Private vs. Public School

[Anonymous]

For those who have been through it, if you had to do it over would you choose the same path? Why or why not? I'm so conflicted/confused about which path to take with our DC.

[Anonymous]

The advice given to me was to take a tour of your options. There is no easy answer - I wish there was. See what the options are and if they are a good fit for your family. If one doesn't work and you have an option to change it, you do that.

[Anonymous]

I would choose private again.

We started with public and it was a disaster. We moved to private and it was fantastic. The problem is, once in private it's difficult to move back to public. The environment and opportunities are excellent and public just doesn't compare.

If our public experience had not been so terrible, private would not have been worth the tuition. It's far too expensive for what you get, in my opinion, unless there are extra things that make it worth while to you as an individual.

I wish there were more opportunities in public education so that for many of us the choice wouldn't be as limited as assigned school, private school, or home school. If we could have remained a public school family, we would have.

[Anonymous]

I went to private school. Hoping to keep my kids in public school all the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to private school. Hoping to keep my kids in public school all the way.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to private school. Hoping to keep my kids in public school all the way.

Interesting. I'd love to hear more if you don't mind sharing.

[Anonymous]

Just went through this last year for DS.
The question isn't "private v public" - there are far too many variables.
The question is "of the school choices available to my child which one would be the best for my child."

We toured, interviewed, talked to current and past parents and some students at four schools - our local public, the private where DS was last year, and two other privates.
Almost all of our concerns about public were unfounded. Some of the assumed benefits of the privates weren't really there or were easily replaceable.

Half way through the year at our local public and he is absolutely thriving. Happier than he's even been at school, learning a ton, and it's so great to be part of our neighborhood school community.

But that's all based on my individual kid and the options available within our commuting and financial reach.

Your decision needs to be based on the actual choices you have, not some philosophical agenda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to private school. Hoping to keep my kids in public school all the way.

Interesting. I'd love to hear more if you don't mind sharing.

How old is your kid? Public school seemed fine until second grade, when it became basically a Saturday Night Live sketch about timing and testing and stupid ways to force kids to learn something. Dunzo and leaving, even though I had similar hopes. I went to private after 6th and my husband went to public all the way through. Things have changed and public school is horrendous now. Our school is rated a 10 on great schools, btw. Most of the people there think it's good. It's absurd, but I am glad they like it.

[Anonymous]

Dh and I were both public school kids all the way through. We are applying now to move ods for 6th grade to private school. You just can't compare the resources at the top independent schools to public schools. It is sad because it is a hell of a lot of money.

Dh and I went to a mixture of schools (dh was AF family and I was in a DOD family) and the resources that we had access to at some of the schools then blows away what is available at even the highly ranked public schools here. Education is ridiculously underfunded now.

We want more.

[Anonymous]

I went to public in Howard County, in a good cluster. My child is in private here in Montgomery County. There are a couple of major reasons for that. He is the type of student who would daydream all day if he were in a larger class and the teacher couldn't stay on him to keep him engaged. And the second reason is I think the overwhelming size of the MoCo school system creates some real deficits (curriculum, testing issues, funding priorities). Either of these issues alone wouldn't have been enough for me to pick private school. I could help him navigate through one or the other just fine. But the two together are just not worth the hassle to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to private school. Hoping to keep my kids in public school all the way.

Same.

+2

[Anonymous]

I agree that the question is not public school vs. private school. You don't send your child to "public school", and you don't send your child to "private school". You send your child to a specific school. It's absurd to say that private school (all private schools, any private school) is better than public school (all public schools, any public school), just as it's absurd to say the converse.

[Anonymous]

^^^and actually, to add to that: you send your specific child to a specific school. The same school may be better for one child but worse for another child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to private school. Hoping to keep my kids in public school all the way.

same here.
I find it fascinating that so many of us feel this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that the question is not public school vs. private school. You don't send your child to "public school", and you don't send your child to "private school". You send your child to a specific school. It's absurd to say that private school (all private schools, any private school) is better than public school (all public schools, any public school), just as it's absurd to say the converse.

Exactly. It depends on what two schools you are comparing. I went to K-12 private, my kids are happily at public. But be bought our house with the specific school we wanted in mind.