Private schools. What do you get for your money?

[Anonymous]

I attended both a highly rated GT program in Fairfax County and a well known private school in the area. The private school was far better for me in all areas, including academics (sophistication of subject matter, teacher availability, teacher quality, engagement of students, etc.) , athletics, after school activities, social growth (a very close-knit community and, unexpectedly, much less snobbery at the private school), and diversity within the students that were in my classes (the public school was more diverse culturally overall, but unfortunately the GT program was pretty much all Protestant white kids). Given how much schools, children and families differ, however, I would guess that many people have had a very different experience from mine.

[Anonymous]

PP thanks for the reply it was helpful. I am curious to know how people rate Math and Science in private schools vs public. What I have heard is that in the better public high schools in MD and VA, the Math and Science programs are stronger than private schools.

[Anonymous]

You sleep better at night thinking that you are doing the best that you can to ensure that your child becomes the next Bill Gates (who credits his experience at his private school with getting him involved with computers).

[Anonymous]

But the guy who started Google attended E. Roosevelt HS in PG county.

[Anonymous]

The google founders went to Montessori when they were young http://www.michaelolaf.net/google.html

[Anonymous]

Hey, I considered Bill Gates' HS alma mater in Seattle for DS, but then moved. It is an *amazing* school and was recently visited by the curriculum committee of a private DC school that is endlessly discussed on DCUM. The latter looking for ideas to swipe from the Seattle school.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you folks should stop thinking all public schools are the same and all private schools are the same. They aren't.

Some are mediocre. Some are great. Some are great for child X and a miserable match for child Y.

There's research out there that shows that Catholic schools do a particularly good job with average students. (Yes. Some of us have children of average ability and motivation.) Those students often get lost in a school as big as many of our local public high schools.

How many of you on this list chose your current home based at least partly on schools? I know I did. How different is that choice from another parent's decision to use a private option?

How many of you with the means wouldn't switch your child's schooling type if an alternative was really the best option for your specific child?

No specific school will be perfect.

[Anonymous]

to pp, I have never seen class sizes as large as in Catholic Schools. I mean they have class sizes greater than public! And you pay for that.

[Anonymous]

As was staed earlier - depends on the school - Catholic or otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I have a gut feeling as to which type of school program may be a good "fit" for my two preschoolers (e.g., progressive vs traditional; structured vs less structured) but to be honest I am really not sure what would be the "best" match. All of the schools talk about this "match" but when I ask admissions folks it seems what it comes down to (when you factor out $ and what the school wants to accomplish in terms of class make-up & size) is, did your kid do OK on the admissions testing and are they generally well-behaved in the play date? But from our end (parents', that is), I am just not entirely sure how to evaluate where my kids would be the most likely to thrive. Furthermore, there is, of course, thriving in different areas -- socially, academically, emotionally, etc.

I really don't want to just rely on this "gut" feeling but there isn't much "data" for me to go on. Their preschool teachers say the kids are flexible enough to do well in probably any environment (nice to hear, but that doesn't help to narrow things), they did OK on the WPPSI but not sure how those results can be used to inform one's decision of the TYPE of program that would be a good match. Obviously at this young age much of this decision-making process is what the parents hope for their child, but I really do want to factor in to the extent that I can what would be best for them given their strengths, areas for improvement, learning styles, etc. etc.

Can other parents please share their decision-making processes and whether they feel they've made the right decisions the first go-round? Let's assume JUST FOR SAKE OF ARGUMENT that your child could be accepted into any program. I don't want to focus on acceptances right now, but just the process of trying to match programs to your child in the "perfect world".

[Anonymous]

To pp, you should start a new thread since your question seems to be a new and interesting topic.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestion. I started a new thread with the subject line "Determining a program that is a good match...". All interested parties should re-direct their comments there.