Families who have gone from public to private: what has been the biggest difference?

[Anonymous]

The biggest difference is class size, mainly because it impacts other aspects of the school experience. In the lower school, the smaller class size means more individual attention, and it is easier to do differentiation within the classroom. As you get into the middle school and high school, the smaller class size means each teacher has fewer students to instruct. The teachers get to know the students better. In my dc's foreign language class, there are only seven students, which means each student gets more chances to speak in the class. The difference becomes stark when it comes to writing. Each teacher has fewer papers to grade, so the students get more written assignments. The written assignments are more varied and in depth than in public schools, especially when it comes to writing papers that require research. The teachers have more individual time with students to work on the craft of writing and hone writing skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny how public v private pretty much makes zero difference when actually out in the workforce. I see no evidence that private school kids in my field are better critical thinkers, etc.

On the contrary - I can almost always tell when a job applicant to my firm has gone to private school by their cover letter and writing sample.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how public v private pretty much makes zero difference when actually out in the workforce. I see no evidence that private school kids in my field are better critical thinkers, etc.

On the contrary - I can almost always tell when a job applicant to my firm has gone to private school by their cover letter and writing sample.

If your firm is Dairy Queen or the movie theater hiring HS kids, sure. If your firm is a normal business hiring college grads, the quality of education at college would be more important than HS, never mind ES. And if your firm is a law firm, then you are simply full of it, since college and law school is going to be vastly more important since a kid graduated with honors from HLS clearly wasn't held back by deficiencies in early ed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how public v private pretty much makes zero difference when actually out in the workforce. I see no evidence that private school kids in my field are better critical thinkers, etc.

On the contrary - I can almost always tell when a job applicant to my firm has gone to private school by their cover letter and writing sample.

NP. I think a lot of hiring managers look negatively upon the resumes of adults with a high school still listed on it. So I guess there is that difference because you don't see public high schools on the resumes of adults, only private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, everyone. One additional question: Did you ever feel as though the school was catering *too* much to your kid? In other words, was your kid getting a sense of entitlement? We really want to balance making sure our kid gets a high quality education with trying to avoid her feeling a sense of entitlement. I know it's really hard to do, and that there are plenty of entitled kids in public schools, but I wonder if it's a risk in having such small class sizes.

No. They are stricter and the teacher and or head of lower school / middle will meet with you in a hot second if your kid is causing issues. It was night and day from MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Send your kids to high school abroad. Anybody watched "It's Academic" today? 9 smart kids couldn't calculate 15% of 60.
I work with college kids from US and abroad. US kids can't calculate. I'm done asking them anything.
Foreign kids come here, speak English as their foreign language and start learning Spanish since we need it at our work. American kids tell me they forgot the Spanish they learned in high school.
You all go ahead argue public vs private. They both suck. The only reason some kids do well is because they they'd be awesome even without school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how public v private pretty much makes zero difference when actually out in the workforce. I see no evidence that private school kids in my field are better critical thinkers, etc.

On the contrary - I can almost always tell when a job applicant to my firm has gone to private school by their cover letter and writing sample.

NP. I think a lot of hiring managers look negatively upon the resumes of adults with a high school still listed on it. So I guess there is that difference because you don't see public high schools on the resumes of adults, only private schools.

Of course high schools are not listed on their resumes.

[Anonymous]

Smaller class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send your kids to high school abroad. Anybody watched "It's Academic" today? 9 smart kids couldn't calculate 15% of 60.
I work with college kids from US and abroad. US kids can't calculate. I'm done asking them anything.
Foreign kids come here, speak English as their foreign language and start learning Spanish since we need it at our work. American kids tell me they forgot the Spanish they learned in high school.
You all go ahead argue public vs private. They both suck. The only reason some kids do well is because they they'd be awesome even without school.

My 9 year old just said 9. He is in third grade. Haha.

Americans cannot do arithmetics unless they are naturally good at it. Very true scholols don’t do enough to ensure math fluency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how public v private pretty much makes zero difference when actually out in the workforce. I see no evidence that private school kids in my field are better critical thinkers, etc.

On the contrary - I can almost always tell when a job applicant to my firm has gone to private school by their cover letter and writing sample.

If your firm is Dairy Queen or the movie theater hiring HS kids, sure. If your firm is a normal business hiring college grads, the quality of education at college would be more important than HS, never mind ES. And if your firm is a law firm, then you are simply full of it, since college and law school is going to be vastly more important since a kid graduated with honors from HLS clearly wasn't held back by deficiencies in early ed.

I completely disagree with this. I'm not PP who wrote this, but I developed my grammar skills in middle school and writing skills in HS. I went to a private school and we wrote and rewrote and rewrote, again and again and again. College did nothing to further these skills.

I was a fairly average student at my school. In my college Freshman English class after grading my first paper, my professor asked if I would help tutor other students. I received an A in legal writing in law school with little effort while my friends, even those who had gone to top colleges, didn't do as well. Another difference is presentation skills. The private school kids seem to have greater poise. I suspect this is because they do more presentations and have more opportunities to take such as speech and drama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how public v private pretty much makes zero difference when actually out in the workforce. I see no evidence that private school kids in my field are better critical thinkers, etc.

On the contrary - I can almost always tell when a job applicant to my firm has gone to private school by their cover letter and writing sample.

If your firm is Dairy Queen or the movie theater hiring HS kids, sure. If your firm is a normal business hiring college grads, the quality of education at college would be more important than HS, never mind ES. And if your firm is a law firm, then you are simply full of it, since college and law school is going to be vastly more important since a kid graduated with honors from HLS clearly wasn't held back by deficiencies in early ed.

I completely disagree with this. I'm not PP who wrote this, but I developed my grammar skills in middle school and writing skills in HS. I went to a private school and we wrote and rewrote and rewrote, again and again and again. College did nothing to further these skills.

I was a fairly average student at my school. In my college Freshman English class after grading my first paper, my professor asked if I would help tutor other students. I received an A in legal writing in law school with little effort while my friends, even those who had gone to top colleges, didn't do as well. Another difference is presentation skills. The private school kids seem to have greater poise. I suspect this is because they do more presentations and have more opportunities to take such as speech and drama.

College professor here. I agree completely. It's pretty rare that a kid's writing and grammar are drastically changed in college. That stuff is very much developed K-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how public v private pretty much makes zero difference when actually out in the workforce. I see no evidence that private school kids in my field are better critical thinkers, etc.

On the contrary - I can almost always tell when a job applicant to my firm has gone to private school by their cover letter and writing sample.

For me at all my jobs I can tell based on how well-spoken they usually are. Quite professional as well.

[Anonymous]

Move from Public elementary to private middle school. Biggest differences:

- lots of teachers - -one for every class.

- more classes (and so more homework)

- more "projects" -- pain in the butt, really. Projects for English, History, Science -- requiring drawing, making pictures, making videos, making powerpoints (yes), making online games about a historical topic, etc. Some of it just seems like "make-work"

- much bigger checks to write

Not different:

- teachers seem about the same - generally friendly, committed, accessible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Move from Public elementary to private middle school. Biggest differences:

- lots of teachers - -one for every class.

- more classes (and so more homework)

- more "projects" -- pain in the butt, really. Projects for English, History, Science -- requiring drawing, making pictures, making videos, making powerpoints (yes), making online games about a historical topic, etc. Some of it just seems like "make-work"

- much bigger checks to write

Not different:

- teachers seem about the same - generally friendly, committed, accessible.

Ok, but you realize that most of those differences are basic differences between elementary and middle school generally, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Move from Public elementary to private middle school. Biggest differences:

- lots of teachers - -one for every class.

- more classes (and so more homework)

- more "projects" -- pain in the butt, really. Projects for English, History, Science -- requiring drawing, making pictures, making videos, making powerpoints (yes), making online games about a historical topic, etc. Some of it just seems like "make-work"

- much bigger checks to write

Not different:

- teachers seem about the same - generally friendly, committed, accessible.

Ok, but you realize that most of those differences are basic differences between elementary and middle school generally, right?

Generally, yes, though I was comparing public 5th grade to private 6th grade.