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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, I want my kid to attend the best possible school. So far, so good. But my experience in DC has felt a bit off compared to my experience overseas: paying $40,000 for childcare at NCRC partly to get access to top private schools, hiring consultants to prepare children for admissions, dealing with opaque selection processes that seem influenced by connections, and seeing schools treated as symbols of social status.

And then, when you finally get into a top private school, you realize that the college admissions numbers may be distorted by athletes and legacy admissions, and that the actual curriculum is not necessarily stronger than what good public schools offer. So at some point you have to ask: is it really worth obsessing over something that may offer such poor value?[/quote]

Getting back to the original question (and stopping with the name calling and finger pointing).  If you want your kid to attend the best possible school, it may [u]not [/u]be a private school.  Each kid's journey will be different, and you have to make a collective family decision about what you want to get out of your child's education.  We have anecdotal evidence that shows our daughter thrives in private schools.  Our daughter started out in public school.  She ended up needed more structure and one-on-one direction than public school was able to provide so we moved her to a private school.  Her grades immediately improved and she blossomed socially.  During COVID we returned to public school (couldn't justify the cost for virtual schooling so we took a hiatus).  Her grades immediately plummeted upon returning to public school as the classes were larger and the teachers were teaching to a curriculum rather than to the students.  After COVID we returned to a private school and, once again, she thrived with the academic rigor and a more tailored learning experience.

Our journey does not mean private school is better, only that it provided us what we needed at the time.  In some cases - strongly dependent on the child - public schools could be much better.  The kids are growing up in areas around their friends (our daughter's friends were many miles away so hanging out after school wasn't an option for many years); the public schools in our area can be very good if your child is a self-starter and disciplined; and you can save a lot of money (which can be reinvested into other things that may help your child perform better such as a tutors or test preparations).

On the other hand, there have been other positives with private schools.  You child(ren) goes to school with other kids whose parents place an importance on education, for example.  It's not a bad thing for your kids to be surrounded by others who make education a priority as it sort of rubs off in a positive way.  Also, private schools do seem to have better connections with both colleges and alumni.  It is true that 'who' you know can be more important than 'what' you know. [/quote]

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