Private schools are indefensible

[Anonymous]

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Part of how deeply stupid this conversation is is that “private schools” are not monolithic and most don’t look like Sidwell or Dalton. There are many smaller schools, parochial and independent, where per pupil funding looks a lot more like public schools. DC spends just shy of $22k per pupil. Lots of Catholic schools cost half that, and have better educational outcomes. Does that make you real mad, too? Or is it just the few Sidwells and Daltons that get ya steamed?

+ 1

This is why the article is ridiculous. So few privates are like the one the author is referring to.

For goodness sake, read, people. This article is specifically focused on a handful of elite schools. She’s not talking about your little Catholic school, much as you want to be relevant to this conversation.

Here’s the essence in three sentences:

“The numbers are even more astonishing when you consider that they’re not distributed evenly across the country’s more than 1,600 independent schools but are concentrated in the most exclusive ones—and these are our focus here.” [she goes on to list the schools by name]

“However unintentionally, these schools pass on the values of our ruling class—chiefly, that a certain cutthroat approach to life is rewarded.”

“But what makes these schools truly ludicrous is their recent insistence that they are engines of equity and even ‘inclusivity.’”

Well given that the clickbaity title is “pRiVaTe sChOoLs aRe iNdEfEnSiBlE” not “a handful of elite institutions are, duh, populated by the elite” I think PP can be excused.

The fact that a few private schools have vastly more resources than all other schools (public and private) is incredibly obvious. Are the objections really any different than objections to the existence of the Ivy League?

It’s a dumb article that conveys nothing except “omg, rich people continue to consume luxury goods!!!!”

I guess you’re old and just now learning how the internet works? I hope your kids are being taught to be more discerning consumers of digital media with those price tags.

NP -- Ageism -- we don't need it, and it's not a good look for you.

Oh my god, stop. I’m old, too. Stay on topic.

DP. Hilarious that you are a jerk to someone in and then when called on it, you scold them for being off topic. You have issues.

Yeah, that’s definitely what’s hilarious here.

[Anonymous]

The article came to my email inbox, so I read it. It was silly. The author surely knows life is not fair. Should everyone have to live in the same sized place. Drive the same car or not have a car? Capitalism does not work like that ( nor does Communism for that matter-- Putin has things no no one else other than oligarchs in Russia have).

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Query: If you can afford to purchase a luxury car with all the bells and whistles, why shouldn’t you if you so choose, or should you allow society to shame you into purchasing a more modest vehicle? So if an elite private school offers a superior educational experience, and you can afford to send your child to one, why wouldn’t you? Why should society shame the parents who send their kids to such schools or the kids who attend? Perhaps society should a examine how the public schools have failed our kids and misspent all the public funds allocated toward public education.

The only problem is that the choice increasingly seems to be between the luxury car, and taking Metrobus. The latter is crowded, inconvenient, and sporadically doesn't show up. We don't need to shame the people with cars but we do need the bus to function much much better than it does. We need it to be safe, reliable, accessible, and even pleasant and enriching to ride. Unfortunately there are people who feel that if the bus is nice to ride, that makes their luxury car less special.

This is a really great analogy.

Agree, and just to carry it a bit further, don't forget that a luxury car owner may make a donations to the dealership, entitling the owner to a tax deduction and deluxe service.

Wait, are you all implying that the elite deliberately keep (some of) the public schools crappy just so they can feel more special? The elite DO NOT NOTICE OR CARE ABOUT YOU. They don’t have to. This thread is bananas.

Really? Pretty sure one of the easiest and time-tested ways of keeping power in the hands of the elite is by denying or limiting education for the unwashed masses. But you’re right, they definitely don’t care about you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Query: If you can afford to purchase a luxury car with all the bells and whistles, why shouldn’t you if you so choose, or should you allow society to shame you into purchasing a more modest vehicle? So if an elite private school offers a superior educational experience, and you can afford to send your child to one, why wouldn’t you? Why should society shame the parents who send their kids to such schools or the kids who attend? Perhaps society should a examine how the public schools have failed our kids and misspent all the public funds allocated toward public education.

The only problem is that the choice increasingly seems to be between the luxury car, and taking Metrobus. The latter is crowded, inconvenient, and sporadically doesn't show up. We don't need to shame the people with cars but we do need the bus to function much much better than it does. We need it to be safe, reliable, accessible, and even pleasant and enriching to ride. Unfortunately there are people who feel that if the bus is nice to ride, that makes their luxury car less special.

This is a really great analogy.

Agree, and just to carry it a bit further, don't forget that a luxury car owner may make a donations to the dealership, entitling the owner to a tax deduction and deluxe service.

Wait, are you all implying that the elite deliberately keep (some of) the public schools crappy just so they can feel more special? The elite DO NOT NOTICE OR CARE ABOUT YOU. They don’t have to. This thread is bananas.

Really? Pretty sure one of the easiest and time-tested ways of keeping power in the hands of the elite is by denying or limiting education for the unwashed masses. But you’re right, they definitely don’t care about you.

Haha, don’t flatter yourselves. Judging by the comments in this thread, the unwashed masses are absolute idiots and no amount of education is going to change that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Query: If you can afford to purchase a luxury car with all the bells and whistles, why shouldn’t you if you so choose, or should you allow society to shame you into purchasing a more modest vehicle? So if an elite private school offers a superior educational experience, and you can afford to send your child to one, why wouldn’t you? Why should society shame the parents who send their kids to such schools or the kids who attend? Perhaps society should a examine how the public schools have failed our kids and misspent all the public funds allocated toward public education.

The only problem is that the choice increasingly seems to be between the luxury car, and taking Metrobus. The latter is crowded, inconvenient, and sporadically doesn't show up. We don't need to shame the people with cars but we do need the bus to function much much better than it does. We need it to be safe, reliable, accessible, and even pleasant and enriching to ride. Unfortunately there are people who feel that if the bus is nice to ride, that makes their luxury car less special.

This is a really great analogy.

Agree, and just to carry it a bit further, don't forget that a luxury car owner may make a donations to the dealership, entitling the owner to a tax deduction and deluxe service.

Wait, are you all implying that the elite deliberately keep (some of) the public schools crappy just so they can feel more special? The elite DO NOT NOTICE OR CARE ABOUT YOU. They don’t have to. This thread is bananas.

Yes, of course, this is part of the point. The rich do not care. But they send their kids to schools where they talk about achieving equity and social justice. But they actually do not care about any of that. It is optics. They do not walk their talk and that is the definition of hypocrisy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Query: If you can afford to purchase a luxury car with all the bells and whistles, why shouldn’t you if you so choose, or should you allow society to shame you into purchasing a more modest vehicle? So if an elite private school offers a superior educational experience, and you can afford to send your child to one, why wouldn’t you? Why should society shame the parents who send their kids to such schools or the kids who attend? Perhaps society should a examine how the public schools have failed our kids and misspent all the public funds allocated toward public education.

The only problem is that the choice increasingly seems to be between the luxury car, and taking Metrobus. The latter is crowded, inconvenient, and sporadically doesn't show up. We don't need to shame the people with cars but we do need the bus to function much much better than it does. We need it to be safe, reliable, accessible, and even pleasant and enriching to ride. Unfortunately there are people who feel that if the bus is nice to ride, that makes their luxury car less special.

This is a really great analogy.

Agree, and just to carry it a bit further, don't forget that a luxury car owner may make a donations to the dealership, entitling the owner to a tax deduction and deluxe service.

Wait, are you all implying that the elite deliberately keep (some of) the public schools crappy just so they can feel more special? The elite DO NOT NOTICE OR CARE ABOUT YOU. They don’t have to. This thread is bananas.

Yes, of course, this is part of the point. The rich do not care. But they send their kids to schools where they talk about achieving equity and social justice. But they actually do not care about any of that. It is optics. They do not walk their talk and that is the definition of hypocrisy.

Okay. So they’re hypocrites. What does that have to do with public school education? Why does that make private school “indefensible”? In other words, why do you think the fact that they are hypocrites matters?

I’ll be honest, that article was so meandering and terrible I am still not sure what her thesis was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that public schools are expected to do much more than educate children. They provide social services, distribute food, offer healthcare, and childcare. Teachers are there to teach, but the school as an institution has far more responsibilities to meet the needs of the local community than they have the capacity or budget to.
Private schools certainly don't have to grapple with those social challenges, and they can focus on delivering on educating the student academically, physically, and emotionally.
We're leaving MCPS for private HS in September, not because we don't believe in public education, but because this strain on public schools has become so apparent during the pandemic. We'll miss being with kids with true grit, determined to excel and driven to get into the best colleges. But the top 5% of students in public schools are being dragged down by all the other competing issues facing public school administrators.

Wholeheartedly agree. We, too, are leaving MCPS this Fall for both middle and high school. I think our elementary was pretty good but middle school has not been challenging at all other than math. My children did not read one school assigned book this year. If nothing else, couldn't English have been read a book and write an essay? There is zero emphasis on writing and I know privates spend more time on writing. They read one assigned book all of last year. I went to school in a not so great district in NY and in middle school I wrote research papers and read an assigned book, one after another. When we were done with one, we'd start another. And our class sizes are all over 30 students, easily. Most are 34 to 35 students. MCPS teaches to the lowest common denominator so we're out. It's sad. I always thought we'd go to public schools with how highly regarded they are here, but I just don't see it. I do think the pandemic highlighted all of this and these are critical years that we won't be able to catch up from if we don't make the move now. We go to a W school that is falling apart and they won't update the facilities. I've waited years for them to be updated and every year we get pushed again. At this point, if they ever decide to update it, my kids will live through a renovation but won't enjoy it. Pass. Too many negatives.

[Anonymous]

I love how the author of this piece seems to think it’s a huge scoop to point out that elite institutions talk about equity and yet have really, really, really nice facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the author of this piece seems to think it’s a huge scoop to point out that elite institutions talk about equity and yet have really, really, really nice facilities.

Agree. It’s pretty much accepted that schools do this and it’s not news. How do they explain this to the students when having DEI seminars and training and such?

[Anonymous]

Even in the lesser privates, the gap is significant. As a student, teacher, and now parent that has gone back and forth between public and private (but not elite privates), I still see a big difference. Chiefly it's that the publics spend most of their time dealing with govt bureaucracy and difficult students, while privates do neither of those things. Without having to cowtow to govt mandates and without classrooms full of seriously disturbed students who won't let anyone else learn, privates can actually.....teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how the author of this piece seems to think it’s a huge scoop to point out that elite institutions talk about equity and yet have really, really, really nice facilities.

Agree. It’s pretty much accepted that schools do this and it’s not news. How do they explain this to the students when having DEI seminars and training and such?

DCPS now has a lot of nice facilities due to their capital improvement program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how the author of this piece seems to think it’s a huge scoop to point out that elite institutions talk about equity and yet have really, really, really nice facilities.

Agree. It’s pretty much accepted that schools do this and it’s not news. How do they explain this to the students when having DEI seminars and training and such?

DCPS now has a lot of nice facilities due to their capital improvement program.

And?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even in the lesser privates, the gap is significant. As a student, teacher, and now parent that has gone back and forth between public and private (but not elite privates), I still see a big difference. Chiefly it's that the publics spend most of their time dealing with govt bureaucracy and difficult students, while privates do neither of those things. Without having to cowtow to govt mandates and without classrooms full of seriously disturbed students who won't let anyone else learn, privates can actually.....teach.

The elite privates just have to kowtow to seriously disturbed parents, according to the article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how the author of this piece seems to think it’s a huge scoop to point out that elite institutions talk about equity and yet have really, really, really nice facilities.

Agree. It’s pretty much accepted that schools do this and it’s not news. How do they explain this to the students when having DEI seminars and training and such?

The absurdity of articles like this is that, apparently, it’s better for schools to make zero effort towards inclusion and equity. I mean, obviously her number one wish would be for all the schools to be shuttered, which will apparently improve public schools via some mechanism that has yet to be explained. But I guess the next best thing is for elite public schools to make no effort at all?

[Anonymous]

Exactly. Private schools should spend zero time on DEI because iT wOuLd Be HyPoCrItIcAl otherwise!