Why do you send your DC to private?

[Anonymous]

Of course, if you're easily persuaded by pictures of nice buildings, nothing else that your local public can offer will be of any merit.

[Anonymous]

PP, why are you being so condescending? Schools can have both beauty and substance. That someone appreciates the beauty doesn't mean she is unable to identify and assess substantive matters as well. I really appreciate that my kids' school is beautiful. I'm also all over the school about its math curriculum, and care very much about the reading, science, and language programs. Why would you view those as mutually exclusive interests? So someone posted a video that is a puff piece. Still is better than a thousand words in showing the surroundings your kids would be in is he went there. Doesn't mean we're all duped by a puff piece and wholly unable to think on our own.

And I actually chose my college in part based on how beautiful the surroundings were. It was Harvard. Seemed to have a fair amount of substance as well.

[Anonymous]

I haven't read all the responses. Obviously it's a highly personal choice. We did public, DCSP, for eight years. So glad we did because it validated our decision to go private for our child. At first we thought we might just do middle school private. Now we see private is just working better for DC and for parents. If we lived in Montgomery County, or in TJ territory, we probably would have returned to public. But we don't. We live in DC and are staying here. We are not wealthy by any stretch. We only have one child. We get help from the grandparents. We do not get FA.

[Anonymous]

Another public to private in MS family. I wanted a private school for middle and high school for a variety of reasons, many articulated well in the first post. Smaller classes, a place where each teacher would know my child and my child would know their teachers, engaging curriculum that included lots of music, art and sports, great college counseling (which is very different from great college placement). I have not been disappointed yet. It's not a wonderland, but I love how the teachers actually seem to care about my kids and - even better - *know* them - even their less-than-stellar qualities. My DH had a progressive private school education and it was superior to my public school experience. Granted this was years ago! I have also become increasingly disillusioned with our highly regarded public DC elementary school. Some of the teachers are not good at all and they remain year after year. Class size has gotten a lot bigger. I don't see private school as some sort of golden egg, but I do see it as the best I am able to do for my kids at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, why are you being so condescending? Schools can have both beauty and substance. That someone appreciates the beauty doesn't mean she is unable to identify and assess substantive matters as well. I really appreciate that my kids' school is beautiful. I'm also all over the school about its math curriculum, and care very much about the reading, science, and language programs. Why would you view those as mutually exclusive interests? So someone posted a video that is a puff piece. Still is better than a thousand words in showing the surroundings your kids would be in is he went there. Doesn't mean we're all duped by a puff piece and wholly unable to think on our own.

And I actually chose my college in part based on how beautiful the surroundings were. It was Harvard. Seemed to have a fair amount of substance as well.

If the poster behind the puff piece had mentioned substance, that would have helped. But she didn't.

[Anonymous]

For us: we chose private, because we wanted small class sizes and an overall excellent education. What we didn't bargain on was aged-based grade leveling (rather than ability/performance). It has really turned into a problem for our child. We are now moving toward public schools, because of the flexibility in negotiating with the school for a specialized curriculum (accepting outside classwork in the place of regular classwork and grade placement by achievement/ability/performance).

[Anonymous]

What public school are you talking about? I'd love this for my DC, but have had no luck finding one that actually is that flexible.

[Anonymous]

* Better control of the type of kids in the classroom - we are moving on to first grade next year in a private and the few kids who were hyperactive,or developmentally behind have not returned each year. I suspect that they are being helped in that decision by the administration. My child's class has no "problem" children in terms of behavior or academics and I am happy with that.

*The overall community of the school and that parental involvement with both classroom and non classroom activities is expected and is very high.

*Small class size for my child's benefit

*Not overly obnoxious in their fundraising efforts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:* Better control of the type of kids in the classroom - we are moving on to first grade next year in a private and the few kids who were hyperactive,or developmentally behind have not returned each year. I suspect that they are being helped in that decision by the administration. My child's class has no "problem" children in terms of behavior or academics and I am happy with that.

*The overall community of the school and that parental involvement with both classroom and non classroom activities is expected and is very high.

*Small class size for my child's benefit

*Not overly obnoxious in their fundraising efforts

As a mother of a child with ADHD who is excelling in private school, I think you're a real piece of work. I hope our kids aren't in the same school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:* Better control of the type of kids in the classroom - we are moving on to first grade next year in a private and the few kids who were hyperactive,or developmentally behind have not returned each year. I suspect that they are being helped in that decision by the administration. My child's class has no "problem" children in terms of behavior or academics and I am happy with that.

*The overall community of the school and that parental involvement with both classroom and non classroom activities is expected and is very high.

*Small class size for my child's benefit

*Not overly obnoxious in their fundraising efforts

As a mother of a child with ADHD who is excelling in private school, I think you're a real piece of work. I hope our kids aren't in the same school.

I know her kids aren't at my kid's school. In my DC's grade I know of kids with ADHD, kids with dyslexia, kids with emotional issues (anxiety or depression), and at least one kid who is on the autism spectrum. None are being asked to leave - this is high school, they've been there for years, and they are doing great and are great additions to the community.

Oh, and before someone asks, this is Sidwell Friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted this in another thread but I wanted more feedback.

It all depends on why you are sending your kid there in the first place. For the last 10 years our public schools have gotten progressively worse. What I mean by that is the fact that they have all the joy of learning sucked right out of them due to overcrowding, no child left behind, high stakes testing, constantly changing curricula, etc. My dc's went to public for K-4th grade so I have firsthand experience of the frustration. I send my dc's to private because I feel they are getting a well-rounded education in an environment that encourages learning and exploration. Will they go to Harvard? No, but that is not my goal. I want them to find a path that works for them. If they go to a 3rd tier school that would be fine with me. On the other hand, if they were still in public I would hope that they would get into a top tier school in order to make all their k-12 suffering worth it.

My reasons are as follows (we did not find any of this in our public school)
small classes
more individual attention
well rounded education
must take art, music, theater
teacher can teach at pace students are learning (faster or slower)
community service during school
athletics and physical fitness for everyone
down time during day to study or socialize
independent study with teacher sponsor
parent efforts directed toward to raising money for various programs
administration that actually listens to parent concerns and implements solutions
my personal efforts are directed to helping the school in it's role of educating my child
clubs of interest held during the school day (everyone has to sign up for one)
teachers know my child
school is a community

These are many of the reasons that spring to mind.

Because I wanted to.

[Anonymous]

One of the reasons I am sending my DC to private, that no one talks about, is the "brand name" factor. I know when I tell people I went to such and such school, they view me differently. They assume I come from money and that I am relatively intelligent. If they went to a local private we usually have somewhat of a bond. There's a loose group of DC private school alum. I want to give that to my DC. I also think it makes them slightly better marriage material. Since I went to a DC private, I wanted to marry someone who did too. In certain respects it's similar to going to an Ivy league. In some social circles you almost have to send your DC to private school. For generations everyone has gone to private school. You can't not send your DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the reasons I am sending my DC to private, that no one talks about, is the "brand name" factor. I know when I tell people I went to such and such school, they view me differently. They assume I come from money and that I am relatively intelligent. If they went to a local private we usually have somewhat of a bond. There's a loose group of DC private school alum. I want to give that to my DC. I also think it makes them slightly better marriage material. Since I went to a DC private, I wanted to marry someone who did too. In certain respects it's similar to going to an Ivy league. In some social circles you almost have to send your DC to private school. For generations everyone has gone to private school. You can't not send your DC.

I hear this and understand it. BUT we tried private and it's not working. We've got to move to public, because private just isn't flexible enough to give our son what he needs. It's a draw now and I have to pick in my son's better interest. Sometimes that label "best" isn't really the best for everyone. (sigh)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:* Better control of the type of kids in the classroom - we are moving on to first grade next year in a private and the few kids who were hyperactive,or developmentally behind have not returned each year. I suspect that they are being helped in that decision by the administration. My child's class has no "problem" children in terms of behavior or academics and I am happy with that.

*The overall community of the school and that parental involvement with both classroom and non classroom activities is expected and is very high.

*Small class size for my child's benefit

*Not overly obnoxious in their fundraising efforts

Where to start? "Controlling the type of kids in the classroom" sounds so so wrong, in so many ways. Your assumption that only private school families are involved with their schools - do you really have no clue about public school family engagement? And "overly obnoxious" fundraising certainly does exist in private schools, we've been the victim of it, in fact public schools have a huge advantage over private schools where "obnoxious fundraising" is concerned.

[Anonymous]

This is a spoof, right?

Anonymous wrote:One of the reasons I am sending my DC to private, that no one talks about, is the "brand name" factor. I know when I tell people I went to such and such school, they view me differently. They assume I come from money and that I am relatively intelligent. If they went to a local private we usually have somewhat of a bond. There's a loose group of DC private school alum. I want to give that to my DC. I also think it makes them slightly better marriage material. Since I went to a DC private, I wanted to marry someone who did too. In certain respects it's similar to going to an Ivy league. In some social circles you almost have to send your DC to private school. For generations everyone has gone to private school. You can't not send your DC.