class is going to top colleges - that's 150 kids. That's a pretty good peer group.

Could you please tell me which local public school has 20-30% of each class going to top colleges?

Surely depends on how "top" is defined, right? Top 10? No way. Top 50? Absolutely.

Thanks, yes I meant more like top 25 on each list (SLAC and University). I have a possibly more expansive view of "top" than the private school crowd? Of course we don't have 20-30% going to Ivy League schools. If that's what you want you probably need to get your kid the heck out of Dodge and go to Andover or Exeter. Keep in mind the number one college destination for last year's Sidwell class was University of Michigan.

What is wrong with U of MI?! It has some great programs. People forget that some state universities have top programs (better than Ivy).

Absolutely nothing wrong with it, I would include Michigan in my list of top universities. And apparently it's good enough for a large %age of the Sidwell class. But not good enough for people on this board.

[Anonymous]

JMU at 84, Christopher Newport 68, UMD 62, some examples of the great colleges and their rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JMU at 84, Christopher Newport 68, UMD 62, some examples of the great colleges and their rankings

USNWR doesn't rank JMU or CNU on its LAC or Nat'l Universities list. But you got UMD right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the people who live in million dollar homes, drive luxury clothes, and drive luxury cars yet still send their kids to public school. There, I said it.

Lol, this is us. HHI tends to vary between 750k to a little over a million. DH was strongly in favor of public because he believes our children would benefit from NOT being raised to think they are the center of the universe and that they are more likely to learn the value of perseverance in public. I had no strong thoughts on the matter. In fact, I find threads like this amusing because people get so worked up about it. We both went to public schools and turned out fine.

[Anonymous]

If you removed from the big 3 all families living in bounds for a weak lower or middle or upper public catchment, there would only be enough students remaining G to a big one and a half!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is abundantly clear to me that 11:43 is comparing the very best MoCo magnet schools to middle-of-the-pack private schools -- if 11:43 has indeed really had a child in a private school past Kindergarten at all. (11:43's assessment of, say, takoma park magnet does sound about right)

Those of us with an older tween or teen in Holton, gds or Sidwell don't think that the language and science and math piece "levels out" and becomes par with, say, Westland MS or BCC, as 11:43 suggests.

Um, if your DD is at Holton, how do you *know* this about public schools? Didn't OP saying something about people criticizing things they are ignorant about?

Objectively, we can compare course offerings at area publics and privates. In fact, the publics are more likely to have math beyond AP Calc, for example, and broader science offerings. You might have a point about smaller class sizes at the privates, but the publics are more likely to have certified teachers.

Off topic but I think AP is a total scam. I'd like to see the stats on the number of universities that actually give credit and the number of kids that actually score high enough on the AP exam to qualify for that credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the people who live in million dollar homes, drive luxury clothes, and drive luxury cars yet still send their kids to public school. There, I said it.

Lol, this is us. HHI tends to vary between 750k to a little over a million. DH was strongly in favor of public because he believes our children would benefit from NOT being raised to think they are the center of the universe and that they are more likely to learn the value of perseverance in public. I had no strong thoughts on the matter. In fact, I find threads like this amusing because people get so worked up about it. We both went to public schools and turned out fine.

Big law, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do I really think? Your private school kid couldn't cut it in the competitive atmosphere of public school.

Like the PP said, her son was not competitive enough to get into advanced classes so she sent him to private school.

Nothing wrong with that per se, of course at some point in his life he will probably be competing against all these smart public school kids and it may come as a bit of a shock when his mom and dad can't "pull him out" of those situations as well.

Really? Every private school kid couldn't cut it in the public school world?

Of course not. Lots of bright super smart kids go to private school. But they round out the school with mediocre students whose parents can afford full tuition. I get it that a B student in public school may be an A student with lots of help, and that's appealing to a lot of parents. But don't kid yourself that your barely A student at private can compete with the AP/magnet students in public.

Seriously? I went to private and public schools and I can assure you that A students in public typically weren't A students in private. In fact, my friends and I always joked that whenever a public school kid told us their GPA, we'd subtract .6 to get their GPA at our school..

Seriously?

Then you and your friends were kidding yourselves. Understandable since from the get-go you were told how speshal you were. Really think you are better students than the top 15 at lets's say -- any of the Ws in bethesda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the people who live in million dollar homes, drive luxury clothes, and drive luxury cars yet still send their kids to public school. There, I said it.

Lol, this is us. HHI tends to vary between 750k to a little over a million. DH was strongly in favor of public because he believes our children would benefit from NOT being raised to think they are the center of the universe and that they are more likely to learn the value of perseverance in public. I had no strong thoughts on the matter. In fact, I find threads like this amusing because people get so worked up about it. We both went to public schools and turned out fine.

Big law, right?

Finance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the people who live in million dollar homes, drive luxury clothes, and drive luxury cars yet still send their kids to public school. There, I said it.

Lol, this is us. HHI tends to vary between 750k to a little over a million. DH was strongly in favor of public because he believes our children would benefit from NOT being raised to think they are the center of the universe and that they are more likely to learn the value of perseverance in public. I had no strong thoughts on the matter. In fact, I find threads like this amusing because people get so worked up about it. We both went to public schools and turned out fine.

Lol.. The idea that your kids don't think they are the center of the universe. Where do they go Watkins Mill?