What Would You Do - Strong Public Middle or Average Private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:? Not sure why you sent your kid to private in the first place. Switch to public.

We switched because of COVID and had heard that this school had a rigorous curriculum, great environment, etc.

Turns out it wasn’t true. Most private schools aren’t worth the tuition. Go back to public which is better than your current private. Why is this even a question?

Status, baby! Gotta chase that clout!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at private school that has excellent instructors; however the kids are not motivated and it is highly unlikely that the class make up will change so this is the hand we are dealt. My kid could sleep through a test and still yield better scores than his classmates - I am not bragging on my kid - I am actually surprised that this is the case - but for my kid and one or two other kids, most of the class literally doesn’t try or care. We are zoned for an excellent middle school where we can get both - strong academics, academic peer group and a culture where learning/being smart is not considered uncool. We know the info about the public middle is accurate because we have lots of friends there since kid was formerly in public elementary school. Trying another private is not an option because we like our local public high school and plan to go there so don’t want to hop to another private middle only to end up back at the public high school. Would you stay for the excellent instruction alone or move to the public middle?

Public middle - though I would say that this may also depend on your financial situation. If you can pay the tuition without batting an eye, perhaps pick where you think that your child will be most comfortable. I would not want to move my child around to 3 different schools, however, because stability is important.

We also looked into private for MS for DC. Paid deposit and were faced with the hefty price tag for the year. After meeting with other families, students, and going through the course selection process with advisors, I eventually pulled kid. I just didn't think the academics, environment, and student body were worth the nearly $50K cost per year. And I'd have been PISSED if we had paid that money to get a less than stellar experience. So we opted to stay the course in public and go for an honors track. I am so glad that we did. DC really enjoys their MS, clubs, music, and courses. It worked for us so far and I like the stability that DC has had with peers in public - many of those kids that will have known each other from K-12.

If your kid is happy and tuition costs don't bother you, leave him. If you're bitter about spending all that money and plan to switch anyway, go ahead and do it now

[Anonymous]

OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

OP, stay in public if for no other reason than to avoid assholes like PP and their offspring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

OP, stay in public if for no other reason than to avoid assholes like PP and their offspring.

Ah-- did your vaunted public not teach you how to debate without using curse words? Low class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

Neither are there any strong private middle schools.

[Anonymous]

I would wait for private until HS. We did a strong public K-8. Fwiw, I think middle school is the weakest link in all school systems (public and private). It's like they are just trying to get the kids through that huge hormonal surge.

My kids are at an independent (1,000 student) private HS now and it has far exceeded our expectations. They are thriving and have so many more opportunities. I only hear negatives coming from parents with kids in our large public HS. Covid and population increase really had a negative effect on that HS.

[Anonymous]

OP - I think you may be at our school. I could have written your post. What tipped the scales for us was digging through my kids' digital life. Some of the kids were filling their time with meanness and bullying, in addition to being totally unmotivated to work (despite all the marketing from the school about its approach to learning). The school is so worried about its branding and reputation that they don't want to run right at the hard stuff. Super sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would wait for private until HS. We did a strong public K-8. Fwiw, I think middle school is the weakest link in all school systems (public and private). It's like they are just trying to get the kids through that huge hormonal surge.

My kids are at an independent (1,000 student) private HS now and it has far exceeded our expectations. They are thriving and have so many more opportunities. I only hear negatives coming from parents with kids in our large public HS. Covid and population increase really had a negative effect on that HS.

Umm, non-responsive. OP is only asking about middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Meant to add that we know grades because the kids compare scores and show their papers. Or the teacher will tell the kids that generally the class did not do well or how scores broke down and my kid is usually way higher - most of the kids get Cs, one or two As (usually my kid) and a couple of Ds. And this is consistently. I wish it wasn’t this way because I would just leave him there until graduation but it is hard to justify when no one seems to care.

Our child reported something similar from our school, but we nicely inquired further and DD’s sense of her class’s performance was not accurate. She is a pretty reliable narrator generally and wasn’t making things up, but the filter through which she was reporting things just didn’t measure up to the correct full picture. So you might want to pose the issue to school and get a reality check. Even reliable kids” sense of these kind of things can be wildly off without them making things up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

OP, stay in public if for no other reason than to avoid assholes like PP and their offspring.

Ah-- did your vaunted public not teach you how to debate without using curse words? Low class.

Sometimes curse words are appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

OP, stay in public if for no other reason than to avoid assholes like PP and their offspring.

Ah-- did your vaunted public not teach you how to debate without using curse words? Low class.

Sometimes curse words are appropriate.

No- lo class..sign of a poor vocabulary

[Anonymous]

How is this even a question, OP?

My kids (one with special needs, one who is advanced) are both in strong publics and it's been wonderful: they can see a diversity of economic situations, they mostly have excellent teachers, there is always a group of strivers they can compete against if they wish (not that I'm forcing them too!), and special needs support is better in public than it is in private. Also, since we're a bit cheap, it allows us to save our money and invest it while we can, before paying for college and retirement.

Win-win-win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

Speaking of trolls- game recognize game eh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I do not think there are any "strong" public middle schools in the DMV. I think you are deluded or a troll.

OP, stay in public if for no other reason than to avoid assholes like PP and their offspring.

Ah-- did your vaunted public not teach you how to debate without using curse words? Low class.

Sometimes curse words are appropriate.

No- lo class..sign of a poor vocabulary

…says the failson who can’t spell “low” correctly.