Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most wealthy( 10 million + net worth) people I know in Bethesda already send their kids to private school.

There was definitely a move to private during Covid. But I think things have settled back to normal. If you live in the Whitman district, it tends be the very wealthy and the special needs that go private. Smart, healthy, sporty kids tend to go public.

There are 2000 kids at Whitman, you would describe them all as smart, healthy, and sporty and their neighbors in private schools as special needs kids? Given that most privates don't accept kids with special needs and the public school has to take everyone, this seems odd.

Some posters like to say private schools are for really rich or SN kids because it’s their way of arguing that private schools only work for kids who can’t handle public schools or rich people who want to escape the poors. It’s their way of dismissing private schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most wealthy( 10 million + net worth) people I know in Bethesda already send their kids to private school.

There was definitely a move to private during Covid. But I think things have settled back to normal. If you live in the Whitman district, it tends be the very wealthy and the special needs that go private. Smart, healthy, sporty kids tend to go public.

There are 2000 kids at Whitman, you would describe them all as smart, healthy, and sporty and their neighbors in private schools as special needs kids? Given that most privates don't accept kids with special needs and the public school has to take everyone, this seems odd.

I live in the Whitman district, half of my block goes to private and I really can't figure out the difference between the kids but I certainly don't see any special needs kids in either population.

Anonymous wrote:Most wealthy( 10 million + net worth) people I know in Bethesda already send their kids to private school.

There was definitely a move to private during Covid. But I think things have settled back to normal. If you live in the Whitman district, it tends be the very wealthy and the special needs that go private. Smart, healthy, sporty kids tend to go public.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:90% of people in the US go to public school. In any given setting, most of the competent and incompetent people you encounter are most likely to have gone to public school. It’s just basic likelihood and proves little about the value of either educational model.

Yeah but 40% of Ivy League students come from private schools while they are less than 10% of all high school graduates, which does say something about the superiority of that model to get you into elite spaces.

DP. Not really. I actually do kind of agree with your premise but this isn’t evidence. Kids who get into Ivies are disproportionately wealthy and well-connected, many of them legacies. They are more likely to have pursued expensive sports or ECs. They are more likely to BE private school students. That number in itself doesn’t do anything to suggest private school prep was the reason they got into an Ivy.

To be honest I’m surprised the number isn’t much higher than 40%.

Anonymous wrote:90% of people in the US go to public school. In any given setting, most of the competent and incompetent people you encounter are most likely to have gone to public school. It’s just basic likelihood and proves little about the value of either educational model.

Yeah but 40% of Ivy League students come from private schools while they are less than 10% of all high school graduates, which does say something about the superiority of that model to get you into elite spaces.

90% of people in the US go to public school. In any given setting, most of the competent and incompetent people you encounter are most likely to have gone to public school. It’s just basic likelihood and proves little about the value of either educational model.

Anonymous wrote:Although zoned for Wootton, I have chosen private for my children for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, at almost 50 years old, the smartest/most impressive kids I have met throughout my career as an attorney received a public school education. They were smarter, quicker, more flexible and better problem solvers than their private school peers.

I agree in some respects, the smartest friend I had in college was the valedictorian at a really rough public school. She was brilliant, resourceful, and able to thrive in chaos. For her, learning to be extremely resiliant in a tough environment was a huge advantage. Then again, most of the students in her high school never got to go to college and would have been better served in a less chaotic environment.

Although zoned for Wootton, I have chosen private for my children for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, at almost 50 years old, the smartest/most impressive kids I have met throughout my career as an attorney received a public school education. They were smarter, quicker, more flexible and better problem solvers than their private school peers.

Get what you pay for in life generally.

There’s no comparison. Private will beat out public. Private schools are much smaller than a large school system. They are managed better and they can make changes quicker when change is needed (ie. COVID). Private students are required to purchase supplies like textbooks and laptops. Private schools can weed out challenging students or students that don’t follow their rules.

If money wasn’t an issue, I would choose private.

Most wealthy( 10 million + net worth) people I know in Bethesda already send their kids to private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools for my NT kids but W with a strong iep for my SN kid.

Interesting. Most families are the opposite. Private for SN kid and public for NT kids.

+1 IEPs are not worth the paper they are typed on at Churchill. Special Ed staff don’t provide the services. I would prioritize private for SN child but put all in private if money wasn’t a factor. As is, we have spent thousands for supplemental services and tutors per year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's fantastic that all the wealthy, private-school-attending families recognize the educational and social inequities provided by the institutions they patronize, which set such good examples for public schools to follow that they must be happy to ensure a tax base great enough for those public schools to do what would be needed to reach par service levels for the non-private population.

This contorted, lengthy, unfocused sentence structure, was it learned in public or private?

Ha! I had the same thought.

Anonymous wrote:Private schools for my NT kids but W with a strong iep for my SN kid.

Interesting. Most families are the opposite. Private for SN kid and public for NT kids.