Reply to Are you at a $40k+ LS/MS that doesn’t offer much beyond public?

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Reply to "Are you at a $40k+ LS/MS that doesn’t offer much beyond public?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As PP said, core instruction isn't necessarily better than in good publics. You are paying for manicured grounds, extensive athletic facilities, plush seating in the library and the connections you might or might not make with influential families. [/quote]

Disagree. The instruction is the reason to pay, not the ancillary benefits. If your private isn't providing (1) small class sizes; (2) tailored instruction for your child; (3) focus on and achievement of love of learning for your child; and, (4) acceleration in *writing* and math, you're at the wrong private.[/quote]

PP you replied to. I'm comparing the top privates to my children's Bethesda-area public schools, where the acceleration is solid, the core teachers are wonderful and foster love of learning... but the classes are larger and some schools are overcrowded. It's the overcrowding that bugs me. Yet it works for us, because my child with ADHD and who needs accommodations has had very attentive IEP teams in elementary, middle and high school, and all the accommodations he needs, which he would definitely not have received in a private school setting, because they are not set up for it. My other child is highly functional in any setting.

I'm not saying privates are not worth it for very wealthy parents who don't mind paying 50K a year per child for things other than academics. It's really nice to have luxury touches on a daily basis in one's school! I'm saying that certain public schools are academically very competitive, and if that's what matters to you, then you have to ask yourself whether the rest is worth that amount of money.

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If your kids are in high school they were in elementary long ago when things were much better and they weren’t squashing accelerated study and GT because of equity.  Our school used to have pull out GT, but now does some worthless push in which is just more busy work so the teacher can spend more time teaching those who are behind.

Public school for a smart kid is baby sitting with a chance for independent study. My kid was doing fine but bored to tears and fairly lonely as more and more of their peers moved to private.  It’s a zero sum game, I think that’s the phrase, where the teacher only has so much time in a day, and her incentives are such that if she gets more kids passing state standardized tests she and her school benefit (high test scores, great schools, etc) vs if she spends time on the smartest kids to actually grow and challenge them, maybe by high school it will change the college matriculation outcomes (which is not tied to state funding or accreditation). [/quote]

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