Families who can afford private but go public, why?

[Anonymous]

When DD went to public some teachers were great but many were just blah. DD goes to private and all her teachers are amazing. I’m happy with all of them and I’m hard to please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When DD went to public some teachers were great but many were just blah. DD goes to private and all her teachers are amazing. I’m happy with all of them and I’m hard to please.

Once you start paying for private, the confirmation bias is very strong.

The public school teachers our kids had in FCPS were far more knowledgeable than our private school teachers in DC, especially when it came to dealing with kids with diverse needs.

[Anonymous]

In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

This sounds a lot like the things our kids are doing in public except the French (we have language immersion so they have 1/2 their classes taught in the target language).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When DD went to public some teachers were great but many were just blah. DD goes to private and all her teachers are amazing. I’m happy with all of them and I’m hard to please.

Once you start paying for private, the confirmation bias is very strong.

The public school teachers our kids had in FCPS were far more knowledgeable than our private school teachers in DC, especially when it came to dealing with kids with diverse needs.

DP with kids in both. You have as much confirmation bias as that PP. Don't pretend you aren't as invested. That is making you blind.

My experience -- and I too have confirmation bias even with kids in both -- is that you get good and bad teachers in both, but how they are good and bad varies based on structural differences. The public tenured teacher who mocked my dyslexic son's handwriting in front of the class is untouchable (I tried). She continues to berate kids with special needs to this day; I still hear about it from other parents. In private, I don't hear stories of teachers berating kids because those teachers are typically quickly fired. Meanwhile, on the good spectrum, the outstanding teacher another kid was lucky enough to have in public 5th grade is so good that she's now driving curricular training across the district (so a much wider impact than she'd have in private).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

Sounds like our public school. I don’t see many differences. Like the PP ours is also a language immersion school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

I’m glad I didn’t spend all that money for my kid to be playing ukulele.

My kids are both in AAP and their academics seem stronger. My kids are in chess club and Science Olympiad and have a solid peer group in our same neighborhood. My child is building simple machines, writing hypothesis and running experiments and learning anatomy. You get out of public school what effort you put in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

I should add that in public they didn’t have nearly as many projects and with 30 kids in class some of whom had behavior issues they never played any games. They just did worksheets.

[Anonymous]

It’s not what you teach. It’s how.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

This sounds a lot like the things our kids are doing in public except the French (we have language immersion so they have 1/2 their classes taught in the target language).

LOL. Keep dreaming hun

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

I should add that in public they didn’t have nearly as many projects and with 30 kids in class some of whom had behavior issues they never played any games. They just did worksheets.

Private class sizes are definitely smaller. However, 30 is rare. I have 3 kids and have never gotten close to 30. My kids have been in classes as small as 19 and largest was 26. Kids have 23 and 22 kids in their classes this year. I’m glad my kids have an opportunity to meet friends.

My good friend sends her daughter to a very small private. There are only 2 classes per grade and less than 20 students per class. There are only 16 girls in the entire grade and it sounds like there are a lot of hurt feelings about being left out or being in the wrong class. Granted there is mean girls behavior everywhere it seems like her daughter is stuck with this small group of people through 12th grade!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In social studies DD loves playing trivia on early civilizations after completing research and report on Aztecs.

In science after learning about circulatory system they have a project to measure their pulse rates and resting and active states and analyze and graph the data.

In French they brought yoga mats and learned words through poses - chair, airplane, etc.

In math they play games and are covering material ahead one grade.

In language arts they wrote stories about dramatic event in their lives and are publishing a book.

In music they had a recorder concert and are learning to play ukulele.

There is no confirmation bias here. I love how private school teachers work hard to make learning interesting and engaging.

I should add that in public they didn’t have nearly as many projects and with 30 kids in class some of whom had behavior issues they never played any games. They just did worksheets.

We are at aps at a school called middle of the road here.
Other than the French (fles is a joke), this sounds very similar to what my second grader did last year. Instead of playing the ukelele they move from the recorder to real instruments in band.

[Anonymous]

Why is it so hard for people to believe that there are wonderful teachers in both public and private? That is possible for someone to have an amazing experience in either, or mediocre experience in either?

Keep looking until you find the right environment for your kid, and your family. If you’re ruling out public because you think it’s always awful, or private for non-financial reasons, then youre needlessly eliminating options.

[Anonymous]

Look. I don’t think my kids are getting a better education in private. I think that *I* am having a better experience as the client.

Even I think that’s sort of gross but it’s true.

Compare to, say, a 5 star or 3 star hotel. You’re like, but the 3 star has free breakfast, airport shuttle, and is actually in a more convenient location. And I’m like, fine but my experience is just better in the 5 star. And you’re like, decor doesn’t matter. You don’t even use the pool. One time I stayed at a 5 star hotel and the bathroom wasn’t clean. They don’t have enough wheelchair accessible rooms so for people in wheelchairs the 3 star is unquestionably better.

Fine. I still want to stay at the better hotel. I just like it. If I had to stay at a 3 star I’m sure everything would be fine but you can’t convince me it’s actually better from an experiential perspective. It isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Teachers at private schools get paid less because their job is much easier. They are dealing with smaller classes, children who were able to pass entrance exams, and children without significant behavioral issues. That’s it. A lot of teachers are willing to trade the less stressful job for less money. The inner-city schools here pay a lot more, because they have to, because it’s a shit show of a job.

My kids go to a DC inner city school (found this thread while browsing the recent topics board) and I have to say that the majority of the teachers have been simply amazing. There are LOTS of classroom disruptions as you can imagine, but the way the teachers are able to teach through that and keep students engaged is extraordinary.