Reply to Parents of Private High School Graduates

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Parents of Private High School Graduates – was it worth it?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My DS was accepted to the Top 25 school of his dreams.  He would not have been if he had gone to our top rated MOCO public schools.

For me it was worth it. There is nothing I'd rather invest money in than my children.

As for other other benefits?  I think the social skills and polish are a real plus.

Lessons?  Be prepared for a commitment of time (in addition to $). - private school parents are VERY active in their schools.   [/quote]

What is this polish of which you speak? I ask this seriously. I think there's a good argument to be made that public school kids learn how to deal with a broader range of kids and also to advocate for themselves. The word "polish" suggests ineffable qualities like knowing how  to wear rumpled khakis and to butter your bread a bite at a time rather than paving it. But I know you must mean more than these, and I'd be curious to hear your explanation of what "polish" private schools provide.[/quote]

I deal with a lot of high school boys.  With VERY few exceptions, Boys near graduation from a private high school will look you in the eye, act graciously and at ease among adults.  There are such boys among public high schools too, but the majority are likely to stare at their shoe laces and shy away from adults.   I'm sure that boys act differently among their peers, but I've observed this pattern across many schools for years.  [/quote]

Bizarre. Not my experience at all with private and public school kids. Probably more connected with SES regardless of type of school attended. Maybe a low SES kid would get more "polish" in a private school than a low performing public school?[/quote]

I'm pretty ready to discount the "public school kids stare at their shoes" poster. I could supply my own anecdotes that go in the opposite direction, and for bonus points I could throw in adjectives like "cocky" and "snotty" for the private school kids. But that seems mean and stupid, and it's supported only by my own anecdotes instead of actual facts. The "stare at their shoes poster" really seems like someone who is predisposed to think what s/he needs to think about her $30K/year education investment, and disregard any opposing evidence.[/quote]

Everyone has had their own experience from which their perceptions are formed, but, I must say, that in my experience the cocky kids aren't the ones starring at their shoe laces - so when someone suggests that private school kids are both, I discount that as being defensive.   I'd say private school kids are far more confident and self assured on AVERAGE and it doesn't surprise me that  some read that as "cocky" and "snotty."   In my experience all sorts of folks use the word "cocky," but "snotty" is almost always used by people referring to others of higher SES - so I think that is a big factor here.  Again, though, I can only speak from my experience - results may vary.[/quote]

Good grief. One poster said that public school kids stare at their shoelaces, a different poster said that she "could but wouldn't" say that private school kids are cocky or snotty. Nobody ever said that private school kids were both shoelace-starers and cocky at the same time. In fact, this whole thing started out with a stab at public school kids (the alleged shoelace-starers, and the only ones to be charged with this by some weird poster).

But we also need to set the record straight on a different matter: "cockiness" actually exists, and it is not purely the product of imaginations fired by SES jealousy.

Not going to weigh in either way, only to say that DCUM astounds me sometimes....[/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