Reply to FAQ: Comparing Public versus Private School Education

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[quote=Anonymous]I am trying to decide between public in MoCo and private right now, so this is from the point of view of a parent without personal experience in either. From touring several schools, including my local public, my impressions were:
Pro/con-public
+ Great facilities
+ Free
+ Having dc's friends all be in the neighborhood
+ Having dc make a group of friends that will be together for a long time, including the transitions to MS and HS
+ Having a large, relatively diverse pool of potential friends
+ If dc is a self-starter, access to a lot of opportunities to accelerate academically and participate in clubs/groups (particularly in HS)
- Much larger environment, can get lost depending on child's personality and school responsiveness. Not sure how much attention a teacher can give to a child in a class of 25-28.
- School is not as accommodating to individual needs (e.g., principal won't meet with prospective parents, can't do playdates over the summer with potential classmates, since the class list doesn't come out until the weekend before school starts)
- teacher-wise, it's very hard to tell. Some have been there for years, but there are several new teachers as well. 
- Most of the curriculum seems centered on reading and math (very little attention on science and arts/physical education)

Pros/Cons private (the ones I liked best, this is not true for all)
+ Much richer curriculum in the arts (visual, performing, music) in the lower years
+ More science
+ More play (incl. more recess/PE)
+ Much more hands-on learning  and integrated curricula 
+ Low teacher turnover 
+ Smaller classes
+ Lots of personal attention 
+ Focus on educating "the whole child", including character development/being a good friend and citizen, etc.
- Less diversity (main exception to this was Sidwell from the ones I visited)
- Need to change schools more often (unless you go K-12, but I personally did not like the K-12 schools I saw)
- Environment sometimes seemed too small 
 
On balance, I thought the good privates were better. We're trying to decide if they're "$30k a year" better, though. That's harder to determine. I'd happily pay $15k for the benefit of private school. But twice that is quite a stretch for our family.[/quote]

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