Is Private School tuition a BARGIN?

[Anonymous]

If you are committed to public school, what's wrong with working to improve your local schools from the moment you move into a neighborhood instead of waiting to you face the prospect of inadequate schools for YOUR child and trying to buy your way into a school that OTHERS have invested time and effort into building for many years. I'm shocked that citizens allow their own schools to deteriorate (despite investment of public funds that equal or exceed private school tuition) and then try to parachute their DC into good schools. We should demand more of our public schools. They are wasting our money and no one seems to care so long as they can find a way to help their DC escape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are committed to public school, what's wrong with working to improve your local schools from the moment you move into a neighborhood instead of waiting to you face the prospect of inadequate schools for YOUR child and trying to buy your way into a school that OTHERS have invested time and effort into building for many years. I'm shocked that citizens allow their own schools to deteriorate (despite investment of public funds that equal or exceed private school tuition) and then try to parachute their DC into good schools. We should demand more of our public schools. They are wasting our money and no one seems to care so long as they can find a way to help their DC escape.

OK, I'm a big supporter of public schools, but this is just naive and silly. Nothwithstanding your expressions of "shock." Do you actually have a kid in a public school, like me? If so, you must realize that one family working FT from their DC's birth isn't going to revolutionize a really bad school by the time DC hits K. Why not? Because the administrators are appointed from on high; because the school may be locked into a district-wide curriculum; because other families may be uninterested in working for change. And it's always the high-SES districts that have the best schools, and it's always the families that can't afford a house in, for example, Bethesda, who are trying to buy their way into Bethesda schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are committed to public school, what's wrong with working to improve your local schools from the moment you move into a neighborhood instead of waiting to you face the prospect of inadequate schools for YOUR child and trying to buy your way into a school that OTHERS have invested time and effort into building for many years. I'm shocked that citizens allow their own schools to deteriorate (despite investment of public funds that equal or exceed private school tuition) and then try to parachute their DC into good schools. We should demand more of our public schools. They are wasting our money and no one seems to care so long as they can find a way to help their DC escape.

OK, I'm a big supporter of public schools, but this is just naive and silly. Nothwithstanding your expressions of "shock." Do you actually have a kid in a public school, like me? If so, you must realize that one family working FT from their DC's birth isn't going to revolutionize a really bad school by the time DC hits K. Why not? Because the administrators are appointed from on high; because the school may be locked into a district-wide curriculum; because other families may be uninterested in working for change. And it's always the high-SES districts that have the best schools, and it's always the families that can't afford a house in, for example, Bethesda, who are trying to buy their way into Bethesda schools.

Within a school district, the amount spent per student is NOT greater in the high -SES neighborhoods than the lower SES neighborhoods. There are various reasons why better schools are in high-SES neighborhoods, but public spending is not a reason. A big factor is what residents demand and expect. You are correct that one person cannot change things in one year, but that's true of much in society. You have to start somewhere and if you wait until your child is school age and then give up once you've found a way out for your kid nothing will ever change. We must demand more for all children, not just our own. Public school systems have become corrupt and people aren't complaining about it except during that limited time when it impacts them directly. No accountability = corruption.

[Anonymous]

Regarding the PP, I think there's a lot of truth here. Time and time again, studies have shown that perception about a child or a community of people drives the way people are educated: what is expected of them, what is offered to them, *everything.* What parents expect and demand of the system; what teachers think; what administrators assume ... it determines so, so much. Not everything, mind, but a lot. All this is in play whenever we are discussing competing public school districts or private schools. Culture matters, educational assumptions matter. They construct the person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are committed to public school, what's wrong with working to improve your local schools from the moment you move into a neighborhood instead of waiting to you face the prospect of inadequate schools for YOUR child and trying to buy your way into a school that OTHERS have invested time and effort into building for many years. I'm shocked that citizens allow their own schools to deteriorate (despite investment of public funds that equal or exceed private school tuition) and then try to parachute their DC into good schools. We should demand more of our public schools. They are wasting our money and no one seems to care so long as they can find a way to help their DC escape.

OK, I'm a big supporter of public schools, but this is just naive and silly. Nothwithstanding your expressions of "shock." Do you actually have a kid in a public school, like me? If so, you must realize that one family working FT from their DC's birth isn't going to revolutionize a really bad school by the time DC hits K. Why not? Because the administrators are appointed from on high; because the school may be locked into a district-wide curriculum; because other families may be uninterested in working for change. And it's always the high-SES districts that have the best schools, and it's always the families that can't afford a house in, for example, Bethesda, who are trying to buy their way into Bethesda schools.

Within a school district, the amount spent per student is NOT greater in the high -SES neighborhoods than the lower SES neighborhoods. There are various reasons why better schools are in high-SES neighborhoods, but public spending is not a reason. A big factor is what residents demand and expect. You are correct that one person cannot change things in one year, but that's true of much in society. You have to start somewhere and if you wait until your child is school age and then give up once you've found a way out for your kid nothing will ever change. We must demand more for all children, not just our own. Public school systems have become corrupt and people aren't complaining about it except during that limited time when it impacts them directly. No accountability = corruption.

+1

[Anonymous]

You are correct pp. I can see you have experienced this firsthand in the public school experience. No accountability does lead to an atmosphere where corruption can thrive long term, as parents and families try hard in short term bursts to do something to make things better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The purpose of the public schools, on the other hand, has become to provide profitable employment and extraordinary benefits for the unionized public school teachers.

South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia do not have teachers' unions. I wonder what the purpose of public schools is in those states.

I taught in Falls Church City Public Schools in Virginia. I was a member of the teachers' union there. So yes, Virginia does have unions.

George Mason HS had tuition-paying, non-district children attending while I was a teacher there. That was several years ago so I don't know if they still accept tuition-paying families. They were starting to get very crowded around the time I left.

[Anonymous]

Not sure how the problem of corruption in the public schools got onto the private school page, but I will say that private school parents must think that the schools they choose for their DC must offer some benefit that they value at $30K+ per year. Understandable in the District, but even the MoCo and Fairfax systems are deemed wanting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how the problem of corruption in the public schools got onto the private school page, but I will say that private school parents must think that the schools they choose for their DC must offer some benefit that they value at $30K+ per year. Understandable in the District, but even the MoCo and Fairfax systems are deemed wanting.

Who is this pathetic poster, and why are you spending your afternoon bumping up ancient threads just to post anti-public school rants on each thread? Get.a.life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how the problem of corruption in the public schools got onto the private school page, but I will say that private school parents must think that the schools they choose for their DC must offer some benefit that they value at $30K+ per year. Understandable in the District, but even the MoCo and Fairfax systems are deemed wanting.

Who is this pathetic poster, and why are you spending your afternoon bumping up ancient threads just to post anti-public school rants on each thread? Get.a.life.

Huh?