I'm tired of hearing people saying that they "sacrifice" to send their kids to private school.

[Anonymous]

I'm tired of seeing people in fancy cars sending their kids to shitty schools. Have some priorities.

[Anonymous]

Another vote with OP. It is too obvious a point that those who are too cool for the suburbs are stuck with the DC schools and are not "entitled" to a private education as a result. Unless your child has special needs that the public system absolutely does not address (not does not address to your liking), then the difference b/w public and private is no different than the difference b/w a Ford and a Lexus. Are we going to start subsidizing those, too? And just out of curiosity, all of you DC residents who think private school is a "necessity" for your own children, what have you to say about the Democratic Party's continued unwillingness to support vouchers that enable the truly needy to escape deplorable schools? Are those schools ok for other people's kids but not yours?

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the fuss. Of course paying 30.000 dollars per year on school is a "sacrifice". But so what, being a parent means making sacrifices for your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is a sacrifice? Everything is a choice.

But I would agree that every part of child rearing is a choice, not a sacrifice. I love giving my son everything I can. If that means I look like crap, so be it. My choice. My bad hair and nails.

I agree! It was my choice to have my kids and my choice to give up certain things (not always materialistic, even just time in general) so they can have nice life. My mom always went on and on how my private school tuition was so financially stressful to her. I never want my kids to hear that - whether we choose to send them to private or not.

[Anonymous]

I think this is one of the dumbest threads ever...and some of them are really stupid. Of course it is a sacrifice to send your child to a private school. OP sends very, very defensive.

To me, it is a wanted sacrifice to send my child to an elite private school to get the best education money can buy. I can do w/o a country club, 2 cars, vacations, big home, nice clothes, etc. All of those things vanish when I die -- my child's education will stick with her forever.

[Anonymous]

Maybe the OP meant she's sick of hearing people COMPLAIN about making this sacrifice. Well, I guess I'm guilty sometimes. It's so much freaking money. But I am really happy with the school. Since I'm spending it, it's obviously worth it to me. Duh.

[Anonymous]

This is one dumb thread!

[Anonymous]

I think she's just crabby because her kid didn't get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It may be a choice but some people have a lot more "choices" available to them than others do.

Some sacrifices are real; others are BS. Some sacrifices are worth making and others are not. And some people are lucky enough that the things which others must sacrifice for come to them without sacrifice.

I'm mostly in the last camp at this point -- but it's because my parents made real sacrifices and ones that were worthwhile. (Public schools for elementary/secondary with housing chosen based on school district. Harvard for college -- in the days when there was no financial aid for a family of 6 with an income of $36,000/year.)

Was that when my family of 7 with an income of $14,500/year sent me to college?

[Anonymous]

I am perplexed by the smugness of OP. I know a family with a child who has a mild developmental disorder and absolutely could not flourish in their public school. That family is sacrificing a great deal to send their child to private. Real sacrifices. There are plenty of children who don't have a diagnosis but hit very difficult roadblocks in public school -- emotional, learning, whatever. Who are you to judge?

And more importantly, why do you care? Seriously, why do you care?

[Anonymous]

I am wondering why OP is bothering to post in the private school forum other than to simply stir a fuss?

I would also add that many suburbanites move into DC to take advantage of the "special needs" education that DC taxpayer foot to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year.

I would also note the article in the Washington Post on Wednesday that quantified the cost in traffic/gas/time to live in the suburbs. I guess smug people like the OP can choose to pay Exxon or a private school. If given that choice, I wonder where the "smug" suburban posters in the forum would opt?

I think we already know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering why OP is bothering to post in the private school forum other than to simply stir a fuss?

I would also add that many suburbanites move into DC to take advantage of the "special needs" education that DC taxpayer foot to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year.

I would also note the article in the Washington Post on Wednesday that quantified the cost in traffic/gas/time to live in the suburbs. I guess smug people like the OP can choose to pay Exxon or a private school. If given that choice, I wonder where the "smug" suburban posters in the forum would opt?

I think we already know.

You justify living in the city and "having" to go to private any way you want, but maybe you don't realize that a lot people in the burbs live close in (i.e. Arlington or Bethesda) so they don't pay much for gas, etc. Also, lots take metro. If you want to talk about "sacrifice," I'd argue that lots of parents sacrifice for their children by living in the suburbs for better schools when they'd rather live in the city. So I guess it's not all private school parents that are doing the sacrificing. All parents sacrifice -- although I'd rather call them trade offs than sacrifices.

[Anonymous]

Certainly, we all make choices, and I tend to agree that private school is a choice or a want, not a necessity. It is coveted like any other luxury item- and justified under the guise that our children will be at a significant disadvantage if we do not give them this opportunity.


My DS was shut out of K. It was devastating at the time - my stomach was in knots as I prayed to get off the wait lists (which did not happen). To make a long story short - public school was probably a blessing in disguise. DS thrived, was happy, there were many nice families and the teachers were excellent. We went on fantastic vacations we never would have been able to afford. We saved money for the future and for college.

Looking back, it would have been insane to kill ourselves to send him to private. 5 years later, DH was partner making 3x what he did when DH was in K and I returned to consulting work. Now we can afford private no problem, and when we moved them in 2nd and 4th we had lots of choices, including 2 big 4. Both kids were prepared academically and had no trouble adjusting all. I'm glad we were shut out - it would have been very stressful to be a part of the private school culture of beautiful Cleveland Park Homes, Country Club birthday parties, vacation homes, designer clothes, big bucks auctions and over the top vacations making 250,000 per year. Yes, we could have paid for school on that salary, but we would not have been able to save any money and we would have been living way above our means - just like if we bought we could not afford using a sub prime loan.

[Anonymous]

(oops - that last line should have read "bought a house we could not afford.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering why OP is bothering to post in the private school forum other than to simply stir a fuss?

I would also add that many suburbanites move into DC to take advantage of the "special needs" education that DC taxpayer foot to the tune of tens of millions of dollars per year.

I would also note the article in the Washington Post on Wednesday that quantified the cost in traffic/gas/time to live in the suburbs. I guess smug people like the OP can choose to pay Exxon or a private school. If given that choice, I wonder where the "smug" suburban posters in the forum would opt?

I think we already know.

Would you mind posting a link to this article? I looked and couldn't find it.