Reply to Want to Hear from Parents Who Live In Excellent Public School Districts But Chose Private Instead

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why would I pay money for an inferior  product? Public schools dominate the math, science and tech necessary for tomorrow.[/quote]
I'm hardly in the "private is clearly better" crowd, but you have no proof for this statement.[/quote]
Just take a look at the Intel scholars  and any other math and science winners. The vast majority are from public schools. 
Here is this year intel/Regeneron scholars. Only one from a private school in the DC area.
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts-2018-scholars[/quote]

As many may have already stated (haven't read through the posts), unless your DC is extremely gifted or one who has a serious special need, he or she will likely fly under the radar in public school.  The majority of students do not have the ability to excel like those in the link, including my DS, who is very bright but not a superstar student.  His private school gives him the ability to shine in other ways, not to mention the smaller class sizes, religious education, and network for life.  These are things that can never be offered in a public school environment.[/quote]

Also forgot to mention one reason public school students are majority is a sheer numbers game.  You are pitting a much larger population against a very small group of students comparing public vs private.[/quote]

Agree.  I just looked at the list quickly  Not that many form TJ for all of the hoopla around that school (I saw 3, there may be more).  Compare that the the Harker School in San Jose (a private school).  It had more.  I also saw plenty of other private schools.  First, this is only one list and second, I think the maybe DC private schools do not focus as much on stem as, say, the Silicon Valley private schools. If you did a national comparison, comparing the relative numbers at those schools, I would imagine private stacks up nicely.[/quote]
Nope, private schools do not stack up nicely against public schools when it comes to math, science and technology. 
The Harker School  has 4, TJ has 7.
Some other privates have 1 or two, but the majority are from the public schools. Many from MD public schools : Blair (11), Centennial,  Poolesville,  Whitman,  Churchill etc..
It’s a known fact that public schools dominate the STEM field.
[/quote]

I don't know if I can make nation-wide statements, but I'm grappling with this issue on a personal level right now. I have a middle schooler who is a good athlete and is attracted to the better sports programs at a couple of our local well-regarded privates. And on this issue it's true, there is simply no comparing the athletic facilities and athletics program between the privates and the local public.

He's also very good in math. We've looked at examples of the math/science curriculum from the schools we're considering and hands down they're easier and less comprehensive than what his comparative curriculum would be at the public school. From just his advanced math class in public middle school, he'd possibly test into at least sophomore level math at the private schools. (He would not skip a math level going into the local public high school.) Also, my impression is that the private math programs have a lot more hand-holding. He gets very little hand-holding in his public middle school; he is expected to manage his own homework and grades, and those classes are competive. In addition to the weaker curriculum, I worry that he'll lose the self-sufficiency he's had from public.

We are not sure we can justify what appears to be a step down in STEM education in exchange for a great athletics program.

Maybe I'll start my own thread to get opinions. [/quote]

We were in a similar situation. Our DC finished public middle school with a 117 average in an advanced math class. DC placed in the mid-level math class for 9th grade at private. We assumed DC would skip a grade based on feedback from middle school teachers and SSAT scores. You never really know until the placement test results. DC is doing well and feels challenged by the curriculum.[/quote]

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