Private versus public
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I have been perusing the recent topics and have noticed a flurry of angst regarding private school admittance. I was just wondering why people would be so disappointed in a rejection from a specific private school. Do you honestly believe that private schools are better than our local public schools? Last I checked, MCPS and FCPS are among the best in the nation. I ask this honestly because I am a family that can afford private education but chose public school due to its resources. My DS has mild ASD with an IEP and is in AAP due to his exceptional IQ. My other DS is in public first grade (being pulled out for advanced work) and my DD (3) is in a half day AMI Montessori school. I cannot help to think that I am not providing the best academic environment for my children after seeing so many posts about garnering admission to private school. Am I depriving my children of an opportunity? What does private schools offer that public schools cannot? |
Anonymous
| We are in the same boat. People want smaller class sizes or more recess time or more parent teacher interaction or feel they will be better connected. Its a loaded issue as everyone wants to give their kids the best. Sounds like you are happy where you are. Kids do wonderfully from both. |
Anonymous
|
OP, I believe that at least a few readers of this sub-board agree with you completely. We're ex-private, now public, and what we've seen in strictly academic and responsiveness terms in public is infinitely better than anything we had experienced in private, period. You're not depriving your children one bit.
|
Anonymous
|
On DCUM there seems to be a sort of bandwagon effect about private school that seems to boil down to parents worrying, "if others think private is better, then we must be missing something and doing our kids a disservice by sending them public." There are various manifestations of this, from "testing will torture my kid" to "private school instruction is uniformly better than public school instruction" to "my kids will get 'polish' in private school" to "my kids will have better college options from private school" to "kids can't learn in classes with over 20 kids."
Obviously some or all of these things may be true for some families--families who live in bad school districts or with kids who really need the small classes and individualized attention. For these children and family, private school may be unambiguously better. None of this is true for all kids, all the time, however. Some of it is demonstrably wrong for many kids. Yet you will often these ideas presented on DCUM as the gospel truth. It's hard to avoid the constant drumbeat of "private is better." Like the rest of us, you say you have wondered about this yourself. But you're asking the right questions, about what's best for your kids as unique individuals. Like 20:59, we also started in private, are now in public, and are very happy. If it helps, despite the high pitch of angst in the private school forums right now, we families who have chosen public school are still in the vast majority. 
|
Anonymous
| I have a child in AAP and we are going private next year. Our school only has PE once a week and library every other week. They alternate science and social studies, and I think kids need both, all year long. And a class of 30+ kids isn't good for anyone. Public is good, but there is definitely better out there. |
Anonymous
| You'll definitely do better for ASD in public. I'm not thrilled with MCPS for general education, though, as long as they teach to the test. That seems to be changing a bit, fortunately. But for those of us who went to public school in this area before NCLB, the difference in education is profound, and not in a good way. (I'm speaking of K-8). |
Anonymous
| OP- not everyone lives in the best public school districts. for those of us with a subpar public, we have angst over private school admittance bc if we don't get into a good one we'll have to move. |
Anonymous
Where is that? |
Anonymous
Not that poster, but in green zone MoCo schools, having close to 30 kids in elementary school classes is the norm. |
Anonymous
FCPS |
Anonymous
| We don't all live in Montgomery or Fairfax counties. Some of us live in PG, or in DC. So yes, for some of us the public schools really are not very good, and it makes good sense to send our kids to independent schools. For your family, maybe public makes perfect, utter good sense. I think over thinking that only leads to these posts I see that say essentially "I was bamboozled by the hype and sent my kids to private and wasted a fortune, and now they are thriving in public!" Don't be bamboozled. There is nothing magical in the water in privates...but neither is it foolish to spend money on them if they work better for your family than public. |
Anonymous
| I struggled with this as well. We are in a W district. In the end, I decided on private for elementary. My daughter has 15 kids and 3 teachers in her class. I really believe that all kids learn to read, write, and do math. What the small class size does is allow her to grow and to develop a love of learning. Once that live is set, she will always want to learn. I'm not sure a class of 1-30 could give that to her. Ill reevaluate private for HS especially if she excels in the STEM subjects. No matter what the school costs, privates just do not have the resources that the publics do. |
Anonymous
There can be up to 31 studens per teacher in a classroom at our local elementary school (in Montgomery County). The school will only add one additional teacher if the average class size exceeds 31 students; however, if this happens after the after the school year begins, then it is possible to have more than 31 kids per class. Most private schools have up to 10 students per teacher (at most) in early grades. |
Anonymous
|
I have a child in a top-tier private and one in a well regarded public (MC.) Let me give you an example of differences I notice.
In science, my Kindergarted child in private was dissecting squid and using the squid ink to write. They built suspension bridges out of various materials. They created wind tunnels to understand tornadoes, etc. In pubic school, my Kindergarten child drew pictures of the parts of flowers and read books on hibernating animals. You can draw your own conclusions from this... |
Anonymous
That's what I thought |