Please enlighten us public school parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are hook-up cultures at public schools. Wherever there are teenagers, there will be sex.

This is not a hook-up culture. A hookup culture is what we had at my eating club at Princeton (Terrace).

This is a rape culture. The Senior Salute. Textbook.

[Anonymous]

Well then, it is established that when comparing outstanding public schools (comparison among publics, no claims to private "quality") against privates what you are paying for with private is an elite cohort, guaranteed class sizes and really nice facilities.

So if you have been lucky/strategic enough to send your child to a public school with great facilities and your child is not one to fall through the cracks, you are paying for an elite cohort. That is fine and I am happy to say that my child's excellent public school is not, in fact, "just like private but for free"

[Anonymous]

I'm a product of DCPS public, and private. My kids are in private, but have attended public.

I'm no expert, and I think most parents select schools that they feel are best for their kids. If Janney is the best fit for you and your kids, then super. Goal achieved. Who cares what anyone else does?

But to answer your question, my kids in private are in small schools, with small classes. They also have advisories. They have easy access to their teachers and are encouraged to advocate for themselves. The teachers are given the latitude to work with each kid, and tailor and pivot their classes if the kids get really engage in one area. The school ties in subject matter throughout different courses. The schools have robust arts and theatre programs with black box theatres, darkrooms, access to great sports (which are wrapped into the school day), art studios, different bands, and chorus. There are science labs, and block schedules which enables them to delve deeply into a subject. They also have differentiation in the classroom to meet students' needs, and very little bureaucracy to deal with. I can email teachers and administrators if I need to, and they can email me (which they do). Everyone is held accountable.

I'm sure you have many of these things at Janney, but these are some of the things that my kids schools do really well. (they go to different schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a product of DCPS public, and private. My kids are in private, but have attended public.

I'm no expert, and I think most parents select schools that they feel are best for their kids. If Janney is the best fit for you and your kids, then super. Goal achieved. Who cares what anyone else does?

But to answer your question, my kids in private are in small schools, with small classes. They also have advisories. They have easy access to their teachers and are encouraged to advocate for themselves. The teachers are given the latitude to work with each kid, and tailor and pivot their classes if the kids get really engage in one area. The school ties in subject matter throughout different courses. The schools have robust arts and theatre programs with black box theatres, darkrooms, access to great sports (which are wrapped into the school day), art studios, different bands, and chorus. There are science labs, and block schedules which enables them to delve deeply into a subject. They also have differentiation in the classroom to meet students' needs, and very little bureaucracy to deal with. I can email teachers and administrators if I need to, and they can email me (which they do). Everyone is held accountable.

I'm sure you have many of these things at Janney, but these are some of the things that my kids schools do really well. (they go to different schools).

Thank you, this is a really helpful answer. Many of those things are the kinds of things that it is hard to do in public schools and I can see they would provide a benefit to your children.

[Anonymous]

If you're a product of your environment (and who isn't?), then private school will almost always be better then public in a capitalistic society. Just having selective admission and a ruling class that weights it higher make it better. If tomorrow's leaders are given preferential treatment by today's because they are part of the club that their parents bought into it automatically wins. You can get ahead in public but it is much easier in elite privates.

It is a stupid question posed by a clearly bitter 99% who doesn't get why Yale is better than Howard or why a Bentley is better than Cadillac. It is just one further litmus test to separate people from the masses. They are better because they are unattainable to normal people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well then, it is established that when comparing outstanding public schools (comparison among publics, no claims to private "quality") against privates what you are paying for with private is an elite cohort, guaranteed class sizes and really nice facilities.

So if you have been lucky/strategic enough to send your child to a public school with great facilities and your child is not one to fall through the cracks, you are paying for an elite cohort. That is fine and I am happy to say that my child's excellent public school is not, in fact, "just like private but for free"

Uh, no, there's more. I don't want to out my kids' independent school by posting the document, but the humanities curriculum in no way whatsoever resembles the one presented at Murch, then Deal, our IB schools (except for math). Then there's the science program, which is a little more similar to DCPS curriculum, but they meet 4x a week in ES and 5x a week in MS.

Also, the kids have had real, but not immersive, foreign language instruction since kindergarten. During the school day, multiple times a week.

[Anonymous]

Everyone defines "better" differently. Pointless discussion.

I define "better" as "more diverse" so public will almost always be better for us. I just don't want my children going to school with almost all rich children, even if it would mean they got more art class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone defines "better" differently. Pointless discussion.

I define "better" as "more diverse" so public will almost always be better for us. I just don't want my children going to school with almost all rich children, even if it would mean they got more art class.

Totally. I went to one of the elite private schools mentioned in this thread and got an unparalleled education most of the time...but the rape culture was real, and celebrated, and not unrelated to the wealth of my cohort's parents. My kids go to a charter in large part because I do not want them to be exclusively surrounded by big-law and lobbyist progeny. I admit that I may revisit this decision come 6th grade, but right now the diversity outweighs the kiln.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone defines "better" differently. Pointless discussion.

I define "better" as "more diverse" so public will almost always be better for us. I just don't want my children going to school with almost all rich children, even if it would mean they got more art class.

Totally. I went to one of the elite private schools mentioned in this thread and got an unparalleled education most of the time...but the rape culture was real, and celebrated, and not unrelated to the wealth of my cohort's parents. My kids go to a charter in large part because I do not want them to be exclusively surrounded by big-law and lobbyist progeny. I admit that I may revisit this decision come 6th grade, but right now the diversity outweighs the kiln.

+1. Graduate of elite DC private. I want my child to be exposed to kids from a range of backgrounds, not just elite backgrounds. I also don't want my kid to feel he is second best because his family is not highly connected to the current presidential or congressional administration. Nor do I want him to fixate on the size of his friends houses, where their vacation homes are, what brand of backpack they have, or what kind of car they were given for their sixteenth birthday. We are at a charter school.

[Anonymous]

18:16 here

My kids' private schools are more diverse than many public schools that have few OOB kids. More kids of color, and thanks to large endowments and great FA, kids from many different SES levels. In the DC area, it's a myth that all privates are filled with rich white kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone defines "better" differently. Pointless discussion.

I define "better" as "more diverse" so public will almost always be better for us. I just don't want my children going to school with almost all rich children, even if it would mean they got more art class.

Totally. I went to one of the elite private schools mentioned in this thread and got an unparalleled education most of the time...but the rape culture was real, and celebrated, and not unrelated to the wealth of my cohort's parents. My kids go to a charter in large part because I do not want them to be exclusively surrounded by big-law and lobbyist progeny. I admit that I may revisit this decision come 6th grade, but right now the diversity outweighs the kiln.

Elite private school has given you the option to play poor urbanite in the charter system. The charter system will most likely take that choice away form your kids.

Rape culture, ha, life is rape culture be it physical, Financial or environmental. In every transaction somebody is doing the fucking or getting fucked. The ones with the biggest profit often means ignoring the other parties wishes/consent. I rather a kid learn it in school then later in life besides people need to teach their daughters not to be easy pickings consensual or not. Let's not pretend that women's freedom of sexual choice isn't a relativity new phenomenon for our species, hell it hasn't even spread to all countries yet. Rape culture is simply people doing what people do with girls not educated about what is really goin on in our sexually repressed culture that swears it isn't. Teach your girls what boys want and how they try to get it while instilling enough self worth that she doesn't try to buy friends with blow jobs and hope for the best. Rape culture isn't going anywhere (and is as old as time) you can only try not to make your daughters the "easy" targets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18:16 here

My kids' private schools are more diverse than many public schools that have few OOB kids. More kids of color, and thanks to large endowments and great FA, kids from many different SES levels. In the DC area, it's a myth that all privates are filled with rich white kids.

The good ones are

[Anonymous]

Wrong. The "good ones" are the ones that strive for diversity AND have big endowments to back it up. A struggling school can't do that.

[Anonymous]

Rape culture, ha, life is rape culture be it physical, Financial or environmental. In every transaction somebody is doing the fucking or getting fucked. The ones with the biggest profit often means ignoring the other parties wishes/consent. I rather a kid learn it in school then later in life besides people need to teach their daughters not to be easy pickings consensual or not. Let's not pretend that women's freedom of sexual choice isn't a relativity new phenomenon for our species, hell it hasn't even spread to all countries yet. Rape culture is simply people doing what people do with girls not educated about what is really goin on in our sexually repressed culture that swears it isn't. Teach your girls what boys want and how they try to get it while instilling enough self worth that she doesn't try to buy friends with blow jobs and hope for the best. Rape culture isn't going anywhere (and is as old as time) you can only try not to make your daughters the "easy" targets.

Christ, lay off the booze and the Ayn Rand, already.

[Anonymous]

I have taught at both private and public elementary schools in DC and one private school in NOVA. The average class sizes at the two private schools where I taught were 26 and 30 students. The average class size at my current DCPS school is 19. Teacher quality is better at the DCPS school and there is more hands-on learning and use of a variety of classroom materials (heavy on the textbooks at the private schools). All schools where I have taught have had end of the year standardized tests. It is true that DCPS tests more frequently throughout the year.