Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If public schools are so great, why do so many rich & famous people send their kids to private?

My guesses

1. Private school is chump change money
2. Need to have the right society, as some have pointed out connections, private jets is not out of place in private. These kids will feel out of place while carrying designer bags to public school and can’t openly talk about their lifestyle to normal public school kids whose parents may be struggling to get to a fully funded 529
3. They dont truly care about STEM and academics, they have large trust funds and don’t have to unduly stress out for AP classes and credits. They dont need to get into the rat race because they already have won..

Yes. If I’m rich & my kid is an average student, I’d much rather they graduate from a private school with a “brand” label on it like Bullis or Flint Hill than be in the zoo that is on-level classes at a public school.

Anonymous wrote:We chose independent school because of the excellent academics and less “bad” things (troublemaker kids even in a $$$ school zone, excessive screentime, etc.) but may go back to public because of the logistics. Having the school be 20 minutes away instead of 5 is making life complicated! I wish public schools were better…

People around here don’t know what great publics are. They exist, but generally only in small township-based school districts. Many outstanding ones in the NY/NJ/CT tristate area, Boston suburbs, Chicago suburbs & Philly main line.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If public schools are so great, why do so many rich & famous people send their kids to private?

My guesses

1. Private school is chump change money
2. Need to have the right society, as some have pointed out connections, private jets is not out of place in private. These kids will feel out of place while carrying designer bags to public school and can’t openly talk about their lifestyle to normal public school kids whose parents may be struggling to get to a fully funded 529
3. They dont truly care about STEM and academics, they have large trust funds and don’t have to unduly stress out for AP classes and credits. They dont need to get into the rat race because they already have won..

Wow, you're clueless about private schools, yet you're also clueless about what's normal for the average American (a little hint, the kid whose parents are struggling with a 529 doesn't face actual economic hardship).

Where in the original post did I mention anything about "actual economic hardship for average Americans" ? I was assuming when rich people send their kids to Public schools, they would live in affluent areas where "economic hardship" is not generally a concern because "average struggling Americans" are unable to buy a home in those neighborhoods. However, these affluent Americans (not average) may still be struggling to have a fully funded private 529 for their kids.

And you are right.. I am clueless about why rich and famous send their kids to private, if you look carefully, I started the post with "my guesses" adequately sharing that I have no personal experience. A PP that mentioned security seems a very plausible reason for them to send their kids to private school.

Be nice!

We chose independent school because of the excellent academics and less “bad” things (troublemaker kids even in a $$$ school zone, excessive screentime, etc.) but may go back to public because of the logistics. Having the school be 20 minutes away instead of 5 is making life complicated! I wish public schools were better…

Anonymous wrote:We wanted our kids to be friends with kids from rich families. Being in a social circle with people from the upper class was important to us. We sent them to private school (Sidwell Friends).

I could not agree more. That’s why we like private schools. That’s one of its major benefits.

Anonymous wrote:Without exposure to socioeconomic diversity, kids grow up to be entitled and selfish. Education comes in many forms.

This is actually one reason why we went private!

There’s far more socioeconomic diversity at our private school (many kids on scholarships) vs at our previous public school where the families had to afford a million dollar plus house in order to be zoned for the school.

Most of the private school kids in our neighborhood still end up at VT or JMU, so it seems kind of a waste.

Without exposure to socioeconomic diversity, kids grow up to be entitled and selfish. Education comes in many forms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If public schools are so great, why do so many rich & famous people send their kids to private?

My guesses

1. Private school is chump change money
2. Need to have the right society, as some have pointed out connections, private jets is not out of place in private. These kids will feel out of place while carrying designer bags to public school and can’t openly talk about their lifestyle to normal public school kids whose parents may be struggling to get to a fully funded 529
3. They dont truly care about STEM and academics, they have large trust funds and don’t have to unduly stress out for AP classes and credits. They dont need to get into the rat race because they already have won..

Wow, you're clueless about private schools, yet you're also clueless about what's normal for the average American (a little hint, the kid whose parents are struggling with a 529 doesn't face actual economic hardship).

No. I might opt for nicer extracurriculars though. Especially camps and lessons for areas of interest.

Anonymous wrote:If public schools are so great, why do so many rich & famous people send their kids to private?

I mean, around here, a lot of it comes down to security. The top privates know how to deal with the secret service, have closed campuses. it's always going to be much much harder to kidnap a presidents or ambassadors daughter from sidwell than from a public school. at a certain level of fame or income, you just want to be sure your kid is coming home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My HHI is 1.2 mil. We send our son to a public school.

We considered a few top notch private school in our area but didn’t feel like they are any better than his current public school( he is in 4 th grade).

But we may reconsider once he s going into high school. We ll see.

He is ranking in top 99 percentile in math and reading in Iowa testing. Once he s in 5 th grade he d be doing 6th grade math.

All the kids at our private rank like this compared to publics. The private schools typically teach one level ahead in reading and math for their mainstream students. Some kids are ahead of that and get differentiated learning tailored to their needs. My kids thinks this is normal, learning is fun, and I like the peer group. It's very positive environment. The publics around here don't even come close. I hope your son doesn't lose the live of learning in middle school or lose social skills - I see these things are quite common in public middle schools.

Interesting. Where we live, the families who leave for private school have middle of the road kids academically. The truly bright ones all stay in public.

+1 Yup, that’s what I see in my neighborhood as well.

Previous poster with 700k HHI that sends kids to public. It is so location dependant. In DC there is only one public HS in Top 10. TJ
https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-schools-for-stem/m/washington-dc-metro-area/

In Austin 6 out of top 10 HS are public

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-schools-for-stem/m/austin-metro-area/

Checked for STEM schools only..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course, what type of school you go to has nothing to do with how successful you’ll be (at least financially) in life.

It absolutely does.

No it doesn’t. It has everything to do with the home environment.

Not sure it matters for my 16 yo DC what type of school they go to. They inadvertently became a you tube influencer posting how to videos on playing video games. He has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and millions of views and now makes more than than most of the posters on this board do including myself. He’s certainly learned more than most about capitalism and entrepreneurship than any school public or private would ever teach. I’d argue he’s learned the equivalent of a Wharton MBA X 10. He’s smart with the money he’s earned and is set for life.

Anonymous wrote:If public schools are so great, why do so many rich & famous people send their kids to private?

My guesses

1. Private school is chump change money
2. Need to have the right society, as some have pointed out connections, private jets is not out of place in private. These kids will feel out of place while carrying designer bags to public school and can’t openly talk about their lifestyle to normal public school kids whose parents may be struggling to get to a fully funded 529
3. They dont truly care about STEM and academics, they have large trust funds and don’t have to unduly stress out for AP classes and credits. They dont need to get into the rat race because they already have won..