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[quote=Anonymous]I’ve done both public and private and truly think private is a complete waste before high school.

Why I like private?

1) Sports. There was less of an obsession with professional/college sports and more kids actually playing them. My kid is not going to be Lebron James, but I’d like him to be on a team and go to practice. Bench him for the games, fine, but let him run around. Most private schools let anyone practice if they’d like, public schools don’t.

2) Less testing. I don’t believe in the endless, needless testing of elementary school students.

What I thought I’d like in private, but didn’t:

1) Smaller classes. Sounds great, yes, but sadly, in practice it does not mean more individualized attention and differentiation. The teachers just taught to the middle of the class. Nothing was done for gifted students.

2) No state benchmarks. Again, I thought that was great, more freedom for teachers to teach and foster creativity. In practice I found it could mean a lazy, rich girl teacher doing the bare minimum and getting away with it.

3) Peer group. I expected that people who paid for private school would be more interested in their child’s education. What I found was a plenty of ambivalent parents and kids with emotional issues and behavioral problems (and yes, private schools do accept them all of the time!), etc.

I found public school had more extracurriculars, more differentiated learning, and better teachers as a whole.

The one thing I have noticed is that if you’re aiming for the Ivies, etc. private will help you get in. Public school kids do go to top schools, sure, but it’s much easier to land a spot from an Ivy. So, if that’s your thing, go to a private high school. Having attended an Ivy and being unimpressed, I’m not sure I want that for my kids.[/quote]

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