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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you want your kids to be better writers, fight for smaller class sizes. Even a great teacher can't provide the necessary feedback for multiple classes of 30 students.[/quote]

This is true.  I teach at a private school (and not in DC), and I'm able to devote about 40 minutes to each composition draft because my class sizes are reasonable.  This weekend, I have a class batch of 11 compositions.  I will spend 7-8 hours as I read and write careful comments on each paper.

And I will repeat the cycle a few times over the course of the week with my other classes.  I teach 6 classes.  The smallest class has 2 students, and the largest 13; I have a total of 40 students in all.  I spend many hours outside of school reading and commenting upon compositions, and I could not do this if I had 30-35 kids in each class: the thing would be impossible.  I am shuddering as I imagine having 180 students total....the kid and teachers are doomed to failure.

The class that contains only 2 students (AP Language and Comp) gets even more individual time and attention.  I have a friend who is teaching this same course in a public school; she has 22 students in her class.  It is not her fault that her class average on the exam is going to be significantly lower than the average of my class of 2.  Think about it.  I am certainly wondering now about how many parents of her students are blaming her for their child's writing skills.

(On the selfish bright side, this is why my school's IB and AP scores are so much higher than the average).

I'm a teacher and I understand that not everyone is wealthy, but there are other ways to make a private education possible, and they are worth researching.  I have multiple students on partial or full scholarship.  Large class sizes make it impossible to teach writing, and if you want your kid to have the best, do whatever it takes to get him/her into a private with small class sizes.

[/quote]
Get him into a private with small class sizes?  [b]Oh right, fork over tens of thousands of tuition dollars (even with financial aid) each year per child through middle school and high school, just like that.  Ridiculous.  [/b]

If you want your kid to have the "best" you certainly don't need a pricey private school with a raft of pampered classmates on hand to erode your kid's work ethic.  But you do need to make and implement a writing skills development plan.  Hire a writing tutor.  If you're a good writer, routinely make comments on his or her work require re-writes.  Send him or her to summer writing camps.  Buy him or her a Chicago Manual of Style.  Enroll him or her in community college writing classes.  Expect him or her to fight to become a good writer and reward the effort.

YOU are ridiculous.  I am the PP teaching at a private school at which we have multiple students on scholarship, some of which are full (100% of tuition covered).  Yes, I know exactly which students are on scholarship because I am part of a committee that helps assess application materials/spend time with prospective parents.  You have not researched options fully, which to me indicates you just don't care that much this (or about your kids' education).

A parent who wishes their child to attend an excellent private with small class sizes really should make a list of schools, then carefully and systematically contact each for details about financial aid.  You would be surprised at what is available if you cast a wide net and devote time to researching options.

[/quote][/quote]
Simply untrue. Like other parents in a neighborhood with mostly weak in-boundary schools, we made our list and carefully and systematically contacted schools for details about fi aid. We did the work to apply to independent middle schools and were admitted to a "Top 5" program, and more than one second tier program. Our most affordable option had us paying over 15K per year from grades 6-8, and almost certainly more for HS.  We realized that, our ages, we couldn't make the numbers work on our non-profit salaries for two children while saving sensibly for college and retirement. You know as well as I do that 100% tuition (not covering all costs) is for FARMs families.

We sent our child to BASIS, hired a writing tutor and have been sending her to Johns Hopkins CTY summer camps for writing. We're not alone. It's a myth that private middle school in DC is affordable for every middle-class family needing financial aid to attend. Perhaps 20+ years ago, but no longer. As somebody who attend a private high school on a big scholarship and graduated from a top liberal arts college on massive fi aid, I know something about the mechanics of independent school scholarships.[/quote]

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