If you DON'T live in DC, why did you ultimately decide to go private?

[Anonymous]

It was not a middle schooler, it was me. I am a 40-something married mother and an attorney and I do not understand why anyone who could afford private, or could qualify for financial aid, would choose public over private. Yes, I have experience with both. I would do anything I could to ensure my children were educated in private schools and would never consider putting them in a public, magnet or not. Many previous posters have explained the whys and wherefors. Bottom line, I do not want my kids to be educated in any public school system when they have the option to be educated by a good private school. I see absolutely nothing positive about a public school education and many, many negatives

This is fair and your choice for your children. But, make no mistake, there are many that would never put their young children in a baby sitting entitlement bubble, that personifies some area private schools, with a community of brown nosing and posturing flakes ... many of whom are area lawyers. This is neither an academic nor intellectual environment but a "who do you know" environment we could care less for during the formative educational years.

We are fortunate in this area to have a choice when it comes to schools for our young children. I will take a public school elementary and middle school magnet for my children over a Big 3 private any day of the week or in a best of 7 game series.

[Anonymous]

I guess you find what you look for to some extent. My DC has found a really vibrant intellectual life at a Big 3 (friends, teachers). The presence of other kids who aren't into academics and the fact that some of parents are status-oriented doesn't really get in the way of that.

And, you know, from what I've seen, that's true of even the best universities as well.

[Anonymous]

The beauty of choice and not a mandate.

[Anonymous]

More like it's amazing what money can buy (and, sometimes, what affluent people spend money to buy)!

[Anonymous]

And even more intriguely; what some affluent people will not buy with their money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, PP please explain why the previous poster is not an attorney.

Don't bother to ask the PP. PP is just grumpy or angry or, I dont know, perhaps crazy. I am an attorney. I work part-time actually (3 days a week). I do think a middle schooler would be in school right now with no access to a computer and, at work or home, most adults DO have full access to a computer.

When it comes to choosing a school for one's children, I strongly believe it is as personal as religion. It is not a topic I would ever discuss with other people IRW who have made a different choice from mine. Because OP asked, however, I thought I would answer. It is anonymous after all and OP wants to know. I do not judge other parent's choices as long as they do not judge mine. There is no real need for anyone to debate who's decision is best as there is no way to determine the "winner." If your child grows to be a happy, successful, fulfilled, productive adult, you have likely "won" the argument. In the meantime, we all do our best (I hope) to provide the right environment for our own. My ideas about how best to raise my children, the path I want to put them on, the support system and moral models I want them to have, the people I want to surround them with as they develop, are the ones I believe are the best. Lucky for me DH agrees although, I would not have married someone who approached child rearing that differently. Everyone has the right to choose what they think is the best model for their own child/ren. In my opinion, private is the best option. As I said above, the reasons have already been laid out very well by many previous posters so there is no real need to repeat them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, PP please explain why the previous poster is not an attorney.

Don't bother to ask the PP. PP is just grumpy or angry or, I dont know, perhaps crazy. I am an attorney. I work part-time actually (3 days a week). I do think a middle schooler would be in school right now with no access to a computer and, at work or home, most adults DO have full access to a computer.

When it comes to choosing a school for one's children, I strongly believe it is as personal as religion. It is not a topic I would ever discuss with other people IRW who have made a different choice from mine. Because OP asked, however, I thought I would answer. It is anonymous after all and OP wants to know. I do not judge other parent's choices as long as they do not judge mine. There is no real need for anyone to debate who's decision is best as there is no way to determine the "winner." If your child grows to be a happy, successful, fulfilled, productive adult, you have likely "won" the argument. In the meantime, we all do our best (I hope) to provide the right environment for our own. My ideas about how best to raise my children, the path I want to put them on, the support system and moral models I want them to have, the people I want to surround them with as they develop, are the ones I believe are the best. Lucky for me DH agrees although, I would not have married someone who approached child rearing that differently. Everyone has the right to choose what they think is the best model for their own child/ren. In my opinion, private is the best option. As I said above, the reasons have already been laid out very well by many previous posters so there is no real need to repeat them.

You say you are an attorney and yet
(1) you are posting from work,
(2) you make statements like "I see absolutely nothing positive about a public school education and many, many negatives" that are so extreme they are ridiculous on the face of it, and
(3) you call posters you've never met "crazy."

This does not compute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It was not a middle schooler, it was me. I am a 40-something married mother and an attorney and I do not understand why anyone who could afford private, or could qualify for financial aid, would choose public over private. Yes, I have experience with both. I would do anything I could to ensure my children were educated in private schools and would never consider putting them in a public, magnet or not. Many previous posters have explained the whys and wherefors. Bottom line, I do not want my kids to be educated in any public school system when they have the option to be educated by a good private school. I see absolutely nothing positive about a public school education and many, many negatives

This is fair and your choice for your children. But, make no mistake, there are many that would never put their young children in a baby sitting entitlement bubble, that personifies some area private schools, with a community of brown nosing and posturing flakes ... many of whom are area lawyers. This is neither an academic nor intellectual environment but a "who do you know" environment we could care less for during the formative educational years.

We are fortunate in this area to have a choice when it comes to schools for our young children. I will take a public school elementary and middle school magnet for my children over a Big 3 private any day of the week or in a best of 7 game series.

Thank you. I might not have chosen to counter PP's nonsensical extreme ("absolutely nothing positive about a public school education") with another extreme ("baby sitting entitlement bubble"), but then again, the PP you're responding to seems to deserve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When it comes to choosing a school for one's children, I strongly believe it is as personal as religion. It is not a topic I would ever discuss with other people IRW who have made a different choice from mine. Because OP asked, however, I thought I would answer. It is anonymous after all and OP wants to know. I do not judge other parent's choices as long as they do not judge mine. There is no real need for anyone to debate who's decision is best as there is no way to determine the "winner." If your child grows to be a happy, successful, fulfilled, productive adult, you have likely "won" the argument. In the meantime, we all do our best (I hope) to provide the right environment for our own. My ideas about how best to raise my children, the path I want to put them on, the support system and moral models I want them to have, the people I want to surround them with as they develop, are the ones I believe are the best. Lucky for me DH agrees although, I would not have married someone who approached child rearing that differently. Everyone has the right to choose what they think is the best model for their own child/ren. In my opinion, private is the best option. As I said above, the reasons have already been laid out very well by many previous posters so there is no real need to repeat them.

Despite your attempt after to the fact to appear reasonable, this is what you said:

Because a good private school is universally better than a good public school.

You can't be surprised that people pushed back at such a sweeping, unsupported opinion (which was stated as a fact), and slammed you as a troll. That was my first impression, too.

[Anonymous]

The statement, "there is absolutely nothing positive about public school" is extraordinarily ignorant and unreflective. I'd be surprised if this poster made it through college.

Her taunting of other posters is just immature.

I'd go with the middle school troll theory. Even if she's not a middle schooler, she thinks and acts like one.

[Anonymous]

I wonder what proportion of American children (so privileged and honored to be getting America's best education) attend private elementary and middle schools?

Any studies, over the last 30 to 40 years, of how many of these highly educated and fine characters have gone on to noble accomplishments in their lifetime?

How many have made significant contributions (even in the highest educational fields) to mankind here on earth (America or elsewhere)?

[Anonymous]

It is interesting how people who "choose" public school for their children get so incredibly angry at people who think private school is universally superior. You would think you would be confident in your choice and not anger so easily over a stranger's opinion. Quite frankly, if you were to state that "public schools are universally better than private schools" I would be happy for you that you have come to a conclusion that works for you. It certainly would not upset or anger me in any way.

[Anonymous]

Wait - you've called public school parents "angry" and "crazy" and now, in your latest, you call them defensive.

Yet you want us to believe that you would not contradict a public school parent who said public > private? Despite the fact that several times on this thread you could not restrain yourself from making sweeping, insulting remarks about public schools. Now you suddenly want us to believe you're gracious and generous to others?

LOL. You really are a piece of work.

[Anonymous]

She clearly is not too bright. This is typical of many private school parents desperately trying to gain for their kids "a private school mirage" of what they never had. Unfortunately, private schools today are not what they were in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s ... no matter how hard this crowd pretends and tries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Her taunting of other posters is just immature.

I'd go with the middle school troll theory. Even if she's not a middle schooler, she thinks and acts like one.

Wait, aren't you engaging in exactly the sort of behavior you're criticizing?