Parents of Private High School Graduates – was it worth it?

[Anonymous]

I guess those in the bubble think that - $5000 grant is all it takes to get a kid from anacostia into a $30k private school.

But what does any of this have to do with OP? This digression began because one person suggested that some public ES aren't especially diverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess those in the bubble think that - $5000 grant is all it takes to get a kid from anacostia into a $30k private school.

But what does any of this have to do with OP? This digression began because one person suggested that some public ES aren't especially diverse.

One PP claimed diversity was a little-recognized benefit of private schooling. The rest of us, including some of us with kids in private schools, called BS, but that poster just won't give up.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming, some real benefits of private schools. Small class sizes, anyone?

[Anonymous]

It really just depends on what your public school option is. With the exception of magnet and GT programs, your public school option is dictated by where you live. The quality and diversity of public schools vary tremendously. Compare Wilson and Whitman at the high school level, for example. I think the demographic variation is even greater at the elementary level since the school districts are smaller. It's pretty silly to conclude that because my DC public school is diverse they are all diverse. The stats for each school are published.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really just depends on what your public school option is. With the exception of magnet and GT programs, your public school option is dictated by where you live. The quality and diversity of public schools vary tremendously. Compare Wilson and Whitman at the high school level, for example. I think the demographic variation is even greater at the elementary level since the school districts are smaller. It's pretty silly to conclude that because my DC public school is diverse they are all diverse. The stats for each school are published.

Yes, Wilson and Whitman are very different. None of this makes a given private school diverse in any meaningful sense of the word, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "Big 3" ES of lower MoCo - Holton, Sidwell, Landon have numerous students who commute in from very low SES neighborhoods outside MoCo. How many children from very low SES neighborhoods of PG County and DC attend your MoCo ES?

I'll hang up and listen to your answer. Thanks.

Hopefully none, since it's overcapacity and doesn't take tuition paying non residents so any PG or DC kids would be misrepresenting their residence to attend. But that being said, how do you know about where all these kids live and whether they are low SES at all 3 schools? My kids went to a private school in DC that had quite a few kids from PG county and DC east of the river, and they were not low income. In fact many of them were full pay. So I hope you are not equating living in PG county with low SES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "Big 3" ES of lower MoCo - Holton, Sidwell, Landon have numerous students who commute in from very low SES neighborhoods outside MoCo. How many children from very low SES neighborhoods of PG County and DC attend your MoCo ES?

I'll hang up and listen to your answer. Thanks.

Hopefully none, since it's overcapacity and doesn't take tuition paying non residents so any PG or DC kids would be misrepresenting their residence to attend. But that being said, how do you know about where all these kids live and whether they are low SES at all 3 schools? My kids went to a private school in DC that had quite a few kids from PG county and DC east of the river, and they were not low income. In fact many of them were full pay. So I hope you are not equating living in PG county with low SES.

With smaller class sizes you tend to actually KNOW your classmates - especially if you look up from your shoelaces from time to time. Hard to imagine, I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The "Big 3" ES of lower MoCo - Holton, Sidwell, Landon have numerous students who commute in from very low SES neighborhoods outside MoCo. How many children from very low SES neighborhoods of PG County and DC attend your MoCo ES?

I'll hang up and listen to your answer. Thanks.

Hopefully none, since it's overcapacity and doesn't take tuition paying non residents so any PG or DC kids would be misrepresenting their residence to attend. But that being said, how do you know about where all these kids live and whether they are low SES at all 3 schools? My kids went to a private school in DC that had quite a few kids from PG county and DC east of the river, and they were not low income. In fact many of them were full pay. So I hope you are not equating living in PG county with low SES.

With smaller class sizes you tend to actually KNOW your classmates - especially if you look up from your shoelaces from time to time. Hard to imagine, I know.

I'm another private school parent who think this cr@p about private schools being an educational sanctuary for the great unwashed from Anacostia and *gasp* PG County is ... uh ... cr@p. We did know all the other families in DCs' classes, too.

Funny, I don't remember any lessons in comportment at the private school, either.

[Anonymous]

San Minguel
Washington Jesuit School
St. Anthony's
St. Francis Xavier
St. Thomas Moore
The Washington Middle School for Girls
Sacred Heart

All feed into the Private Catholic Schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really just depends on what your public school option is. With the exception of magnet and GT programs, your public school option is dictated by where you live. The quality and diversity of public schools vary tremendously. Compare Wilson and Whitman at the high school level, for example. I think the demographic variation is even greater at the elementary level since the school districts are smaller. It's pretty silly to conclude that because my DC public school is diverse they are all diverse. The stats for each school are published.

Yes, Wilson and Whitman are very different. None of this makes a given private school diverse in any meaningful sense of the word, however.

Which private school do you contend is not diverse? compared to which public school?

Earlier in this thread there is a listing of 12 Montgomery ES schools with low URM diversity (less than 5% on average) -if you are in one of these school districts its not hard to find a more diverse private school.

What in your opinion is "meaningful" diversity?

[Anonymous]

Okay, let me see if I can keep this straight – we’ve got boastful “old money” families sending their kids to the low SES diverse schools of Montgomery County and the well to do folks in PG county and SE DC who have their kids take a bus for an hour + each way, but are presumed to be paying full freight at a $30,000 a year private school. Sound about right to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, let me see if I can keep this straight – we’ve got boastful “old money” families sending their kids to the low SES diverse schools of Montgomery County and the well to do folks in PG county and SE DC who have their kids take a bus for an hour + each way, but are presumed to be paying full freight at a $30,000 a year private school. Sound about right to you?

Close. There was something about hundreds of raggedy Les Miserables kids from PG County and Anacostia all getting full scholarships to DC privates.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone remember what this thread is about?