Does your socio-economic status inform how you feel about your child's school/education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your lack of English writing skills "inform how you feel" about what your fingers type?

Lol

[Anonymous]

HHI: less than $100K
House: $350K
Occupations: higher ed & part-time freelance writer
Live in Silver Spring, DCC
Child in public schools

Am I satisfied with the public schools? Yes, broadly speaking. I see all this hand-wringing on DCUM about how the W schools are so coveted, and that eastern MoCo schools are iffy.

What I never understand about this is: MCPS is one single school system. They have the same curriculum, how different can it be? Yes, I'm sure there are far more poor kids in public school in Silver Spring than in Bethesda, and that can have an effect on the overall school climate. The wealthier schools are an easier gig, so you may get more senior teachers there.

In my view, part of the effect of being in non-elite public school is good (socio-economic diversity, exposure to poor kids, non-English speaking kids, etc), and part of it is bad (teachers and schools need to focus on more basic needs and remedial/ESOL instruction). If I could afford bethesda, I'd consider moving there "for the schools", as people say. But while being among the well-off has advantages, I also expect it has disadvantages: comparing self to more wealthy peers and wanting more materially; Ivy-league goals leading to high pressure to succeed, which can be unhealthy pressure for some kids.

If I were wealthy, I might consider private school to get a more supportive, holistic, creative education, vs the standardized testing focus of public schools today.

[Anonymous]

HHI is $340K
We own a house worth in the low to mid $500s in SS
We are zoned for Einstein.
We are very happy with our elementary school.

We could afford to move from our "starter home" but we've spent years building a nice community. Very family friendly neighborhood and good commute/access to metro. Don't want to move to a 800-900K house that is not that great. I think my kids will thrive in any environment, they are smart, very articulate, love to read, and are well taken care of, fed healthy foods, in a stable house, etc. Think those factors are more important than a GS rating of 10. If we go anywhere, it will be to a neighborhood zoned for Blair as that is the location and housing stock we like.

I went to private school. It was an okay experience but had its downsides. The entitlement of the wealthy white males I went to school with...I hope things have changed since the 90s but I'm not so sure. Lots of drugs and partying. Everyone had some sort of beach or mountain house type thing and lots of parents traveled so lots of opportunities for parties. Stakes were low in a world where people didn't see many consequences (it was a given we'd go to college, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HHI: less than $100K
House: $350K
Occupations: higher ed & part-time freelance writer
Live in Silver Spring, DCC
Child in public schools

Am I satisfied with the public schools? Yes, broadly speaking. I see all this hand-wringing on DCUM about how the W schools are so coveted, and that eastern MoCo schools are iffy.

What I never understand about this is: MCPS is one single school system. They have the same curriculum, how different can it be? Yes, I'm sure there are far more poor kids in public school in Silver Spring than in Bethesda, and that can have an effect on the overall school climate. The wealthier schools are an easier gig, so you may get more senior teachers there.

In my view, part of the effect of being in non-elite public school is good (socio-economic diversity, exposure to poor kids, non-English speaking kids, etc), and part of it is bad (teachers and schools need to focus on more basic needs and remedial/ESOL instruction). If I could afford bethesda, I'd consider moving there "for the schools", as people say. But while being among the well-off has advantages, I also expect it has disadvantages: comparing self to more wealthy peers and wanting more materially; Ivy-league goals leading to high pressure to succeed, which can be unhealthy pressure for some kids.

If I were wealthy, I might consider private school to get a more supportive, holistic, creative education, vs the standardized testing focus of public schools today.

It's not actually different. The teachers and curriculum are the same. The same cohorts do almost identical on standardized tests. Bottom line your kid will get the same education regardless of where they are. The rest is just a false narrative to intended to fluff real-estate values.

[Anonymous]

Another HHI 300k in Silver Spring. Public schools. We never left our "starter home" either because we loved our community. College is fully funded wherever they want to go. The $550k house we have here would be $900 on the rich side of the county. Private school for one kid all the way through would have been about $500k. So we're about a million ahead, plus our kids are doing great in public middle and elementary. I'm sure private schools and wealthy publics have vague intangibles we would like. But I'll take my million dollars and happy kids.