Whitman vs private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have/had one at each. I think it really depends on the kid. Whitman has some amazing teachers. And some not so great ones. But that can be true in private as well.
Whitman is obviously bigger and your kid will be in a class of 30 rather than 15-20. But, Whitman also offers an incredible range of courses. Much broader and deeper than any private school can offer.
There is a wide range of students at Whitman. From the very engaged and self-motivated to the disengaged. It’s a great environment for a self-motivated kid who will take advantage of the wide range of courses. This was my child who went to Whitman.
I personally would not send a kid who is not self-motivated or disengaged to Whitman. Nor would I send a quieter kid who benefits more from a smaller environment to Whitman (this is my kid in private).

I had one at each and agree with this. Each thrived at their particular school. Both moved from a private k-8. The Whitman kid is super competitive, sporty, strongly academic, and confident. Did very well at Whitman, took multiple APs, played 2 varsity sports, and benefitted from a larger peer group. My other kid thrived in private school with more individualized attention. I will say that my Whitman kid had good relationships with multiple teachers despite the larger classes and class loads compared to private schools. The teachers were generally excellent, and very engaged with the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are many, many small, old, inexpensive properties in addition to townhomes and apartments.

And these "inexpensive properties" constitute what percentage of homes in the Whitman district?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many, many small, old, inexpensive properties in addition to townhomes and apartments.

And these "inexpensive properties" constitute what percentage of homes in the Whitman district?

Large swatches of the homes in neighborhoods close to Whitman are pretty modest. Cabin John, the area bounded by MacArthur Blvd - Sangamore Rd - River Rd, the neighborhood between Carderock Elementary and Seven Locks Rd. These appear to be very middle-class areas.

Potomac, north of the Beltway, with much grander homes is a small percentage of the Whitman area.

[Anonymous]

https://www.zillow.com/home-values/66649/cabin-john-md-20818/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are many, many small, old, inexpensive properties in addition to townhomes and apartments.

And these "inexpensive properties" constitute what percentage of homes in the Whitman district?

half or more

[Anonymous]

Even if you are making 400K a year, it's not easy to come up with 110K to send two girls to Holton or another private school. From what I see many of the private school parents have household incomes between 1 and 3 million a year. Those numbers ar very rare among Whitman parents.

[Anonymous]

We moved from a Whitman feeder school to private. The teachers at public were great, but they were heavily hampered by MCPS admin and upper management. It seems like every week there's a new MCPS misstep. Today, it was the report that came out about how much they messed up the Biedlemen thing: https://www.mymcmedia.org/report-mcps-did-not-investigate-complaints-against-principal-before-promoting-him/

Privates aren't perfect by any means, but parents sit on the boards and I can contact our Head of School and easily get a meeting with them if I needed it. I know McKnight would never entertain that -- one of the downsides of such a large organization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.zillow.com/home-values/66649/cabin-john-md-20818/

Statistically challenged?

What the range and the distribution? Mean averages provide little info.

Plenty of 2000 sq. Ft, 3 br houses on very small lots near the school. They may be expensive, but it looks more like Wheaton than Potomac north of the Beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.zillow.com/home-values/66649/cabin-john-md-20818/

Statistically challenged?

What the range and the distribution? Mean averages provide little info.

Plenty of 2000 sq. Ft, 3 br houses on very small lots near the school. They may be expensive, but it looks more like Wheaton than Potomac north of the Beltway.

Scroll to the bottom
https://www.zillow.com/home-values/66643/glen-echo-md-20812/

It lists median for 20818.

[Anonymous]

I don't live in the Whitman zone, but I did consider moving to the Whitman zone for the schools when I moved back to the DMV a few years ago. For me, the reason I chose not to move in that zone is largely similar to why I would opt for private school over Whitman. The student population at Whitman is only 4% Black and in the DMV the local Black population is significantly higher than that as is the national average). Even isolating on Montgomery County, MD...almost 21 percent of the county population is Black but Whitman only has 4 percent. I wanted my children to go to a more diverse school but also still cared about the academic performance of the school. The school we chose is about 15% Black and another 15% multiracial, and this was important for our family. If diversity doesn't matter, I think your child would probably get a better education than many of the local schools. And if you paid the top dollar to live in that neighborhood, maybe its worth going to the school that likely caused the price of the house to be much higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if you are making 400K a year, it's not easy to come up with 110K to send two girls to Holton or another private school. From what I see many of the private school parents have household incomes between 1 and 3 million a year. Those numbers ar very rare among Whitman parents.

I'm sorry but what is the whole point of this back-and-forth about what percentile of income the parents are? Do people seriously think that more money means that you are smarter or somehow more high value? Some people desperately need to believe that your wealth signifies your value or intelligence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if you are making 400K a year, it's not easy to come up with 110K to send two girls to Holton or another private school. From what I see many of the private school parents have household incomes between 1 and 3 million a year. Those numbers ar very rare among Whitman parents.

I'm sorry but what is the whole point of this back-and-forth about what percentile of income the parents are? Do people seriously think that more money means that you are smarter or somehow more high value? Some people desperately need to believe that your wealth signifies your value or intelligence.

So many people work in jobs they hate, endure horrible commutes, stay in bad marriages--because money and wealth are a big deal. People just don't like to admit that in highly educated circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see pros/cons as follows:

- writing/critical thinking—private wins out strongly. Teachers can only grade, edit, revise so many pages and you just lose out on numbers in public.
- math. I thought public would win, but at least Big 3 teaches math more in depth than public which tends to move a lot faster but is more superficial. And top privates can support fancy high level math just as well.
- community. This is very kid/parent dependent. Idiosyncratic kid more likely to find tribe in larger environment. Quiet kid can benefit from smaller community in private. Some parents also really want the snooty private school vibe for their own social status. While a downside of private, this tends to be sucky subset of climbers and not majority. And HS parents matter a lot less since your kids have own lives. Overall, this is a wash but might weigh heavily in your own household.
- sports / theater / clubs. Very private/public dependent. For athletics, big private recruit so your kid may never get playing time for baseball, basketball and definitely country club sports tennis, golf. But, they will make the team and play JV. Publics they won’t even make the team if not playing club/travel for big sports.
- there’s more homework in private early on. Public tends to more ease you in, particularly ninth grade. Private kids at big 3 are grinding right away. This could be a downside or upside depending on your pov.

I wanted to add something to my list
- moral/ethical/religious emphasis. This again cuts both ways. Our family is non religious, but turns out that I am grateful for the emphasis on character and living a meaningful life at my child’s private school. Particularly in high school, think teens are searching for some deeper truths and incorporating these big questions into everyday school life is more valuable to me than much of the academics.

[Anonymous]

After paying the mortgages and taxes based on the inflated housing prices in the Whitman area, there’s no money available for private schools for the middle income people.

The great majority can’t have both.

So, except for the richer neighborhoods, there really isn’t any choice between the two alternatives.

[Anonymous]

If you look at the Edgemoor neigborhood, Burning Tree area...it's 80% private school.