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

[Anonymous]

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

Why would rich people care about advanced classes? You can get into a better college this year by taking the "most challenging classes" at a school with a low ceiling. And the classes don't matter for getting you rich paying jobs.

This is such utter BS.

Dp.. not really BS. Rich people use their connections to get their kids great internships and jobs. It doesn't matter if the kid is dumb as or took the easiest math class.

You’re describing a small percentage of rich people. Some public school parents do the same thing, especially at rich public schools like Whitman.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

[Anonymous]

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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.

more so than privates.

W schools are less SES diverse than non W schools, but more so than privates, and given that MCPS and BOE are h3ll bent on making the schools as diverse as possible, these schools will become even more diverse in the future. Not so with private schools that can deny anyone that they don't want. Not so with publics.

I think you're the deluded one.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

Whitman is a rich school. Stop pretending it’s not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why would rich people care about advanced classes? You can get into a better college this year by taking the "most challenging classes" at a school with a low ceiling. And the classes don't matter for getting you rich paying jobs.

This is such utter BS.

Dp.. not really BS. Rich people use their connections to get their kids great internships and jobs. It doesn't matter if the kid is dumb as or took the easiest math class.

You’re describing a small percentage of rich people. Some public school parents do the same thing, especially at rich public schools like Whitman.

see post [Post New]08/14/2023 14:08

The very wealthy are in private schools. The sort of wealthy are mostly in public schools, per the private school parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

Whitman is a rich school. Stop pretending it’s not.

dp.. collectively, it's not as rich as the elite privates.

-public school parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

I grew up in Bethesda, specifically the Whitman catchment, and graduated from there in 2009. Back then, most people I knew who lived in gigantic $2M+ homes were going to private schools instead of Whitman, though there were still a handful of kids in those homes who attended Whitman. Most kids actually attending Whitman back then lived in $600k-$1.5M homes. Fast forward to today, and homes zoned for Whitman and Churchill that are less than $1M are nearly non-existent, and even tear-downs are going for $900k. Homes that sold for just $1.3M as recently as 2019 could sell for $2.2M today. I find it extremely difficult to imagine that people living in an area that is as prohibitively expensive as Bethesda are abandoning MCPS for privates when the school enrollment trends in Bethesda show otherwise. In fact, I worry that Whitman and other schools in Bethesda/Potomac areas (and even RM at this point) are increasingly becoming "private public schools." Whitman was really affluent when I attended in the 2000s, but we still had an actual cohort of real middle-class students. Not DCUM "middle-class," but actual middle-class. I'm talking about dual fed families, households where one parent was a teacher for MCPS, and even a handful of students with a parent or parents who worked in high-paying blue-collar jobs. You won't find any families like that in Whitman anymore. In the next decade, there will be almost no kids at Whitman whose parents didn't buy their house (at least partially) with family money unless MoCo strives to bring more desperately needed affordable housing in the Whitman catchment.

I can just tell you that most people at my country club do private school, and most of the people I know in the 2+ million homes in 20817 do private school.

Some are family money. Many are entrepreneurs and other high earning professionals.

I think this pretty much sums it up. I've lived in Bethesda and Chevy Chase for a number of years now. Much of this school discussion can be reduced to basic human nature. For the very wealthy and privileged - the country club demographic - they will never send their children to a W school. Projecting status and exclusivity is very important to them. Nothing anyone says is going to convince them that sending a kid to Whitman is more valuable than sending a kid to Landon or Holton Arms. Because in their world it isn't. There's no status there.

For professionals with smart well-adjusted kids in the W clusters - families earning say 500, 600 thousand a year - nothing is going to convince them that spending $100,000 a year on two kids to attend private is worth it, particularly when you can get a very high level, very rigorous education at a W school. Those kids loading up on AP classes work their asses off. But they also have the benefit of being in a large school where there are all types of kids and everybody can find a place. Plus the wide variety of extracurriculars available at these schools. It's a no-brainer for these families.

So what you see - at least in the neighborhoods I'm familiar with - is that the private school kids tend to be very wealthy or they are special needs. Families decide that publics aren't going to work for their particular child. Could be behavioral issues, ADHD, lots of things. But to succeed in public schools does require a certain amount of self-motivation and an ability to read social situations.And everyone wants the best environment for their child. For many special needs kids who need more attention, privates probably are better.

Nothing anyone says here is going to change anyone's opinion. People live in their realities.

To the poster who said you can't take multivariable calculus in a public school here, yes you can. Whitman certainly offers it.

Spoken as someone who clearly has no direct experience with top private schools.

We have kids in private and some of this is true. The wealthiest in our zip code choose private more often than not and their kids are mostly lifers. For those who UMC but not uber-wealthy it's mostly the kids who have some kind of learning or social issue who chose private and many start in MS or HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

Whitman is a rich school. Stop pretending it’s not.

It's full of working stiffs...2 parents working for the government, parents who are doctors. Not big money...like we only work for fun, we don't need the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why would rich people care about advanced classes? You can get into a better college this year by taking the "most challenging classes" at a school with a low ceiling. And the classes don't matter for getting you rich paying jobs.

This is such utter BS.

Dp.. not really BS. Rich people use their connections to get their kids great internships and jobs. It doesn't matter if the kid is dumb as or took the easiest math class.

You’re describing a small percentage of rich people. Some public school parents do the same thing, especially at rich public schools like Whitman.

see post [Post New]08/14/2023 14:08

The very wealthy are in private schools. The sort of wealthy are mostly in public schools, per the private school parents.

That’s your evidence? Some random internet post?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

Whitman is a rich school. Stop pretending it’s not.

It's full of working stiffs...2 parents working for the government, parents who are doctors. Not big money...like we only work for fun, we don't need the money.

Ah yes. Whitman. The land of the working stiffs. You’re delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

Whitman is a rich school. Stop pretending it’s not.

dp.. collectively, it's not as rich as the elite privates.

-public school parent

Rich.

Richer.

That’s what we’re arguing about. What stupidity.

[Anonymous]

Whitman, Niche diversity: B+

Holton, Niche diversity: A

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Like arguing about a good state school and an Ivy! Like it really makes a difference in life.


Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

Whitman is a rich school. Stop pretending it’s not.

dp.. collectively, it's not as rich as the elite privates.

-public school parent

Rich.

Richer.

That’s what we’re arguing about. What stupidity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Why would rich people care about advanced classes? You can get into a better college this year by taking the "most challenging classes" at a school with a low ceiling. And the classes don't matter for getting you rich paying jobs.

This is such utter BS.

Dp.. not really BS. Rich people use their connections to get their kids great internships and jobs. It doesn't matter if the kid is dumb as or took the easiest math class.

You’re describing a small percentage of rich people. Some public school parents do the same thing, especially at rich public schools like Whitman.

see post [Post New]08/14/2023 14:08

The very wealthy are in private schools. The sort of wealthy are mostly in public schools, per the private school parents.

That’s your evidence? Some random internet post?

LOL.. tell that to that poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our W neighborhood probably about 1/3 of the kids go to private. A large percentage were struggling in public for one reason or another. Many are quirky and could not deal socially with the big competitive environment of public schools and others were having trouble being motivated academically. I can think of only a handful of popular well adjusted kids who are A students who decided to go to private even for 9th.

Where I live in Bethesda 20817, everyone--or nearly everyone--with money is doing private. Liberal or Conservative. They have the resources and want out of MCPS.

yet, Whitman has 2000+ students. Must be all those poor people in Whitman.

Nobody said all poor. The net worth of those in private is just much, much higher.

Ah yes. Whitman, the school that draws from some of the wealthiest places in America, has poor students. LOLOLOL

Landon, Holton, Sidwell! The net worth of parents there is 10X that of WHITMAN. Be real.How many parents fly private with their kids who go to Whitman? A large minority do at the privates mentioned.

Whitman is a rich school. Stop pretending it’s not.

dp.. collectively, it's not as rich as the elite privates.

-public school parent

Rich.

Richer.

That’s what we’re arguing about. What stupidity.

It's like arguing about a good state school and an Ivy! Like it really makes a difference in life.