If money was not an issue would you do Private School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in EOTP DC and are ok with our school situation until middle school. So are planning for private from 6th onward. On balance, it may make better financial sense to move to a better school zone, but we have a super cheap mortgage at the moment, like our neighborhood, and have enough resources to meet our savings goals and pay private for two kids. But if we lived in a solid school zone NOW and had a cheap mortgage there, yeah, we’d be public all the way through because that half mil could go a long way elsewhere!!!

If you like your neighborhood but refuse to consider your zoned middle or high school, you are a leech. You are one of those types that has probably greatly benefited from gentrification with your “cheap mortgage” but won’t do your part to help improve the local schools. Sick.

She’s a leech because she’s willing to pay taxes for a school she doesn’t use? OK then.

The leech is a school system bureaucracy which we felt we had zero control over. They just do what they want, damn the district's families. That's why we moved to private years before this recent craziness.

[Anonymous]

Not OP but I puzzle over the same question. I’m an alum of an elite public high school (not around here) and an Ivy plus elite public university so I’ve got a good grasp of what fantastic academic education looks like and I just really worry I’m not going to find it for my dc around here. I have a few years to game it out still but private would likely involve selling our home with tons of equity to supplement an HHI of about 260k. Seriously wondering if I might have to go back to my hometown. A public with elite academics, fewer discipline issues, and less of the “rich kids” social mores of private would be the sweet spot. Does that exist in the DMV? School without Walls? TJ? Frankly I prefer a humanities emphasis in high school but again, this unicorn might not exist. My dc is still too young for me to know exactly just what stripe of academics will be the best fit, but a feel a superior humanities-oriented hs serves you well no matter where career choices may take you. Welcome ideas if I’m missing a hidden local gem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but I puzzle over the same question. I’m an alum of an elite public high school (not around here) and an Ivy plus elite public university so I’ve got a good grasp of what fantastic academic education looks like and I just really worry I’m not going to find it for my dc around here. I have a few years to game it out still but private would likely involve selling our home with tons of equity to supplement an HHI of about 260k. Seriously wondering if I might have to go back to my hometown. A public with elite academics, fewer discipline issues, and less of the “rich kids” social mores of private would be the sweet spot. Does that exist in the DMV? School without Walls? TJ? Frankly I prefer a humanities emphasis in high school but again, this unicorn might not exist. My dc is still too young for me to know exactly just what stripe of academics will be the best fit, but a feel a superior humanities-oriented hs serves you well no matter where career choices may take you. Welcome ideas if I’m missing a hidden local gem.

We’ve done both public and private here. Going back to public as private has only been successful in marketing to the parents who fear the publics here. I wish that the private would have been what it’s touted to be, but it simply is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but I puzzle over the same question. I’m an alum of an elite public high school (not around here) and an Ivy plus elite public university so I’ve got a good grasp of what fantastic academic education looks like and I just really worry I’m not going to find it for my dc around here. I have a few years to game it out still but private would likely involve selling our home with tons of equity to supplement an HHI of about 260k. Seriously wondering if I might have to go back to my hometown. A public with elite academics, fewer discipline issues, and less of the “rich kids” social mores of private would be the sweet spot. Does that exist in the DMV? School without Walls? TJ? Frankly I prefer a humanities emphasis in high school but again, this unicorn might not exist. My dc is still too young for me to know exactly just what stripe of academics will be the best fit, but a feel a superior humanities-oriented hs serves you well no matter where career choices may take you. Welcome ideas if I’m missing a hidden local gem.

Oh God, spare us that nonsense. Nobody obsesses over this except wackos on message boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but I puzzle over the same question. I’m an alum of an elite public high school (not around here) and an Ivy plus elite public university so I’ve got a good grasp of what fantastic academic education looks like and I just really worry I’m not going to find it for my dc around here. I have a few years to game it out still but private would likely involve selling our home with tons of equity to supplement an HHI of about 260k. Seriously wondering if I might have to go back to my hometown. A public with elite academics, fewer discipline issues, and less of the “rich kids” social mores of private would be the sweet spot. Does that exist in the DMV? School without Walls? TJ? Frankly I prefer a humanities emphasis in high school but again, this unicorn might not exist. My dc is still too young for me to know exactly just what stripe of academics will be the best fit, but a feel a superior humanities-oriented hs serves you well no matter where career choices may take you. Welcome ideas if I’m missing a hidden local gem.

Poolesville HS in MoCo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but I puzzle over the same question. I’m an alum of an elite public high school (not around here) and an Ivy plus elite public university so I’ve got a good grasp of what fantastic academic education looks like and I just really worry I’m not going to find it for my dc around here. I have a few years to game it out still but private would likely involve selling our home with tons of equity to supplement an HHI of about 260k. Seriously wondering if I might have to go back to my hometown. A public with elite academics, fewer discipline issues, and less of the “rich kids” social mores of private would be the sweet spot. Does that exist in the DMV? School without Walls? TJ? Frankly I prefer a humanities emphasis in high school but again, this unicorn might not exist. My dc is still too young for me to know exactly just what stripe of academics will be the best fit, but a feel a superior humanities-oriented hs serves you well no matter where career choices may take you. Welcome ideas if I’m missing a hidden local gem.

Where is this unicorn hometown, op? Massachusetts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: "theses"

what?

[Anonymous]

We are at the opposite end (kids near college) and I deeply regret not pulling my oldest kid out of the “good” public middle school. Public elementary was very good, public middle was educationally a disaster. My kid was assigned two books to read in three years of middle school. Was in the highest math class and got straight As at public middle, but was below the middle of the pack in private high school and got Cs when he started because he was unused to having to actually work for grades. We quickly saw the vast gap educationally and pulled the younger kids to private. They won’t have the same lack of education as their older brother, at least.

I’m still annoyed at myself because I kept him there because I believed in public education. He paid the price for my idealism. I knew it was a mess after sixth grade but stupidly hoped it would get better, which of course it didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but I puzzle over the same question. I’m an alum of an elite public high school (not around here) and an Ivy plus elite public university so I’ve got a good grasp of what fantastic academic education looks like and I just really worry I’m not going to find it for my dc around here. I have a few years to game it out still but private would likely involve selling our home with tons of equity to supplement an HHI of about 260k. Seriously wondering if I might have to go back to my hometown. A public with elite academics, fewer discipline issues, and less of the “rich kids” social mores of private would be the sweet spot. Does that exist in the DMV? School without Walls? TJ? Frankly I prefer a humanities emphasis in high school but again, this unicorn might not exist. My dc is still too young for me to know exactly just what stripe of academics will be the best fit, but a feel a superior humanities-oriented hs serves you well no matter where career choices may take you. Welcome ideas if I’m missing a hidden local gem.

There are many IB high schools that would fit the humanities bend you prefer.

[Anonymous]

If money were no object? Knowing what I know now, yes, i would have chose private. My kids are in an MCPS middle school, and they have had wonderful, kind, enthusiastic teachers. However, as my oldest is months from starting high school, I am skeptical that they are ready for the level of HS work and skeptical that they have appropriately mastered the underlying subjects. (those MCAP scores didn't help my underlining worries)

My piece of advice if you stay in MCPS is to ignore your kids' grades and really get to the bottom of whether they are learning, understanding, writing well, etc. My kids' good grades do not reflect their understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are at the opposite end (kids near college) and I deeply regret not pulling my oldest kid out of the “good” public middle school. Public elementary was very good, public middle was educationally a disaster. My kid was assigned two books to read in three years of middle school. Was in the highest math class and got straight As at public middle, but was below the middle of the pack in private high school and got Cs when he started because he was unused to having to actually work for grades. We quickly saw the vast gap educationally and pulled the younger kids to private. They won’t have the same lack of education as their older brother, at least.

I’m still annoyed at myself because I kept him there because I believed in public education. He paid the price for my idealism. I knew it was a mess after sixth grade but stupidly hoped it would get better, which of course it didn’t.

I just commented and this is a good summary (though we are still in public). I didn't see the mess initially in MS because it coincided with the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not OP but I puzzle over the same question. I’m an alum of an elite public high school (not around here) and an Ivy plus elite public university so I’ve got a good grasp of what fantastic academic education looks like and I just really worry I’m not going to find it for my dc around here. I have a few years to game it out still but private would likely involve selling our home with tons of equity to supplement an HHI of about 260k. Seriously wondering if I might have to go back to my hometown. A public with elite academics, fewer discipline issues, and less of the “rich kids” social mores of private would be the sweet spot. Does that exist in the DMV? School without Walls? TJ? Frankly I prefer a humanities emphasis in high school but again, this unicorn might not exist. My dc is still too young for me to know exactly just what stripe of academics will be the best fit, but a feel a superior humanities-oriented hs serves you well no matter where career choices may take you. Welcome ideas if I’m missing a hidden local gem.

Where is this unicorn hometown, op? Massachusetts?

Somewhere much warmer, thankfully. But I’d guess Mass has a fair number of schools that would fit the bill.

[Anonymous]

Yes!

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the public and private options and the needs of your child.

My kids have been in private K-6 and will switch next year for public school, 7th grade+

For us, I just wasn’t all that impressed with the private school options for middle and high school. They were good, but nothing extraordinary. With that said, the public schools are pretty terrible in general. However, from middle school on, they have a fantastic program for accelerated/gifted kids. My kids have been accepted into that program and I find it to be far more enriching than what private can offer. Private seems to be able to accommodate the average kid very well, but not either end of extreme on the academic spectrum.

[Anonymous]

Of course. Anyone saying no is in lying or deluded.