If you are wealthy would you send your kids to a W school over private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on the kid. I had one go through Whitman and one through private HS. They are different kids with different needs. Both equally smart, but the one in private got lost in the shuffle of Pyle and needed a smaller environment to thrive. The one who went to Whitman didn’t need a smaller environment and benefited from the broader course selection at Whitman. Yes, MCPS can be a joke with some of their grading policies. But for the self-motivated kid that doesn’t matter.

Self-motivation doesn’t make up for a low expectation environment. I went to a top private high school and was surrounded by self-motivated kids, many of whom went there because we were motivated to want a more challenging environment.

I’m not sure why you all cast private schools as these places that cater to kids who need coddling or who aren’t self-motivated learners. That simply isn’t true for the top private schools.

And I’m really unclear why you’d describe W schools as a “low expectation environment”. You can have plenty of criticisms of those schools but the absence of a cohort of high performing kids and high expectations isn’t one of them.

In fact one reason we didn’t want our kid to go to Whitman is its reputation as pressure cooker for those kids.

How can you really say it’s high expectations when the grading policies are such a joke?

Because the kids are immersed in a culture which is telling them that they should go to a highly selective (or rejective) school. The fact that you can get a 50 for not turning in your homework at all is a pretty irrelevant fact for a kid on an AP/IB/Ivy league track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on the kid. I had one go through Whitman and one through private HS. They are different kids with different needs. Both equally smart, but the one in private got lost in the shuffle of Pyle and needed a smaller environment to thrive. The one who went to Whitman didn’t need a smaller environment and benefited from the broader course selection at Whitman. Yes, MCPS can be a joke with some of their grading policies. But for the self-motivated kid that doesn’t matter.

Self-motivation doesn’t make up for a low expectation environment. I went to a top private high school and was surrounded by self-motivated kids, many of whom went there because we were motivated to want a more challenging environment.

I’m not sure why you all cast private schools as these places that cater to kids who need coddling or who aren’t self-motivated learners. That simply isn’t true for the top private schools.

And I’m really unclear why you’d describe W schools as a “low expectation environment”. You can have plenty of criticisms of those schools but the absence of a cohort of high performing kids and high expectations isn’t one of them.

In fact one reason we didn’t want our kid to go to Whitman is its reputation as pressure cooker for those kids.

How can you really say it’s high expectations when the grading policies are such a joke?

Because the kids are immersed in a culture which is telling them that they should go to a highly selective (or rejective) school. The fact that you can get a 50 for not turning in your homework at all is a pretty irrelevant fact for a kid on an AP/IB/Ivy league track.

That’s not high expectations. That’s telling kids they need to pad their resume and get good standardized test scores to get into a top college. That’s not the same thing as high intellectual expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a fortunate situation financially...never considered private schools to be justified from a Return on Investment, but they do have benefits. If money was a non-issue, would you go private or a W school?

If your child is bright, send them to a W. There's more high level classes at a W then at a private. They can take almost every AP class out there and really build up a strong transcript. If your child is on an education plan or is a so-so student, send them to private. They'll get more support then they will at a W, where they can get lost in the shuffle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on the kid. I had one go through Whitman and one through private HS. They are different kids with different needs. Both equally smart, but the one in private got lost in the shuffle of Pyle and needed a smaller environment to thrive. The one who went to Whitman didn’t need a smaller environment and benefited from the broader course selection at Whitman. Yes, MCPS can be a joke with some of their grading policies. But for the self-motivated kid that doesn’t matter.

Self-motivation doesn’t make up for a low expectation environment. I went to a top private high school and was surrounded by self-motivated kids, many of whom went there because we were motivated to want a more challenging environment.

I’m not sure why you all cast private schools as these places that cater to kids who need coddling or who aren’t self-motivated learners. That simply isn’t true for the top private schools.

dp.. there are a lot self motivated kids in public schools, and they challenge themselves by taking the advanced courses, multiple IB/AP courses and exams, all while doing a lot of extra curricular activities. The larger publics with a lot of these high achieving kids offer a lot more advanced classes. That's the power of economies of scale.

Do I have to post course catalogs again?

do I have to repeat that a course catalog is meaningless because it doesn't always mean that the school offers that course if the demand is low? Colleges even do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure why a PP feels so defensive about MCPS. MCPS class sizes are ridiculously too large for students to receive individualized instruction. MCPS is demoralized by the demands due to the staffing shortages, unaddressed misconduct by superiors, and low pay.Finally, private schools returned to in person instruction for the 2020-2021 school year while MCPS remained online. Private schools never adjusted their curriculum during the pandemic and thus, students didn’t experience learning loss like their MCPS peers.

Keep fooling yourself that MCPS is superior school system. MCPS is the free option, not the academically superior option. Like another PP said, in life you get what you pay for.

While I certainly recognize the problems facing MCPS and other public school districts, private schools are not superior for everyone. DD's best friend hated their private. Other parents would kill to have their kids there but for her it was not really challenging, not enough smart kids, not enough ideas. She felt the classroom discussion was always mediocre because only a small percentage of kids were actually smart and motivated. She was bored. Most of them came from similar backgrounds. In her public magnet the entire class is smart and motivated and the perspectives are more eye-opening. FWIW, DD is very smart and likes the private.

+1 Can't have too many diverse opinions when the class sizes are super small, and where being "different" could mean being a social outcast. Speaking of which, not a lot of social groups to choose from. If you are on the oust with your friend group, you don't have a lot of other friend groups to choose from in a small private. That could be a death sentence for a kid who is not popular or just different.

I understand the desire for small class sizes and more focused students in the class. Those would be good reasons to put your kid in private.

I feel like you all think these schools have like 20 kids in a grade. Most top private schools have grades with 50-60 kids. Not a 2,000 person MCPS high school, but also not minuscule.

Bullis has around 100 per grade in high school. The largest class for my child had 20 students. The smallest had 10.

One huge difference that allowed diversity in the discussions was that all students are expected to actively participate. It’s a mandatory part of the class grade.

My child said that at Hoover and Churchill he could sit in the back of the classroom and tune out. The same students answered teacher questions so everyone else could be quiet if they wanted.

At Bullis, some classes were taught in a circle in which everyone could see each other. My child said he had to do the homework and follow along in class because he would be asked questions by the teacher several times in class. He didn’t want to be unprepared in front of his peers.

For those who have a preconceived idea of the types of students who attend private schools, I would encourage you to tour campus on a school day and compare the diversity to a W school. Students wear uniforms so there’s no popularity contest based on clothes. Bullying of others is a dismissible offense so my son thought as a transfer student he was more welcomed there than Churchill.

I will just leave it at this - Sure, there are very wealthy students at Bullis. It’s in Potomac after all. However, my son has also made friends from good families with limited means so they lived in neighborhoods where poverty is an issue and there is gun violence in their neighborhoods. Bullis offers a far better education than their local public schools, with transportation and scholarships so they travel long distances for the opportunities. Bullis has a wonderful counseling department that has hands on help so students whose parents don’t understand the college search process are not left to miss out on scholarships and admission deadlines. Churchill has only one College and Career counselor for about 500 students so there is very little help with the process. One my child’s friends described in an English class the first time a white adult at a public park called him the N word. A very important lesson about the power and hurt words can cause. Students feel even in the small classes that Bullis has that it is safe place to share without judgement. For a school that gained national news attention for N Word cards, I don’t think this friend would have shared the same experience in a class discussion at Churchill.

yes, but the point is that most kids at these expensive private schools will not have too divergent opinions. Most of them come from the same SES/income background. Hard to have a discussion with divergent opinions when most kids are from the same class background.

And you think it’s different at W schools with <5% FARMS and all the kids from one geographic area? Give me a fking break.

There are more lower income kids at W schools than at privates, and there are more kids, period. So yes, a public school, even a wealthyish one, will have more divergent view points than a private one where the school gatekeeps who is in and who is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on the kid. I had one go through Whitman and one through private HS. They are different kids with different needs. Both equally smart, but the one in private got lost in the shuffle of Pyle and needed a smaller environment to thrive. The one who went to Whitman didn’t need a smaller environment and benefited from the broader course selection at Whitman. Yes, MCPS can be a joke with some of their grading policies. But for the self-motivated kid that doesn’t matter.

Self-motivation doesn’t make up for a low expectation environment. I went to a top private high school and was surrounded by self-motivated kids, many of whom went there because we were motivated to want a more challenging environment.

I’m not sure why you all cast private schools as these places that cater to kids who need coddling or who aren’t self-motivated learners. That simply isn’t true for the top private schools.

If a student is truly self-motivated it doesn’t matter what the MCPS grading policies or expectations are. They push themselves because they want to do well and learn. These are the students who average 95 and above every quarter regardless of the policies. And they get 5s on the AP exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on the kid. I had one go through Whitman and one through private HS. They are different kids with different needs. Both equally smart, but the one in private got lost in the shuffle of Pyle and needed a smaller environment to thrive. The one who went to Whitman didn’t need a smaller environment and benefited from the broader course selection at Whitman. Yes, MCPS can be a joke with some of their grading policies. But for the self-motivated kid that doesn’t matter.

Self-motivation doesn’t make up for a low expectation environment. I went to a top private high school and was surrounded by self-motivated kids, many of whom went there because we were motivated to want a more challenging environment.

I’m not sure why you all cast private schools as these places that cater to kids who need coddling or who aren’t self-motivated learners. That simply isn’t true for the top private schools.

And I’m really unclear why you’d describe W schools as a “low expectation environment”. You can have plenty of criticisms of those schools but the absence of a cohort of high performing kids and high expectations isn’t one of them.

In fact one reason we didn’t want our kid to go to Whitman is its reputation as pressure cooker for those kids.

How can you really say it’s high expectations when the grading policies are such a joke?

Because the kids are immersed in a culture which is telling them that they should go to a highly selective (or rejective) school. The fact that you can get a 50 for not turning in your homework at all is a pretty irrelevant fact for a kid on an AP/IB/Ivy league track.

That’s not high expectations. That’s telling kids they need to pad their resume and get good standardized test scores to get into a top college. That’s not the same thing as high intellectual expectations.

That’s a fair point but the poster ai was responding to was saying grading policies were evidence of low expectations and I was saying they aren’t.

I don’t have any way to prove to you that the intellectual expectations of my kid who took full IB were higher or lower than the intellectual expectations of your kid, but I can say in these public schools there is a cohort of high performing kids who take challenging classes and are motivated to do well in them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it really depends on the kid. I had one go through Whitman and one through private HS. They are different kids with different needs. Both equally smart, but the one in private got lost in the shuffle of Pyle and needed a smaller environment to thrive. The one who went to Whitman didn’t need a smaller environment and benefited from the broader course selection at Whitman. Yes, MCPS can be a joke with some of their grading policies. But for the self-motivated kid that doesn’t matter.

Self-motivation doesn’t make up for a low expectation environment. I went to a top private high school and was surrounded by self-motivated kids, many of whom went there because we were motivated to want a more challenging environment.

I’m not sure why you all cast private schools as these places that cater to kids who need coddling or who aren’t self-motivated learners. That simply isn’t true for the top private schools.

And I’m really unclear why you’d describe W schools as a “low expectation environment”. You can have plenty of criticisms of those schools but the absence of a cohort of high performing kids and high expectations isn’t one of them.

In fact one reason we didn’t want our kid to go to Whitman is its reputation as pressure cooker for those kids.

How can you really say it’s high expectations when the grading policies are such a joke?

Because the kids are immersed in a culture which is telling them that they should go to a highly selective (or rejective) school. The fact that you can get a 50 for not turning in your homework at all is a pretty irrelevant fact for a kid on an AP/IB/Ivy league track.

That’s not high expectations. That’s telling kids they need to pad their resume and get good standardized test scores to get into a top college. That’s not the same thing as high intellectual expectations.

That’s a fair point but the poster ai was responding to was saying grading policies were evidence of low expectations and I was saying they aren’t.

I don’t have any way to prove to you that the intellectual expectations of my kid who took full IB were higher or lower than the intellectual expectations of your kid, but I can say in these public schools there is a cohort of high performing kids who take challenging classes and are motivated to do well in them.

+1 even with the 50% grading rule, these kids get high scores on AP/IB/SAT exams. They aren't just barely getting As.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in a fortunate situation financially...never considered private schools to be justified from a Return on Investment, but they do have benefits. If money was a non-issue, would you go private or a W school?

If your child is bright, send them to a W. There's more high level classes at a W then at a private. They can take almost every AP class out there and really build up a strong transcript. If your child is on an education plan or is a so-so student, send them to private. They'll get more support then they will at a W, where they can get lost in the shuffle.

The course selection thing is simply false. We’ve proven this over and over again.

[Anonymous]

Why people think rich people would send their kids to schools with fewer advanced classes is so bonkers to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure why a PP feels so defensive about MCPS. MCPS class sizes are ridiculously too large for students to receive individualized instruction. MCPS is demoralized by the demands due to the staffing shortages, unaddressed misconduct by superiors, and low pay.Finally, private schools returned to in person instruction for the 2020-2021 school year while MCPS remained online. Private schools never adjusted their curriculum during the pandemic and thus, students didn’t experience learning loss like their MCPS peers.

Keep fooling yourself that MCPS is superior school system. MCPS is the free option, not the academically superior option. Like another PP said, in life you get what you pay for.

While I certainly recognize the problems facing MCPS and other public school districts, private schools are not superior for everyone. DD's best friend hated their private. Other parents would kill to have their kids there but for her it was not really challenging, not enough smart kids, not enough ideas. She felt the classroom discussion was always mediocre because only a small percentage of kids were actually smart and motivated. She was bored. Most of them came from similar backgrounds. In her public magnet the entire class is smart and motivated and the perspectives are more eye-opening. FWIW, DD is very smart and likes the private.

+1 Can't have too many diverse opinions when the class sizes are super small, and where being "different" could mean being a social outcast. Speaking of which, not a lot of social groups to choose from. If you are on the oust with your friend group, you don't have a lot of other friend groups to choose from in a small private. That could be a death sentence for a kid who is not popular or just different.

I understand the desire for small class sizes and more focused students in the class. Those would be good reasons to put your kid in private.

I feel like you all think these schools have like 20 kids in a grade. Most top private schools have grades with 50-60 kids. Not a 2,000 person MCPS high school, but also not minuscule.

Bullis has around 100 per grade in high school. The largest class for my child had 20 students. The smallest had 10.

One huge difference that allowed diversity in the discussions was that all students are expected to actively participate. It’s a mandatory part of the class grade.

My child said that at Hoover and Churchill he could sit in the back of the classroom and tune out. The same students answered teacher questions so everyone else could be quiet if they wanted.

At Bullis, some classes were taught in a circle in which everyone could see each other. My child said he had to do the homework and follow along in class because he would be asked questions by the teacher several times in class. He didn’t want to be unprepared in front of his peers.

For those who have a preconceived idea of the types of students who attend private schools, I would encourage you to tour campus on a school day and compare the diversity to a W school. Students wear uniforms so there’s no popularity contest based on clothes. Bullying of others is a dismissible offense so my son thought as a transfer student he was more welcomed there than Churchill.

I will just leave it at this - Sure, there are very wealthy students at Bullis. It’s in Potomac after all. However, my son has also made friends from good families with limited means so they lived in neighborhoods where poverty is an issue and there is gun violence in their neighborhoods. Bullis offers a far better education than their local public schools, with transportation and scholarships so they travel long distances for the opportunities. Bullis has a wonderful counseling department that has hands on help so students whose parents don’t understand the college search process are not left to miss out on scholarships and admission deadlines. Churchill has only one College and Career counselor for about 500 students so there is very little help with the process. One my child’s friends described in an English class the first time a white adult at a public park called him the N word. A very important lesson about the power and hurt words can cause. Students feel even in the small classes that Bullis has that it is safe place to share without judgement. For a school that gained national news attention for N Word cards, I don’t think this friend would have shared the same experience in a class discussion at Churchill.

yes, but the point is that most kids at these expensive private schools will not have too divergent opinions. Most of them come from the same SES/income background. Hard to have a discussion with divergent opinions when most kids are from the same class background.

And you think it’s different at W schools with <5% FARMS and all the kids from one geographic area? Give me a fking break.

There are more lower income kids at W schools than at privates, and there are more kids, period. So yes, a public school, even a wealthyish one, will have more divergent view points than a private one where the school gatekeeps who is in and who is not.

<5% FARMS vs 20% on financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure why a PP feels so defensive about MCPS. MCPS class sizes are ridiculously too large for students to receive individualized instruction. MCPS is demoralized by the demands due to the staffing shortages, unaddressed misconduct by superiors, and low pay.Finally, private schools returned to in person instruction for the 2020-2021 school year while MCPS remained online. Private schools never adjusted their curriculum during the pandemic and thus, students didn’t experience learning loss like their MCPS peers.

Keep fooling yourself that MCPS is superior school system. MCPS is the free option, not the academically superior option. Like another PP said, in life you get what you pay for.

While I certainly recognize the problems facing MCPS and other public school districts, private schools are not superior for everyone. DD's best friend hated their private. Other parents would kill to have their kids there but for her it was not really challenging, not enough smart kids, not enough ideas. She felt the classroom discussion was always mediocre because only a small percentage of kids were actually smart and motivated. She was bored. Most of them came from similar backgrounds. In her public magnet the entire class is smart and motivated and the perspectives are more eye-opening. FWIW, DD is very smart and likes the private.

+1 Can't have too many diverse opinions when the class sizes are super small, and where being "different" could mean being a social outcast. Speaking of which, not a lot of social groups to choose from. If you are on the oust with your friend group, you don't have a lot of other friend groups to choose from in a small private. That could be a death sentence for a kid who is not popular or just different.

I understand the desire for small class sizes and more focused students in the class. Those would be good reasons to put your kid in private.

I feel like you all think these schools have like 20 kids in a grade. Most top private schools have grades with 50-60 kids. Not a 2,000 person MCPS high school, but also not minuscule.

Bullis has around 100 per grade in high school. The largest class for my child had 20 students. The smallest had 10.

One huge difference that allowed diversity in the discussions was that all students are expected to actively participate. It’s a mandatory part of the class grade.

My child said that at Hoover and Churchill he could sit in the back of the classroom and tune out. The same students answered teacher questions so everyone else could be quiet if they wanted.

At Bullis, some classes were taught in a circle in which everyone could see each other. My child said he had to do the homework and follow along in class because he would be asked questions by the teacher several times in class. He didn’t want to be unprepared in front of his peers.

For those who have a preconceived idea of the types of students who attend private schools, I would encourage you to tour campus on a school day and compare the diversity to a W school. Students wear uniforms so there’s no popularity contest based on clothes. Bullying of others is a dismissible offense so my son thought as a transfer student he was more welcomed there than Churchill.

I will just leave it at this - Sure, there are very wealthy students at Bullis. It’s in Potomac after all. However, my son has also made friends from good families with limited means so they lived in neighborhoods where poverty is an issue and there is gun violence in their neighborhoods. Bullis offers a far better education than their local public schools, with transportation and scholarships so they travel long distances for the opportunities. Bullis has a wonderful counseling department that has hands on help so students whose parents don’t understand the college search process are not left to miss out on scholarships and admission deadlines. Churchill has only one College and Career counselor for about 500 students so there is very little help with the process. One my child’s friends described in an English class the first time a white adult at a public park called him the N word. A very important lesson about the power and hurt words can cause. Students feel even in the small classes that Bullis has that it is safe place to share without judgement. For a school that gained national news attention for N Word cards, I don’t think this friend would have shared the same experience in a class discussion at Churchill.

yes, but the point is that most kids at these expensive private schools will not have too divergent opinions. Most of them come from the same SES/income background. Hard to have a discussion with divergent opinions when most kids are from the same class background.

And you think it’s different at W schools with <5% FARMS and all the kids from one geographic area? Give me a fking break.

There are more lower income kids at W schools than at privates, and there are more kids, period. So yes, a public school, even a wealthyish one, will have more divergent view points than a private one where the school gatekeeps who is in and who is not.

<5% FARMS vs 20% on financial aid.

A private school definition of "need financial aid" is very different from the federal FARMS definition.

My goodness, you live in a bubble. It's laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why people think rich people would send their kids to schools with fewer advanced classes is so bonkers to me.

They believe (rightly or wrongly) that their advanced courses are actually more rigorous than the prescribed AP courses.

But, there seems to be enough angst among those parents that those expensive privates don't offer AP classes, and how this might impact their kids' college chances.

I have nothing against private schools. I thought about putting DC in a private school because DC seemed to need smaller class sizes. But this DC doesn't need any more advanced classes that our home public schools don't offer. And I think that is for the majority of both public and private kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure why a PP feels so defensive about MCPS. MCPS class sizes are ridiculously too large for students to receive individualized instruction. MCPS is demoralized by the demands due to the staffing shortages, unaddressed misconduct by superiors, and low pay.Finally, private schools returned to in person instruction for the 2020-2021 school year while MCPS remained online. Private schools never adjusted their curriculum during the pandemic and thus, students didn’t experience learning loss like their MCPS peers.

Keep fooling yourself that MCPS is superior school system. MCPS is the free option, not the academically superior option. Like another PP said, in life you get what you pay for.

While I certainly recognize the problems facing MCPS and other public school districts, private schools are not superior for everyone. DD's best friend hated their private. Other parents would kill to have their kids there but for her it was not really challenging, not enough smart kids, not enough ideas. She felt the classroom discussion was always mediocre because only a small percentage of kids were actually smart and motivated. She was bored. Most of them came from similar backgrounds. In her public magnet the entire class is smart and motivated and the perspectives are more eye-opening. FWIW, DD is very smart and likes the private.

+1 Can't have too many diverse opinions when the class sizes are super small, and where being "different" could mean being a social outcast. Speaking of which, not a lot of social groups to choose from. If you are on the oust with your friend group, you don't have a lot of other friend groups to choose from in a small private. That could be a death sentence for a kid who is not popular or just different.

I understand the desire for small class sizes and more focused students in the class. Those would be good reasons to put your kid in private.

I feel like you all think these schools have like 20 kids in a grade. Most top private schools have grades with 50-60 kids. Not a 2,000 person MCPS high school, but also not minuscule.

Bullis has around 100 per grade in high school. The largest class for my child had 20 students. The smallest had 10.

One huge difference that allowed diversity in the discussions was that all students are expected to actively participate. It’s a mandatory part of the class grade.

My child said that at Hoover and Churchill he could sit in the back of the classroom and tune out. The same students answered teacher questions so everyone else could be quiet if they wanted.

At Bullis, some classes were taught in a circle in which everyone could see each other. My child said he had to do the homework and follow along in class because he would be asked questions by the teacher several times in class. He didn’t want to be unprepared in front of his peers.

For those who have a preconceived idea of the types of students who attend private schools, I would encourage you to tour campus on a school day and compare the diversity to a W school. Students wear uniforms so there’s no popularity contest based on clothes. Bullying of others is a dismissible offense so my son thought as a transfer student he was more welcomed there than Churchill.

I will just leave it at this - Sure, there are very wealthy students at Bullis. It’s in Potomac after all. However, my son has also made friends from good families with limited means so they lived in neighborhoods where poverty is an issue and there is gun violence in their neighborhoods. Bullis offers a far better education than their local public schools, with transportation and scholarships so they travel long distances for the opportunities. Bullis has a wonderful counseling department that has hands on help so students whose parents don’t understand the college search process are not left to miss out on scholarships and admission deadlines. Churchill has only one College and Career counselor for about 500 students so there is very little help with the process. One my child’s friends described in an English class the first time a white adult at a public park called him the N word. A very important lesson about the power and hurt words can cause. Students feel even in the small classes that Bullis has that it is safe place to share without judgement. For a school that gained national news attention for N Word cards, I don’t think this friend would have shared the same experience in a class discussion at Churchill.

yes, but the point is that most kids at these expensive private schools will not have too divergent opinions. Most of them come from the same SES/income background. Hard to have a discussion with divergent opinions when most kids are from the same class background.

And you think it’s different at W schools with <5% FARMS and all the kids from one geographic area? Give me a fking break.

There are more lower income kids at W schools than at privates, and there are more kids, period. So yes, a public school, even a wealthyish one, will have more divergent view points than a private one where the school gatekeeps who is in and who is not.

<5% FARMS vs 20% on financial aid.

A private school definition of "need financial aid" is very different from the federal FARMS definition.

My goodness, you live in a bubble. It's laughable.

You’re delusional if you think a W school is a socioeconomically diverse environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why people think rich people would send their kids to schools with fewer advanced classes is so bonkers to me.

They believe (rightly or wrongly) that their advanced courses are actually more rigorous than the prescribed AP courses.

But, there seems to be enough angst among those parents that those expensive privates don't offer AP classes, and how this might impact their kids' college chances.

I have nothing against private schools. I thought about putting DC in a private school because DC seemed to need smaller class sizes. But this DC doesn't need any more advanced classes that our home public schools don't offer. And I think that is for the majority of both public and private kids.

Andover has almost no AP courses. Enough said.