Reply to Why did you choose private school over the local public school?

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[quote=Anonymous]Although DH and I went to private schools ourselves, we were not sure if we would send our 2 kids to private.

First, a chance encounter with 5 public primary school teachers at a social event. I was seated at their table. They were complaining that their classes sizes of 28+ are so problematic that it makes it near impossible to get anything done with the students, especially when some students arrive to public kindergarten with virtually no exposure to enrichment activities or barely speak English. These teachers also told me that their "dream" class size would be 12 students and they went on to say "oh the things I could do if I only had 12 students." They told me that if I could finally manage it, they would recommend private until 8th grade and then do public for high school.

Second, our public elementary school has 97% of the students on meal assistance vouchers. Yet, I still decided to take a tour and saw overcrowding with my own eyes. There were at least 7 or 8 trailers in the back, lunch time was so rushed, and as the students lined up to go outside for recess the smaller younger kids were literally trampled on as the older rowdier kids rushed past them to get outside. No supervision, no order, and the look on the faces of those little kids was just heartbreaking.

Finally, at my firm I have an intern, a young lady in her 20's who was born and raised in NOVA. After overhearing a conversation with one of my colleagues regarding whether I should do public or private for my kids, she came to me and said that she begged her parents to send her to private school, but they could not afford it even with financial aid. According to the intern, she took a tour of the Potomac school as a young girl and that it felt like school was a place for rainbows and butterflies. She said she never realized that school could be a fun beautiful place because her public school was so depressing and there was no love of learning. She said she did not develop a relationship with a single teacher throughout her entire 12 year public school education.

I thought about all these things and my own private school experience when making the decision. I loved my private school (outside the DMV) and till this day I keep in touch with my teachers. I even attended the funeral of my high school principal. DH similarly loved his school years at his private (inside the DMV). We are not the smartest, but have truly love to learn and educate ourselves by reading about various subjects. We do not wish nor expect our kids to go to ivy league universities, but we want them to love learning, develop relationships with educators, and look back on their school years with fond memories. The gift of a good education is the biggest most important gift you can give your children.

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