Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a night and day comparison between top privates and these overcrowded public’s. MoCo public schools have been resting on their laurels for 15 years. If you have the means, and can get into one of the better privates in the area, do that.

We have been at one of the “better privates” and it hasn’t been better. Paying tuition for polish rather than academics that they successfully market to parents like myself who assume private has to be superior to public. Not so. Will return to public after foolishly wasting trusting that private has to be better.

Where do the wealthy send their kids? To private schools.

What percentage of families with over 10 million net worth go to private school vs public schools in the area? Do what the wealthy do if you can afford it.

So send child to private that is not better academically than public?

Many, many kids. The private schools could probably be filled with students who would prefer them to Whitman, Churchill, etc. people can afford it, so they pay it.

There's an expression that water seeks its own level. That is basically Wootton. So if you have an advanced kids, there's a class and a cohort for them. You just have to accept that your kid has heavy competition.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a night and day comparison between top privates and these overcrowded public’s. MoCo public schools have been resting on their laurels for 15 years. If you have the means, and can get into one of the better privates in the area, do that.

We have been at one of the “better privates” and it hasn’t been better. Paying tuition for polish rather than academics that they successfully market to parents like myself who assume private has to be superior to public. Not so. Will return to public after foolishly wasting trusting that private has to be better.

Sorry it took you 2 years to realize that. I went private when MCPS was DL, I was so glad when MCPS announced they would be in-person the following year. I could not get back fast enough to MCPS. It was a waste of money I will never get back.
Not saying that there are not better privates, but not in the DMV.

Man, same. We should have a drink. I will never believe the grass is greener on the other side. Only three months left and we are done and back to MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for Wootton and have had DD in private since elementary school. Yes class size and general chaos was top reason. And overall lack of academic rigor.

I can’t relate to this at all.
We are zoned to Wootton and I send my kid to private because Wootton is a pressure cooker and I don’t feel like my kid would do well there. Sent older siblings to Wootton and junior year was just a level of stress I was not comfortable with.

Can you explain what this means? What are examples of the pressure/stress?

The area draws from a really highly educated demographic with a significant immigrant population (about 35%). Lots of parents with tech/science backgrounds so kids are highly competitive in math and the science; lots of Kumon and extra math on the weekends/after school. Unlike some of the other 'W' schools which have kids with wealthy parents; Wootton kids aren't necessarily wealthy (although definitely upper middle class) but the parents are really highly educated and often first generation immigrants so the pressure to succeed is intense and transfers to the school setting. If you're just average Joe kid, being graded on a curve against these kids can tank your grade but at another school, your kid might fair just fine. It's something we think about as our daughter gets closer to high school age, as she doesn't handle stress well and can get pretty anxious sometimes. It is a GREAT school with lots of academic and extracurricular opportunities and awesome college acceptances but every kid is just not a good fit there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes we are zoned for One of these and went private.

Very poor handling of pandemic education.

Poor communication between home and school.

Hard to get on the sports teams unless you are top athlete.

Bureaucratic approaches that lack common sense.

Academics and writing more rigorous so we fell student will be better prepared for college.

We prefer private although college outcomes are probably similar or better at the public due to grade inflation.

Our DC prefers private.

What surprised me is that my DS gets less writing at private than he did at public. We’ve had to hire a tutor to fill that gap but should not have to do so with what we pay in tuition. Apart from class size, academics are not better and are actually worse in English. This is one of the top privates in DC so I am skeptical that any private is “better” than public in the DMV area.

That is surprising - our experience has been opposite … I can see why you might be skeptical about private school if that was your experience.

Our private is not a Big 3 but a top 10 (whatever that means really) and is balanced between academics, arts, athletics, spiritual and service. Big emphasis on science and math but does not see religion and science as being in conflict. That is very important to our family - to value both science and faith.

It is a good fit for our DC but I think some kids are better served in public. We are blessed in this area to have good choices. 😄

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for Wootton and have had DD in private since elementary school. Yes class size and general chaos was top reason. And overall lack of academic rigor.

I can’t relate to this at all.
We are zoned to Wootton and I send my kid to private because Wootton is a pressure cooker and I don’t feel like my kid would do well there. Sent older siblings to Wootton and junior year was just a level of stress I was not comfortable with.

This. It's definitely a school that caters to very advanced, competitive kids. I have one kid that is built for that and one who is not. I keep them both at Wootton but encouraged my younger one (who is not as competitive) to take classes he knew he could pass with a reasonable effort and the other one just naturally challenged himself and did very well. The older one is now at an ivy and the younger one is at University of Maryland so both did well in our books.

The kids writing responses to this post are hilarious!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a night and day comparison between top privates and these overcrowded public’s. MoCo public schools have been resting on their laurels for 15 years. If you have the means, and can get into one of the better privates in the area, do that.

We have been at one of the “better privates” and it hasn’t been better. Paying tuition for polish rather than academics that they successfully market to parents like myself who assume private has to be superior to public. Not so. Will return to public after foolishly wasting trusting that private has to be better.

Where do the wealthy send their kids? To private schools.

What percentage of families with over 10 million net worth go to private school vs public schools in the area? Do what the wealthy do if you can afford it.

Boarding school or cathedral schools, or stay in NYC or CA.

than at Whitman

It's not just what you know in life it's who you know. You will make far more connections at a St. Albans when a Whitman, no comparison. If you can afford it for your kids, why not do private? Or you can blow the money on a Range Rover to show off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a night and day comparison between top privates and these overcrowded public’s. MoCo public schools have been resting on their laurels for 15 years. If you have the means, and can get into one of the better privates in the area, do that.

We have been at one of the “better privates” and it hasn’t been better. Paying tuition for polish rather than academics that they successfully market to parents like myself who assume private has to be superior to public. Not so. Will return to public after foolishly wasting trusting that private has to be better.

Where do the wealthy send their kids? To private schools.

What percentage of families with over 10 million net worth go to private school vs public schools in the area? Do what the wealthy do if you can afford it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are zoned for Wootton and have had DD in private since elementary school. Yes class size and general chaos was top reason. And overall lack of academic rigor.

I can’t relate to this at all.
We are zoned to Wootton and I send my kid to private because Wootton is a pressure cooker and I don’t feel like my kid would do well there. Sent older siblings to Wootton and junior year was just a level of stress I was not comfortable with.

Can you explain what this means? What are examples of the pressure/stress?

DP but Wootton and Whitman are the two biggest pressure cookers in the DMV. Getting a 90-92 at Wootton is almost cause for suicide, not acceptable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is too large, resources do not compare to many privates. In addition, the curriculum and student body is too left of center for me and my kids...there are many Catholic schools where a conservative or old school liberal will feel comfortable.

Child at a Catholic school is DC where many, many far left liberals attend and school is not academically superior to public by no means.

The Catholic school my kid goes to is mostly conservative, has excellent facilities and a level of wealth far higher than any Bethesda public school...the more you are around--smart, wealthy people--the better in my book.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a night and day comparison between top privates and these overcrowded public’s. MoCo public schools have been resting on their laurels for 15 years. If you have the means, and can get into one of the better privates in the area, do that.

We have been at one of the “better privates” and it hasn’t been better. Paying tuition for polish rather than academics that they successfully market to parents like myself who assume private has to be superior to public. Not so. Will return to public after foolishly wasting trusting that private has to be better.

Sorry it took you 2 years to realize that. I went private when MCPS was DL, I was so glad when MCPS announced they would be in-person the following year. I could not get back fast enough to MCPS. It was a waste of money I will never get back.
Not saying that there are not better privates, but not in the DMV.