so sick of the gloating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, who cares? Doesn't OP's post speak for itself?

OP needs to grow some. How about smiling and saying, "Thank you, but we're very happy with our school." No need to say more, because that would be tacky and she'd be stooping to their level. All she needs to do is tell them she's happy with her kids' school.

And the poster who wants to control what aspects of OP's post people are allowed to criticize, and what aspects are off-limits, and wants OP to weigh in as some arbiter who decides it all, needs to have her head examined.

Thank you, Hall Monitor.

[Anonymous]

Hate to be a wet blanket, but if you're paying more per year for private schooling than many Americans' yearly salary, you're going to come in for some gentle ribbing.

[Anonymous]

But not by people whose annual salaries approximate the cost of your DC's tuition. More likely by neighbors whose affluence is similar to your own but whose spending priorities are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But not by people whose annual salaries approximate the cost of your DC's tuition. More likely by neighbors whose affluence is similar to your own but whose spending priorities are different.

It's not just about spending priorities, as if parents are choosing between private school and a beach condo. Some parents are sincerely happy with their local public school choices.

[Anonymous]

The parents perfectly happy with the public schools aren't the people giving their neighbors who send their kids to private grief. The grief-givers are people who are nervous that maybe somebody else's kid is getting something their kid isn't and that money is the reason why, so they're eager to assert that that money isn't well spent.

And you're the one talking about beach condos -- different priorities could be saving for retirement or college, helping elderly family members with medical expenses, paying the mortgage -- these are more the kind of trade-offs I had in mind because that's what I see. People can feel just as nervous/insecure when they can't give their own kids what they see other kids getting as they do when they've chosen not to. I think it's more a matter of personality than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Frankly, I think you and OP may be making a firestorm where none exists - creating an "jealous public school bogeyman" out of your own over-sensitivities, or even just for fun.

I've only been bugged by one public school parent, ever. And it wasn't on something as trivial as school days. It was from a mom whose kid had applied and gotten into a private, but who had made a different choice. So it makes me wonder if the anger and anxiety displayed in OP's post, over what might have been a few casual remarks over something stupid, or might just have been jokes, are more down to her than to her neighbors.

So go ahead and rear the ugly spectre of a "jealous public school" parent. Have lots of fun with it. Convince yourself that everybody is jealous of you, if that makes you feel good. But don't expect the rest of us to buy into your over-sensitivities or games.

[Anonymous]

You either don't read very carefully or are eager to create strawmen of your own.

I've consistently distinguished between most public school parents and people who behave like OP describes. The latter certainly aren't the norm, but they do exist. Especially in expensive neighborhoods that many people chose to move into for the schools. I don't see it much in my DC neighborhood, but for a friend in McLean it's relentless.

[Anonymous]

This thread is the dumbest ever. Poor little me!

[Anonymous]

No the dumbest ever thread was the one about which designer labels are the right ones for Big 3 elementary schoolers.

[Anonymous]

Really, there was a thread like that? I'll have to search for it. This one takes second place, though. It makes private school parents look like insecure whiners. Maybe both are fake, though?

[Anonymous]

Most of us are both private school and public school parents, having tested the waters in both by the time we're in middle school. What parents by and large focus on is what is best for their child. When my kids were younger walking down the block to the local PS was a priority, and as they've gotten older the MS options aren't good. The private school is the right fit for this child at this time, but public may be an option as we explore HS later on. P.S. I'd much rather have a beach condo than pay tuition!

[Anonymous]

This thread reminds me of the posters who whine about how difficult it is to have a gifted kid, and how nobody understands them. Both make me cringe, because it's all about the poster's hypersensitivity and need for revenge, even if it's cyber-revenge on DCUM.

Signed, a mom of a private school gifted kid!

[Anonymous]

Actually, what bugs me about the gifted kids whine is that it's usually invoked as a way of suggesting that anyone who disagrees with the poster has no experience with gifted kids On DCUM it usually functions as an attempt to pull rank and/or as a claim to entitlement.

This post was just someone venting, AFAICT. Doesn't mean everyone has to sympathize, but "revenge" seems kinda harsh as a characterization of what OP was looking for.

[Anonymous]

Both the gifted-kids and the mean-public-parents are indirect ways of boasting. And both imply that others are jealous of you.

[Anonymous]

Ok, now I get it -- seeing boasting and gloating everywhere isn't hypersensitive. But being annoyed by people who see everything in those terms is.