Reply to Top private (Sidwell, GDS) versus top public (JKLM) for early years: what are the differences?

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Reply to "Top private (Sidwell, GDS) versus top public (JKLM) for early years: what are the differences? "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]why are DCUM people so crazy? I send my daughter to an EOTP Title I school (and planning to stay). My husband and I are both elite-college educated, well employed and I'm an Exeter grad. Is raising a child these days all about shaving for percentages? There are a lot of merits to private schools and public schools. Weigh what's most important to you -- diversity, test scores, extras, college placement, etc. -- and what you can manage/afford and send your kid there. Most important, don't neglect the work you must do as parents to ensure your kids are well rounded, conscientious global citizens. No school can replace what you're giving them (or not) at home. [/quote]

17:16 here: Agree completely, and our kids are also ethnically and economically diverse EOTP school now, and going to stay there until they graduate.  I made that clear in my post.  We were more conservative in terms of ES, and if a younger child has learning differences we would consider private for that child for that reason.  There are plenty of kids in the school our kids are at now who have faced and are facing serious challenges, and our kids are friends with them, learning from them as well as with them, and some of our kids were "onlies" from our ES, so they have had to integrate themselves into a community of children whom I think are quite amazing, especially the ones who are struggling in a variety of ways.  Have one in high school already, NOT worried about eating disorders, maybe we raised her immune but I think the environment has actually made the difference.  Most telling observation from one of my girls was that the kids at this school are "nicer" than those from her WOTP ES, who were mostly headed for private schools in the end.  And from what I have seen of her friends, I agree with her.

No obsessions, just wanted to explain my background as well as I could, and I wholeheartedly agree with another poster that the rise in tuition means that the schools we all went to are now mostly populated by one percenters.  And we will not join the Chevy Chase Club because I do not have an open mind about the crowd there or the utility of it.  And we will not live in the heart of Spring Valley in one of those very large houses. And my children will not be going to the modern version of Ms. Shippen's, and my daughters will not be debutantes.  And there is a lot to be said for physical labor.  In addition to cleaning houses for a summer, I did physical work all through college within and for a community I cared deeply about.  I don't expect my kids to do the same, but I do expect them to find paid employment over the summers as they get older.  So I guess I do have some lines I have drawn in the sand.

I have heard horror stories from acquaintances whose kids are at these private schools now, and while I thought we had our fair share of miscreants back in the day who were never held responsible for actions that would have gotten others expelled, and those in a different social strata arrested, it seems to have gotten worse in some ways.  For example, I assumed that at least with respect to the STA/NCS rape issues it would have gotten a whole lot better.  And STA/NCS knocked the religion out of many of my sibs/cousins permanently, and I think it has the same effect now.

Finally, due to my bubble upbringing I had never thought about handbags at all until I read that thread, and while initially it was interesting from a sort of sociological perspective, I did end up honestly shocked by where it went, and these private school mothers were not joking. They were not all SAHMs, but the lawyers who worked hard for their handbags were no better in terms of judging and evaluating their fellow mothers based on what they carried on their arms.  Sometimes the most superficial threads are the most enlightening.  I did not know (or had forgotten) that purses can cost $3,000 or much, much, more, and that these otherwise intelligent articulate women would go into what I have come to call "Perfect Madness" mode.  Good book.  Loved the Nanny Diaries as well.  Eyes WIDE OPEN people. [/quote]

Hey Sociology Prof: Care to dissect the self-congratualtory nature of this one?[/quote]

not sociology prof, the much hated 17:19 here again - very simple - we tried to make the right choices and lucked out in terms of the school we landed at....[/quote]

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