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[quote=Anonymous]I come at this question with a different perspective and struggle with it having 2 kids - ages 6 and 8.  My older kid boy would really benefit we think from small class room size and a strong academic structure - he loves school, learning and he works well with structure.  My younger kid could find her way out of the desert and I think would be fine anywhere on her own!  She is bright and not as much into structure - she can learn so would benefit from a strong academic environment but short of that she is so smart she is going to be fine no matter what.

So here's the different perspective:  when I think of education for my kids I take into consideration the question of why is it important for me to have them be in a strong academic environment?  Is it because I want them to have the opportunity to do well in school to get into a competitive college, find a career that is mainstream conservative and stable ie CPA, lawyer, doctor, whatever professional white collar career track or am I looking at it from a principle of I want my kids to be "educated?"  For me, it's the latter.

I work as a professional recruiter having been a corporate recruiter for top companies like Accenture, Citibank, etc. and I've been a "headhunter" in retained executive search placing senior level talent - CFO, CMO, CIOs at global top tier companies.  I've done college recruiting at top MBA and grad schools - I've recruited for lower level customer service/admin positions as well however.  What I have discovered is that on the whole, in general, what leads to happy successful people are families that strive to offer a culture of learning for their kids.  Different motivations/personalities contribute to how successful/happy anyone is but when I see backgrounds of the top grads - and let me tell you everyone of them has an impressive background - it's all over the place.  They come out of public, Catholic, private schools.  And not every Harvard MBA is really "smart" in a way that really matters - you would be surprised by how many cannot put a resume or a sentence together!  Your ability to get a job is based on so much more than where you went to school.  Whether they come out of a private or public education system somewhat matters but what all my successful candidates have in common is the family background they have - they tend to be from very strong families which is not to say a mom, dad, multiple kids - it's close families whether it's a single mom or whatever.  The parents spent a lot of time with the kids.  Before I had kids I never really thought about it but as a parent now, when I see impressive candidates, I ask them questions about their backgrounds - education, etc. just out of curiosity.  I have C level execs who have worked themselves up from community college.  I have them out of prep schools too. The professional success of an individual is based on the individual themselves.  A top school makes it easier to start higher up the food chain but you have to naturally be a good student to be able to really get through that program and not everyone is a natural student.  You can succeed in anything only if you really love it. In the 20 years I've been a recruiter, this is what I've learned.

The other thing I know is that there are in this day and age SO MANY various career choices.  So a formal education for me is not where it's at.  It's about finding a school environment for my kids that will help them find themselves and maybe that's a bit of public and private at different ages.  My kids are today in public and I love the aftercare they receive, I love the diversity and the teachers they have and I love the friendships they've been both able to make.  I don't know we'll keep them in public forever but for now, it works.

For me, I want my kids to find something they love to do and do it well.  It may or may not require higher education - my oldest is very talented in art and loves it.  My daughter is into music.  It's impossible at their ages today to predict where they want to be in life but I do hope they are people who are well rounded and have a strong foundation in knowledge - history, foundations of math, science, literature.  Beyond that, I'm wanting to teach them how to get along with others in the world and to function within the parameters of society.  I personally experienced a blend of private and public schools and enjoyed both.  I'm more sensitive by nature and felt more comfortable in private.  I will never know but for me, I probably would have gone further in life learning about the intangibles of life had I experienced more private than public but we'll never know and I turned out pretty well :)  What's really important for us is looking at the personalities of our kids and trying to figure out whether the environment of the school we could send them to would contribute to developing their sense of self.  The academics is in a way secondary because as parents, we can always hire a tutor or on our own which we do today, do more math, science, reading/writing with them.  We can take them on vacations/trips and show them the world and introduce them to new experiences.  It's less about academics for us and more about the connections they will make in school - a good teacher is worth their weight in gold.

I personally feel that on the whole the US public education system hands down sucks.  The academic bar is set soooo low.  BUT I don't feel that it means it's a terrible idea to send your kid to public.  Again, it depends on the personality of your kid and what education means to you.  Why and how is it important for a formal education to impact your kid and how much time do you spend with your kid?  How well do you know your kid and connect with them?  The private v. public question is a valid one but I think families have to consider more than just the system and drill down to actual realistic choices of schools and whether they make sense for the kid.[/quote]

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