Coming to terms with your kids getting a worse education than you did

[Anonymous]

Join me if you are struggling with this. Due to a variety of factors, my husband and I are doing much better than my parents did at our ages, but my children will never get the experiences in school that I got. Our schools are much more crowded, offer fewer high quality clubs and activities, and make it much more difficult to access advanced curriculum. Should I find a way not to care, or should I take extraordinary steps to change our situation? What have you done? It hurts me knowing what a great education I got, and not giving something similar to them. Yet it seems that the world has changed so thoroughly that my 1980s education (mid size town, not high cost of living, excellent public schools, well funded) doesn't exist anymore.

[Anonymous]

where are you that the schools are so bad but you are so rich?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:where are you that the schools are so bad but you are so rich?

I wouldn't call myself rich and I wouldn't call the schools actually bad, but I'm in the high cost of living D.C. area and I grew up in a lower cost of living smaller town.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe that your education was better than what your kids are receiving.

[Anonymous]

My DC are getting a far better education than I received (even though I somehow managed to get into an Ivy). Maybe that feeling varies by school. My DC still in ES, but they are far ahead of where I was in both math and critical writing skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe that your education was better than what your kids are receiving.

I am OP and I would love to believe you. What are your reasons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC are getting a far better education than I received (even though I somehow managed to get into an Ivy). Maybe that feeling varies by school. My DC still in ES, but they are far ahead of where I was in both math and critical writing skills.

+1. I envy my kid's public education, and I went to private.

[Anonymous]

Supplement- I'mteh daughter of south asian immigrants who loved here for political rather than economic reasons & while they loved the social studies education i was getting- they went over maths and grammar and made me do dictation and read books like dickens and stuff that they thought i wasn't getting in school. Also dragged me to cultural events so that i wasn't clueless about where i come from. Immigranst uniformly do this- you can do it to.
I went to one of the better private schools in the area and there's no way we'll be able to afford it- i feel enormous guilt over that so you are not alone.

[Anonymous]

I had to let it go. Nothing I can do about it. Luckily DD doesn't have the severe learning disabilities I do and isn't at all socially awkward like I was/am. I am hopeful those will make up for the fact that she will enter ninth grade having had zero challenging classes so far and much fewer extras than I did.

[Anonymous]

I'm teaching my kids 2 languages (besides English) that I learned *as an adult* specifically so I'd be able to teach them. If you think your kids aren't learning in school, figure out what's important to you and start teaching it to them at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC are getting a far better education than I received (even though I somehow managed to get into an Ivy). Maybe that feeling varies by school. My DC still in ES, but they are far ahead of where I was in both math and critical writing skills.

+1. I envy my kid's public education, and I went to private.

I agree! I was publically and privately educated, and neither compare to the education my child is receiving in public school. She is light years ahead of where I was at her age in private school. I'm amazed daily, and maybe even a little disappointed in my own education. So quite the opposite of what you're feeling.

[Anonymous]

My dd is getting a way better education than I did.

Me- Shop, home economics, band, chorus
dd- coding, graphic design, 3 D art, movie making, etc.

Me- Tracked for general education throughout school
DD- Access to AP, Honors, DE, general ed

Me- Clubs..what clubs?
DD- Too many to write down.

Op...you need to move.
DD-

[Anonymous]

Thought my urban public school education was pretty bad. My kids' private/ DC Metro area suburban combo is worse in some -not all- ways.

[Anonymous]

School matters, but I wouldn't rely on a school (no matter how good) to completely educate your child. My kids are young, and the school-age one is in public school, but we also read tons of books at home, visit museums and historical places, do science experiments, do things like junior ranger programs at parks, supplement math (in a fun way), etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Join me if you are struggling with this. Due to a variety of factors, my husband and I are doing much better than my parents did at our ages, but my children will never get the experiences in school that I got. Our schools are much more crowded, offer fewer high quality clubs and activities, and make it much more difficult to access advanced curriculum. Should I find a way not to care, or should I take extraordinary steps to change our situation? What have you done? It hurts me knowing what a great education I got, and not giving something similar to them. Yet it seems that the world has changed so thoroughly that my 1980s education (mid size town, not high cost of living, excellent public schools, well funded) doesn't exist anymore.

Being a "well funded" school district depends on your tax payer base.

These articles were written in 1999 and 2004 over the state of disrepair in DC public schools:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57498-2004Nov17.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1999/02/26/schools-target-bathroom-repairs/69981b88-2d1e-4829-ae99-c13f08b6fe08/?utm_term=.e2f5f03bfcb6

However mediocre you consider your kid's current school, I'm sure you wouldn't change places for a kid in Anacostia.