Did both parents go to public but you're now sending kids to private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We actually did the opposite situation. It's simply not worth the tuition that they're charging. The ROI is not there. We'll set our kids up with nice trust funds instead. I doubt that there are many 25-year-olds who would choose the having attended private K-12 over a 7-figure trust fund.

What is wrong with people? What does a 25 year old news with a trust fund, other than yet another reason to not make anything of themselves? Disgusting.

Agree. This is disgusting and the values it represents are not admirable.

I think people are being put off by the trust fund comment. I am not that poster but I will rephrase: "I think my child would rather have college and grad school paid for and a down payment on a house, than have gone to private school k-12."

[Anonymous]

We tried dcps and pulled out at 4th. At a private that is infinitely better in all dimensions.

[Anonymous]

Both my DH and I went to public but our DS goes to private. Our parents both bought into areas with top rated schools. However, we live near our work, so as not to waste precious time commuting, and the local schools are bad past elementary. So, our DS goes to private. Our top publics were better than his private, but moving to Bethesda is just not an option for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We actually did the opposite situation. It's simply not worth the tuition that they're charging. The ROI is not there. We'll set our kids up with nice trust funds instead. I doubt that there are many 25-year-olds who would choose the having attended private K-12 over a 7-figure trust fund.

What is wrong with people? What does a 25 year old news with a trust fund, other than yet another reason to not make anything of themselves? Disgusting.

Agree. This is disgusting and the values it represents are not admirable.

I think people are being put off by the trust fund comment. I am not that poster but I will rephrase: "I think my child would rather have college and grad school paid for and a down payment on a house, than have gone to private school k-12."

Fair, but I don't think many people are blowing their college/grad school wad on private school. It's hardly go to Sidwell now, pay for college on your own. And whatever happened to saving for your own down payment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We actually did the opposite situation. It's simply not worth the tuition that they're charging. The ROI is not there. We'll set our kids up with nice trust funds instead. I doubt that there are many 25-year-olds who would choose the having attended private K-12 over a 7-figure trust fund.

What is wrong with people? What does a 25 year old news with a trust fund, other than yet another reason to not make anything of themselves? Disgusting.

Agree. This is disgusting and the values it represents are not admirable.

I think people are being put off by the trust fund comment. I am not that poster but I will rephrase: "I think my child would rather have college and grad school paid for and a down payment on a house, than have gone to private school k-12."

Fair, but I don't think many people are blowing their college/grad school wad on private school. It's hardly go to Sidwell now, pay for college on your own. And whatever happened to saving for your own down payment?

Actually I bet there are a lot of parents out there who pay for private and not for grad school. I'd much rather have had my parents pay for a more expensive college or grad school than private school. Or even just have been given cash. Fwiw, many parents paying private school tuition find it to be a lot of money. Just taking 40k and investing it will amass to a good bit of money over time. If you take the 500k you would have spent on private school and put it in the market your child will end up with plenty for college, grad school, wedding and a down payment.

I wish my husband's parents could write us a one million check because that's how much they spent educating their two children when there were perfectly decent public schools. They both still work past the retirement age. It's sad.

[Anonymous]

Yes, and are amazed at how much better DC's school years have been than ours.

It came at a high cost, but DC has never experienced indifferent faculty or administrators.

It is sad that most kids do not have the same wonderful academic experience that DC has been blessed to receive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:07:34 -- I'm curious which school you chose, since you are an educator. Did you find in the end that the school delivered on its promises and your child was better than if he/she attended the local public?

GDS, it delivered on its promises, and DC got a better education than should could have at any local public, given her interests and abilities and given our academic values.

I can't tell how much is here and now (compared to how and where I grew up) and how much is private school, but I think there were substantial downsides as well, especially in HS. There's a lot of unhealthy pressure and so many demands/enticements that I think the environment gives kids a really skewed sense of reality and gets in the way of personal/intellectual development. Under different leadership, that's a dynamic that might have been tempered if not reversed, but unfortunately I think it's full speed ahead for the foreseeable future.

This is one of the more interesting ideas I've seen posted in quite some time. DW and I grew up in public schools but opted for a different private for our kids. I agree that one down side is that there is risk of an increased skewed view of the world, as despite the efforts of privates to offer financial aid there remains a disproportionately high number of affluent families -- including those choosing to live an affluent lifestyle (size of homes, extensive travel, etc.). That said, I also have observed that my kids are far more confident than I was at their age. While I dreamed of being deemed worthy to attend a leading college-- not necessarily ivy, just anything top 25 or so, never sure if I would make it -- my reality was that only in-state schools were on the table. My kids coming from privates certainly expect that they will be attend a very good college, and the only issue is which one and how selective. Granted, much of this is simply generational differences in socio-economic circumstances, but I do believe the private school education instills a certain sense that if you work hard you can expect to be in the most successful circles of whatever you do. In some kids that can be arrogance or entitlement. Fortunately, in my kids I think it manifests only as health confidence and realistic ambition. As a public school kid in a working class neighborhood, I was certainly recognized as having potential and my ambition was encouraged, but not to the same degree or in the same way as my kids in private schools. Parents, family friends, teachers and counselors -- they just didn't know how.

This is a really good post. You wrote my experience exactly (but in a bunch better manner).

[Anonymous]

Yes we both went to public.

[Anonymous]

Both of us went to public schools. Some good, some terrible. What is sad is that the things that we had in public schools are no longer available to our kids if they stay in public schools. We are looking to jump to private for middle school. No foreign language in middle school, no algebra in middle school, no differentiation of honors english or honors math or honors science.

It bugs me when people are smug about public schools and say the return on invest isn't there. That is a blanket statement that is completely ignoring that quality of public school varies A WHOLE LOT in this country. And then being smug about "well, I bought a house in a great district" that's great but you should at least get that you are paying for school, just not as directly as someone writing tuition checks.