Reply to Politically Incorrect Private School Thread What Do You Really Think?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "Politically Incorrect Private School Thread What Do You Really Think?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We live in a seriously marginal neighborhood so we can afford to send our kids to private school. Why? Because if we bought into an expensive neighborhood, we'd then be locked into that school – and if it didn't work out, would be screwed. If our private school doesn't work out, we can send them to a different private school.

Our decision was influenced by the fact that both DH and I had truly, truly terrible public-school experiences. My parents knew I was in misery, but couldn't afford to send me to private school with the mortgage they were paying. I always want the freedom to be able to yank my kids and send them  someplace else.

I freely admit that this is a very unusual calculus to have made, and most people think we're crazy, including my family. It just goes to show how very individual these choices are. Loving parents with the same amount of money can come to very different decisions depending on their personal experiences, values, and tolerance for risk.

I will say that our decision has been made much easier because DH and I are absolutely on the same page. Moral: marry someone who agrees with you about education.[/quote]

Just wanted to say that I could have written your post word-for-word. DH and I are planning on private education & bought into an inexpensive neighborhood just to allow room for in our budget for a private education. I went to a great public school as a kid, but it was a terrible experience and a bad fit for me.

I do not maintain for a moment that some of the very good publics in the DC area are anything other than excellent, quite possibly on par with all or most of their private competitors. But I won't be locked into a particular school. We want to put DS into a school that seems like best match we can find. If it's not, we will move him to a school that is a better match.

For us, this has nothing to do with getting an Ivy acceptance letter. It has everything to do with ensuring that DS becomes the best person he can be, that he wants and owns his education, and that sees a path toward finding meaningful work in the world.

My impolitic statements: 
1. I'm afraid that in a private school environment, DS may take privilege for granted or absorb the idea that selective college admittance is the be-all and end-all of his efforts. I want him to be happy and confident, not anxious.
2. Contrary to my own social and political beliefs, I am worried about enrolling in my neighborhood public because there are a large cadre of kids there whose family's don't value education. I want DS to have some drive and ambition. And to foster that, I want achievement to seem like the default or norm for his peer group, not something just the "serious kids" have. I realize this attitude is elitist. But I feel that culture and expectations are learned in childhood, and if I put him in a very different cultural/educational environment from the one in his family for 8+ hours a day, he'll be shaped by the school as much as by us. [/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