How do you conclude that priate school provided better service?

[Anonymous]

Every time I look at this thread's title, I think it says Pirate School.

Arrrgh, maties!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ironically, I think high achieving AA males are more supported in the Big 3 schools ( in Middle and High School) than in publics, where there are very few blacks in the highest level classes.

M

Not just at Big 3. Lots of amazing AAs at all area privates, from very accomplished and/or affluent families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time I look at this thread's title, I think it says Pirate School.

Arrrgh, maties!

I was just thinking the same thing. Pirate school sounds good to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I feel...." doesn't answer this.
"A higher percentage of kids from private school attend college...." really doesn't prove anything because of the correlation of wealthy parents (who can afford private school) and higher intelligence/higher college participation. Meaning: Those kids in private school probably would have attended college anyway if they hadn't attended private school.
"My private school provides religious education..." OK, I suppose that can't easily be replicated in public school though parents can provide religious education extracurricularly.

If your next door neighbors' kids got into equivalent colleges/universities and/or excelled academically equivalently as your private school educated kids, did the private school necessarily outperform the public school? (And "outperform" often means "provides better peers" because there's a bigger difference between the students at high and low performing schools than there is between the faculty/resources/equipment/labs/etc at high and low performing schools.

Bottom line: If you live in a neighborhood with fairly high performing students, why send your kids to private school? Can you conclude the private school provides significantly (at least $20K year per kid) better service? If you are like my parents were, had a single kid and lived in a neighborhood with poor performing peers (all of my street buddies were burned out pot heads and coke addicts and hardly any graduated high school), then private school (where I attended) certainly provided a better product and service due to the high performing peers (Vin Scully's kids, movie stars' kids, etc).

you sound defensive and troubled by your choice to send your own kids to public

[Anonymous]

For one Private School teaches how to spell, "priate."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public schools teache one skill really, really well and that's to be cynical. Kids watch as adults have to put up with tons of bullshit regarding testing and student behavior. Despite what they'll say in public, kids coming from public schools have less empathy because of the crap they've observed. If you did some of the things in private school that you can get away with in public you'd be gone like s..t through a goose. Privates aren't perfect but there are, especially in DC, many folks willing to take your place. Get out of line the man he comes and takes you away. If you bring a weapon to a private school it's goodbye. In publics they'll try and cover it up and give you in school detention. It wasn't always that way but that's the way it is now. Girls can be sexually harassed at publics ...wouldn't happen for a day in privates. GFL with your public schools. I'll sell my plasma before my kids sit in a BS public school.

Well, there is a counter-anecdote to every anecdote. I have never encountered as many world-weary, cynical, condescending, too-cool teenagers as I knew at my exclusive private school. We had a world-class string quartet come perform and the kids in the audience laughed at them. Kids bullied each other massively and relentlessly for not being good enough at sports, not rich enough, not from the right neighborhood. Kids were obsessed with money, and as high schoolers already planned to go into finance and law because there was no big money to be made in other professions. I know these people as adults and they have not changed. I think the data actually show that the 1% have less empathy than the rest, not more. If I have a good public option (and I do), I don't think I want to subject my less-than-rich, less-than-sporty children to the attitudes so common at elite privates. Watch your own attitude, you who use "bullshit," "crap," "sh.t," and "GFL" (good f*cking luck). Sure you're not a teenager?

I'm a private school parent. Wasn't there a big statutory rape/sexual harassment scandal at an elite private recently?

[Anonymous]

I conclude private for the simple fact there isn't a police officer stationed there that slams disrespectful kids on desks. I wouldn't want that to be my kid, wouldn't want my kid to witness such a thing, and certainly wouldn't want my kid sitting being friends with such a rude child. Someone just told me that MoCo high schools have police officers stationed there. This is supposed to be a joyful place of learning not some boot camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I conclude private for the simple fact there isn't a police officer stationed there that slams disrespectful kids on desks. I wouldn't want that to be my kid, wouldn't want my kid to witness such a thing, and certainly wouldn't want my kid sitting being friends with such a rude child. Someone just told me that MoCo high schools have police officers stationed there. This is supposed to be a joyful place of learning not some boot camp.

Wait, I am all for private over public, but there are NO cops at our MoCo schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I conclude private for the simple fact there isn't a police officer stationed there that slams disrespectful kids on desks. I wouldn't want that to be my kid, wouldn't want my kid to witness such a thing, and certainly wouldn't want my kid sitting being friends with such a rude child. Someone just told me that MoCo high schools have police officers stationed there. This is supposed to be a joyful place of learning not some boot camp.

I taught in one of the worst MoCo HS until 4 years ago. Still have friends teaching there. Daily fights. Weapons. Drugs. Assaults on teachers. You name it. There are NOT Montgomery Co. police stationed there. There's a resource officer whose beat includes the school. He's actually really good at diffusing situations. Better than the school security staff who try to befriend the worst offenders out of fear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Biggest sellers (beyond the religious education which DD gets through our parish anyway) were arts, music, PE, AND FL in ES multiple times a week EVERY week all year long, not just as a once a week "special" that would change every marking period.

We also wanted to avoid over crowded classes and the constant shifts of educational fads.

This x1000 (minus the religious part as we and our school are secular). In public, DD was bringing home 5 million worksheets a day and not getting excited about anything. PE and specials were once a week for less than 40 minutes, and recess (on the occasion it happened when the weather wasn't too hot, too cold, windy, rainy, etc) was frequently on a bare stretch of blacktop with about 3 balls the kids had to fight over because the playground was "muddy." Everything focused on the standardized tests and there were few opportunities for parents to be involved. This was MCPS.

[Anonymous]

5 MILLION worksheets a day. Imagine! Daily assaults on teachers with weapons. Imagine!

Or, try not to catastrophize completely and inflate one anecdote to describe hundreds of wildly different local schools (199 in Montgomery County alone) to justify spending enough for private k-12 to pay for your child's college, grad school, and down payment on first home.

[Anonymous]

I have kids in both private and public. The differences that make private better for us is:

Teacher/student ratio. My child is in 9th grade and the most she has in a class is 18. The lowest is 13. My public school child in elementary has 27 kids in her class.

Positive Diversity. In private, you see that every culture and race is performing at a high level. The kids all hang out together. Our school has 37% minorities and that does not count non-minorities from other countries.

Community. The family picked the school. They put time and effort into it. My youngest public school had 14 people show up for the first PTA meeting. Out of 565 kids and some teachers were begging for room parents into October. Only a handful of parents at the OpenHouse.

Teachers. The ones at private school have freedom to teach, not follow a robotic curriculum. I have seen teachers take their class outside to read books in the grass because it was a nice day. Play Math games with four square and basketball. Just more outside the box teaching. They are fun and not burnout. We get to see tests. Kids MUST complete all wrong answers and turn back in.

Length of day. The private school day is longer and they incorporate more into in. More specials, more recess, more science, etc..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time I look at this thread's title, I think it says Pirate School.

Arrrgh, maties!

You can tell the OP went to public school b/c she can't spell "private."

[Anonymous]

What a fantastic response. Love it!

Anonymous wrote:We were in a two top - notch public districts before switching to private last year.

First public school K to 3,
Second public school 4 and 5 (MOCO)

Then switched to private for 6th last year and now in 7th, same sex school. We are average barely above middle class and no FA (yet). All I can say is we feel every penny has been worth it.

Taking a very rough but conservative estimate of "benefits" for what I pay:
Same # school days (175 compared to MoCO)
Monthly Fee($)

Longer school days (1.5hr/day more) $200
Music for class of 6 kids $150
Extra class on Instrument ($20 * 4) $80
Better Art Content $100
Lot more number and relevant field trips by subject($50 * 1 avg monthly) $50
FL Classes $150
Team based camps (prorated) $50
Break Fast + Lunch ($15 * 20) $300
Olympiad Practice in Math in addition to regular math monthly $50
Engineering Class additional $100
Significantly more lab work and related material $100
PE Games and Intra murals & saving me outside school work $100
Richer Curriculum (world studies, better instruments, etc) $100
Much smaller class size = more price per student = more participation etc $200
Teaching Style and work content $100
Total, very conservative $1,830

Cost of my child NOT saying "bored/unchallenged" any more; daily experience is valued more than ends of which college she would go to = Priceless

I realize one might say the numbers above are estimated too high or too low. But that is a rough price tag I would put. My kid always said she barely learnt a thing in her public schools , the hot shot top rated ones that many smart kids have gone too over the years. My kid loved her schools and had a great group of friends but the learning content was mediocre at best with many "useless" days.

Now she is not only super challenged, she enjoys each day and has for the past 1.5 years and vows to never shift again.

I will do my best to support her as much, that is my job as a parent.

[Anonymous]

At least some what rational than most answers