Reply to Are public schools everywhere in the US getting bad post-pandemic?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, time for school choice in all 50 states. [/quote]

Oh sure honey. Take your 10k and apply it to our private school.
Of course our private will just raise tuition another 10k…[/quote]

I’m sure private schools would love it if families who might apply for financial aid already had 10k covered by an alternate source.  While $10,000 in vouchers wouldn’t allow everyone to apply, it would certainly increase the pool of qualified applicants, including qualified applicants who are diverse in various ways. I don’t see why they would raise tuition, especially if voucher money replaced some of their financial aid budget.[/quote]

You still aren’t getting vouchers. You want private, you pay for it. Simple,[/quote]

I do pay for it-  full pay- at one of the most expensive schools in the area.  I would love it if more families could have the choice to apply to that school or other schools.  And the schools would love it too.  Many schools genuinely want to provide more opportunities (within their budget) for other students. As much as people complain, they aren’t  just out there raising tuition for no reason.  I have to wonder why people would send their kids to these schools if that’s what they think of the Board and budget process.[/quote]

Private schools aren't magic.  [b]In fact their teachers are often less qualified (and paid less). [/b] They will get larger class sizes if they let more kids in and will have to cater to parents less as there will always be others with vouchers in hand.  [/quote]

This is correct and I've seen it first hand. Also, because they don't have to follow any set curricula, they can just skip or skim over whole topics if they life, and there is no oversight or standardized test to catch it. [/quote]

Depends on the school.  Doesn't matter public or private.  [b]Ours in private and it's wonderful.[/b]  No, private is not magic but it offers a better shot of solid education as public sucks.  You can have a kid in public do well but that's besides the point.  Public's curriculum sucks - it's testing only.  You can even get into a great college from a specific public because of demographics.  But again the actual curriculum is what we are debating.  I would always look at private but you still have to research and select the right one.[/quote]

One thing to be wary of is that the primary aim of private schools is to make parents--and to a lesser extent kids--think they are wonderful.  They have to keep parents paying for a good they could get for free elsewhere.  Make sure to get evidence beyond reputation and keep paying attention past the selection process.  Private schools will do lovely things like make the curriculum sound amazing, give you narrative feedback on your child's learning etc.  But there can be considerable gaps that can go unnoticed even in very good schools--and gaps between the curriculum on paper and the enacted curriculum. Due to our work which has required frequent domestic and international moves, I've had my kids in both public and private in a variety of settings (our agency has set relationships with schools so we often get access to very good privates).  These moves have made me more aware of some of the gaps and more attentive to curriculum. In addition, my sister is a long-term teacher (now a dean) at one of the top privates in another state and she agrees the quality of teaching varies extremely widely-with some teachers basically acting like students' friends but not really holding them to any standards.  She often advocates to hire former public school teachers as they are often more effective in her opinion.

So my advice is, even if you love your private school,  trust but verify.  And make sure you compare to the curriculum/setting your child will actually have at their local public school (e.g., don't compare your kid to averages if they are going to be in AP/IB in high school or GT in ES). Private schools no longer give the college advantage they once did, so they need to be justified by their actual impact on your child's learning.  [/quote]

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