Families who can afford private but go public, why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1, but most of this thread is idiotic sweeping generalizations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
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.

Really? Your second grader covered early civilizations and circulatory system and he plays band instruments in 2-3 grades?
Must be a very advanced school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s great! And that’s why they get paid more. They deal with a whole lot more crap than private school teachers do, so they earn more money. Seems fair to me. But it sure doesn’t mean that, in general, public school teachers are better — OR that private school teachers are better. Just that the skill set needed to be a great teacher in each environment is different.

[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.

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

Other than the yoga mats I’m not seeing anything different than our public.
- new poster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I think your analogy is off. Some people may want to stay in a ryokan in Hakone, camping in Yellowstone or stay in a castle in Ireland vs a luxury 5 star resort in BVI.

I love to travel. I love luxury hotels and resorts. We also like diversity and our kids attending kids with normal kids from different backgrounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

Other than the yoga mats I’m not seeing anything different than our public.
- new poster

Well, in our public they never played any games, had very little project-based learning. The teacher yelled at them to be quiet and it was difficult to get through a lesson without disruptions. They had 5 tests every Friday and taught to tests. It was not an environment that inspired a joy of learning.
DD told me that her friends who went to private school a grade below knew more than she does.

I guess, it depends on the school.

[Anonymous]

My school is better than your school...blah, blah, blah...my kid has more diverse friends than yours does...blah, blah, blah, blah. Own your choices and stfu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: We also like diversity and our kids attending kids with normal kids from different backgrounds.

I'm in the South. My friends' diverse public schools regularly go on lock down because of gun threats. Kids had brought weapons to school. There have been a couple of shootings. There are armed personnel hired at elementary schools and you see them walking around car drop off in the morning with guns in their holsters.

In our private school there is no such a thing and I've never heard a gun being mentioned there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

I think your analogy is off. Some people may want to stay in a ryokan in Hakone, camping in Yellowstone or stay in a castle in Ireland vs a luxury 5 star resort in BVI.

I love to travel. I love luxury hotels and resorts. We also like diversity and our kids attending kids with normal kids from different backgrounds.

Seems like you don’t really know what an analogy is then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: We also like diversity and our kids attending kids with normal kids from different backgrounds.

I'm in the South. My friends' diverse public schools regularly go on lock down because of gun threats. Kids had brought weapons to school. There have been a couple of shootings. There are armed personnel hired at elementary schools and you see them walking around car drop off in the morning with guns in their holsters.

In our private school there is no such a thing and I've never heard a gun being mentioned there.

Great, but still off-topic.

[Anonymous]

To actually answer the question -

1) I went to one of the fanciest privates in the country. I honestly don’t feel like it prepared me for my career or my life or anything else any better than the alternative would have. I understand that my societal perspective is somewhat skewed, but if I had gone to local public I’m pretty sure I would have ended up pretty close to where I am now.

2) My God, the elitism. Unless it were a religious school – which I feel like it’s a different conversation – the level of coddling that these kids receive is unparalleled and unhealthy. So many of the parents are absolutely intolerable. And I come from a fancy background!

3) No proven tangible benefit. I’m not always sure what outcome private school parents are hoping for. Is it about the journey? The love of learning? The college outcomes? How is any of that proven and how do you know your child would not of had the same experience at a public school? Love of learning is often innate.

4) The money. I know a lot of private school parents. There’s a very, very small number of them where the cost is literally negligible (which is why this thread title is loaded, but whatever). I have a net worth in the nearly 8 figures. I still don’t feel like $1.5 million (50k/yr/kid for 2 kids starting in pre-k is worth it or even close)

5) The value of attending a neighborhood school. This is something I really missed growing up and something I love about my kids’ experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To actually answer the question -

1) I went to one of the fanciest privates in the country. I honestly don’t feel like it prepared me for my career or my life or anything else any better than the alternative would have. I understand that my societal perspective is somewhat skewed, but if I had gone to local public I’m pretty sure I would have ended up pretty close to where I am now.

2) My God, the elitism. Unless it were a religious school – which I feel like it’s a different conversation – the level of coddling that these kids receive is unparalleled and unhealthy. So many of the parents are absolutely intolerable. And I come from a fancy background!

3) No proven tangible benefit. I’m not always sure what outcome private school parents are hoping for. Is it about the journey? The love of learning? The college outcomes? How is any of that proven and how do you know your child would not of had the same experience at a public school? Love of learning is often innate.

4) The money. I know a lot of private school parents. There’s a very, very small number of them where the cost is literally negligible (which is why this thread title is loaded, but whatever). I have a net worth in the nearly 8 figures. I still don’t feel like $1.5 million (50k/yr/kid for 2 kids starting in pre-k is worth it or even close)

5) The value of attending a neighborhood school. This is something I really missed growing up and something I love about my kids’ experience.

+1, from someone who taught at a fancy private school. My kids attend public schools in large part because there's no way I can justify that kind of $$ for something that doesn't have a proven ROI. I can see it if your kid has special needs or something, but for an average UMC to UC kid? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To actually answer the question -

1) I went to one of the fanciest privates in the country. I honestly don’t feel like it prepared me for my career or my life or anything else any better than the alternative would have. I understand that my societal perspective is somewhat skewed, but if I had gone to local public I’m pretty sure I would have ended up pretty close to where I am now.

2) My God, the elitism. Unless it were a religious school – which I feel like it’s a different conversation – the level of coddling that these kids receive is unparalleled and unhealthy. So many of the parents are absolutely intolerable. And I come from a fancy background!

3) No proven tangible benefit. I’m not always sure what outcome private school parents are hoping for. Is it about the journey? The love of learning? The college outcomes? How is any of that proven and how do you know your child would not of had the same experience at a public school? Love of learning is often innate.

4) The money. I know a lot of private school parents. There’s a very, very small number of them where the cost is literally negligible (which is why this thread title is loaded, but whatever). I have a net worth in the nearly 8 figures. I still don’t feel like $1.5 million (50k/yr/kid for 2 kids starting in pre-k is worth it or even close)

5) The value of attending a neighborhood school. This is something I really missed growing up and something I love about my kids’ experience.

+1, from someone who taught at a fancy private school. My kids attend public schools in large part because there's no way I can justify that kind of $$ for something that doesn't have a proven ROI. I can see it if your kid has special needs or something, but for an average UMC to UC kid? No.

I think someone earlier in the thread mentioned the somewhat intangible value of the experience itself, which of course depends very much on the specific public school and specific private school being chosen or compared. K-8, I went to a decent public elementary and jr high, mostly middle class, few rich, few poor. It was fine, but I’m every class was a substantial number of kids with just about zero interest in being there. Some portion were just waiting to dropout. That’s an advantage of the Catholic private school I chose for high school. Every one there wanted to be there, and there were very few dropouts. It wasn’t a matter of finding a clique of students who cared about school. Everyone did, as a baseline. That’s of some value. Maybe not 50k a year but it’s not nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

Other than the yoga mats I’m not seeing anything different than our public.
- new poster

Crossfield elementary has nothing like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools have much lower standards for teachers. And they pay far less than public schools. If you are good at your profession, why get paid a third or more less????

Wow, you’re not a teacher and you don’t know anyone who is.

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.

I will say that there are a significant number of teachers in private schools whose job is a “hobby” profession — There’s a significant other source of income somewhere. Some of those teachers are absolutely wonderful so I can’t really complain!

I teach math as a hobby. A few years back when I was starting I had thoughts about teaching in a public school. After doing some reading, I realized that what initially sounded awesome to me (i.e teaching at one of the great public school in the area) might be unrewarding primarily because I'd be forced to teach with a set in stone curriculum, and also deal with lots of disruption/behavior issues. While I no longer fantasize about teaching in a public school, I still occasionally entertain the idea of teaching in a private somewhere. If I can find a place with a bunch of smart, well behaved kids who are there because they want to learn more, and I'm able to push them harder than in public school using without being micromanaged, I'd definitely consider it, irrespective of the lower pay.