Reply to Choosing public when you can afford private

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Choosing public when you can afford private"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I get that OP is looking for an argument to stay public if you can afford private and this is on a public school forum, however, we did not have a good experience with MCPS and it is not a universally awesome option. You have to know your child.

We moved to Bethesda because we believed what we were told: the BEST schools. That was not our experience at all. Kids stayed in public through ES, but moved to private for MS and HS. For our kids, public was a disaster and private was excellent. Of course it’s possible for a kid to get a great education/have a great experience in mcps, but the opposite is also true. We chose to forgo elaborate bar mitzvahs, big ticket vacations, and expensive summer camp for our kids so they could continue at private and that’s a choice our family feels good about.

We have friends who stayed. Some of their kids have had what appears to be a fantastic experience at mcps, but others very clearly have not. What’s interesting to me is that those who have not, twist themselves into knots trying to justify why they stayed. 
[/quote]

I’m usually mostly interested and humored by those twisting themselves in knots trying to justify why they are paying so much for private or in what ways it’s better that justify the increased cost.

I honestly think if people paid more taxes to the tune of half the cost of private school kids public schools would be even better and no one would bat an eye.

Having done both, the main difference of private is that it’s a selected group of students and families.  Based upon that and the cost it should be worlds better but often isn’t. The marketing is awesome though.[/quote]

I’m the PP you are responding to. One of the big upsides for private was accountability, communication, and independence to change course if something isn’t working for the community. Both kids were in private when Covid hit and we were so impressed with how our kids’ schools handled that really challenging time.

Their day to day experience is very different (better) than what their day to day would look like in the schools we are zoned for. For us, private is the best choice even if by strictly financial or ROI arguments suggest otherwise. I’m not twisting myself into a knot defending our decision because it’s the very clear best option for our family. Your kid might be doing great at your zones HS and that’s awesome. Ours wasn’t going to work.

Private isn’t right for all. Some are pretty terrible. Some are awesome. Kids are different. Families prioritize different things. The families that I mentioned who try to rationalize their decision to stay public are very vocal about how much they loathe mcps. They are people who also opted to join a CC or routinely go on lavish vacations so I know private is within their means. They’ve just made different decisions for their family. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics