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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I went to a public school and then attended three Ivies. I now teach at a top university. My education prepared me well and I never felt otherwise — I was at the top of my class at a very competitive Ivy.

The biggest difference I notice is that private school kids can be more confident and more entitled. This makes sense as they are used to having more resources, including things like adult attention and encouragement. [b]They don’t feel bad asking for my time[/b] and they can be surprised if they don’t do as well as they expect. This is the opposite of [b]public school kids who often expect nothing, even when they have access to more.[/b]

I suspect many of the differences also come down to social class and other factors. I just didn’t know a lot of things about how the world worked, connections, etc. My parents didn’t have any of that stuff. They just taught me to work hard and do my best. I think private schools encourage self-discovery and have a lot of resources for students to orient themselves to the world outside school.[/quote]

Using one example, where a top student in ivy is from the public school system, to argue that the public school is as good as or better than the private school is not a fair comparison. Rather, the question should be if the same person is educated in a private school, would he even do better?

I think for most kids, the answer is YES. The reason is simple. The parents have paid significant amount of money, thus the private school offers smaller classes, more extra curriculums, and being more responsive to parents feedbacks.

The real question is if the investment is worth the difference/improvement. I think this depends on the kids and the parents. Note that all the top public school are in rich neighborhood. While these kids are in public school system, their parents are resource rich and likely invest significantly outside of the school.   [/quote]

NP: DH and I went to public, and kids went public then private. The bolded rings true to me. On the asking or not asking for time, this is encouraged in private school and you are actually not going to get a very good recommendation if you don't "show intellectual curiosity" by doing it. On the other hand, it is generally (not always) viewed as a weakness in public schools, where only people who need help go to the teachers; otherwise, you are an annoying suck up taking the teacher's time away from kids who need it. Also true is the greater opportunity to engage in extra curricular activities. Each of my kids is now engaged in at least three activities that would have been closed off to them had they gone to the public high school, either due to lack of room, or too much competition, or lack of interest in something that is now required, not optional. They have grown so much from these experience that they otherwise would not have had. They aren't great at all of it, but they get to do it. They have watched their friends who went to the public middle and high schools drop activities they used to love, one by one, because they didn't make the team, got cut from the play, and so on, mostly because there just isn't room for everyone to be involved, and so lots of kids who aren't the superstars end up with nothing, and for quite a few of them it has lead to serious depression. This is especially true when their parents can't afford the outside of school equivalent of these activities or the extra training to make them competitive in a crowded field. [/quote]

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