Best school for highly gifted and talented, "quirky" kid?

[Anonymous]

Do you feel better now that you've expressed your scorn for kids who may really benefit from smaller classes and more attention?

[Anonymous]

Can we stop the madness with exaggerating tuition costs? You'd be VERY hard-pressed to find a school that costs $50,000, or even $40,000. In 08-09, the average private in the DC area cost $20,255 for third grade, $24,697 for twelfth. Sure, some schools cost quite a bit more than that, but there are also plenty of schools that are much cheaper. If you qualify for FA, you're likely to be paying closer to $10K (on average) at even the priciest schools.

Like the cost, the quality and character of private schools in this area varies greatly. It is totally unproductive to group all privates together and compare them to a particular public school. There are plenty of good reasons to send your kid to private school that might not be measurable in a test score.

[Anonymous]

Do you feel better now that you've expressed your scorn for kids who may really benefit from smaller classes and more attention?

My elite NE private high school class had 34 students. We're all quite close. I have no scorn for kids that may benefit from smaller classes and more attention. I was a beneficiary of such. There are also kids that grave and thrive in a bigger pond. Your anger or disappointment is misplaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...besides not wanting to mingle with the ordinary masses some of these kids that can't get into the worthy private schools would not even be able to compete in public school and would get lost in the shuffle.

Did you write this?

[Anonymous]

I'm not 12:22 and I didn't write the post quoted in 12:34, but she's no doubt right in a number of cases (especially if the public schools in question are magnets with selective admission).

Private schools primarily educate the most economically privileged kids -- not the smartest kids. Most very smart kids are in public schools because most parents can't afford public and/or don't live in an area where privates are better than public (and don't want to send their kids away to boarding schools).

Certainly there are some kids in selective privates (e.g. kids near but not at the very top of their class) who would rank higher in their neighborhood public schools (which, in turn, might help their admissions chances at the most selective colleges). But there are a helluva lot of kids in local private schools who couldn't test into TJ even if they lived in Fairfax. And no local private has a comparably sized/talented top cohort as TJ. The smartest 2-3 kids at any local private might be as smart as the smartest 2-3 kids at TJ in any given year (or not) -- but no way will the smartest 50 kids at any local private be as smart as the smartest 50 kids at TJ. It's just demographics. The pool for private is substantially smaller (because of the cost) than for public magnet schools and inclusion in it is determined primarily by wealth rather than by brains/IQ/test scores/talent.

In saying this, I'm not addressing the question of which/whether kids get a better education at (which) private school vs. (which) public magnet schools. Or whether/for whom private school is worth the money. But there's no doubt in my mind that private schools (even the best) serve, in part, as havens for rich kids who aren't academically competitive with the best and brightest in the public schools. Arguably, that's actually their killer app, LOL -- it's money well spent if your middle of the pack kid ends up getting admitted and doing well at a good college rather than being an average student at an average college. By contrast, for a very talented and highly motivated kid, what's at stake in the public vs. private decision is what kind of education you want rather than odds of future success in school, employment, etc.

[Anonymous]

Did you write this?

Yes, I wrote the quote you are referring to. Do you have a problem with it?

[Anonymous]

But there are a helluva lot of kids in local private schools who couldn't test into TJ even if they lived in Fairfax.

Touche. The bulk or majority of area private school students would not meet the TJ bar!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I wrote the quote you are referring to. Do you have a problem with it?

It's obnoxious. Seems at odds with the follow-up.

[Anonymous]

Why don't the public school trolls shuffle on over to the public school threads for each of the jurisdictions in our area. You obviously know nothing about private schools.

[Anonymous]

Because I attended a private school. Did you?

[Anonymous]

It's obnoxious. Seems at odds with the follow-up.

Perhaps with more thought and less hallucination you may understand.

[Anonymous]

Hardly seem worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because I attended a private school. Did you?

Yes, of course, I did and so did my child. The only time I went to a public school was Pre-K. I still remember the smell of the stinky bathrooms. When I think of public schools -- I think subpar. Even the WP had an article yesterday saying the "beloved" public in Mont. Co. aren't as good as they used to be and have been slipping for the past 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because I attended a private school. Did you?

Yes, of course, I did and so did my child. The only time I went to a public school was Pre-K. I still remember the smell of the stinky bathrooms. When I think of public schools -- I think subpar. Even the WP had an article yesterday saying the "beloved" public in Mont. Co. aren't as good as they used to be and have been slipping for the past 10 years.

Could someone please post this link? I searched the Post website for this article but couldn't find it. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course, I did and so did my child. The only time I went to a public school was Pre-K. I still remember the smell of the stinky bathrooms. When I think of public schools -- I think subpar. Even the WP had an article yesterday saying the "beloved" public in Mont. Co. aren't as good as they used to be and have been slipping for the past 10 years.

That's great. Which one? Were the bathrooms nice and clean at your school?