Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would like to see financial aid eliminated. I just don't want my kids to learn "poor" habits from the poors or from the parents of the poors, for that matter.

I think maybe 15 0r 20 percent of the class is o.k. Above that ... well, you know.

Not really. You might as well be in public. Financial aid amounts to paying the people you are trying to get away from in order that those people can follow you. It's the equivalent of paying money to the burglar who burgled your old house so that he can join you and your family in the brand new neighborhood into which you are moving bc of the burglary. Who does that?

c'mon, the poors are not equivalent to burglars. Inclusiveness is a good thing ... up to a point of course.

Anonymous wrote:I feel like a lot of people don't say what they really think because they are afraid of coming across as snobby or elitest.

I'll throw this out there. I think that my private offers a higher quality education than our highly ranked public.

Here you go. Perhaps someone posted this already, but the reality is that the quality of the education in private schools is only part of what you pay for. For some private schools (e.g., Saint Albans, Georgetown Prep), you are paying for a name brand with national recognition that opens up opportunities for your child beyond just the classroom and college matriculation process. The relationships they forge during the high school years follow them for a lifetime both personally and professionally. For those who think that paying for private school is only about the education, you are thinking very naively. Other schools like Sidwell, Georgetown Day and Maret, while they enjoy an excellent academic reputation, including nationally among colleges, do not, in my opinion foster the lifelong relationships among their alumni that provide any sort of personal/professional benefit beyond getting into college (which though important is only part of the overall equation).

privates - big group.
I just don't get how they all get lumped in together.
And yes, the one DC goes to provides a better education than our local private -- and is well worth it.
I really never get hassled by anyone in real life for sending DC to private; all our friends and neighbors seem fine with it (at least to our face ).

I think it's really funny that Parents think they know who is getting bullied for being poor and who isn't. You have no idea what information is circulating through your kid's lives. The only perspectives I value on this board are from people who actually went to the schools we are all talking about (or schools like them). Adults live in adult world and kids live in kid world. My husband hated being the poor kid at a fancy school but his parents never knew how much he suffered from it because he (wait for it) DIDNT TELL THEM. They saw
He had friends and did sports and did well academically, but didn't see the enormous emotional chip building on his shoulder from always being the "poor kid."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are at two different privates and I teach at one. I have never seen kids talk about or care about who has money or not. They are all friends based on personality not money. I have never seen a kid left out because they don't have a big house or a great car. My oldest is 16 and her classmates are not all getting cars. Most drive a family car, only one got a brand new Range Rover and there was actually a bit of eye rolling from the parents but the kids don't seem to care.

Are your kids at Big3 schools? If you teach at a Big3 school and don't hear the constant chatter about vacations and material goods, etc. then you're not observant. I agree the kids aren't left out of attending parties where an invitation is extended to the entire grade. It is possible to make a small core group of friends based upon personality; however, dating is a different kettle of fish. The parents steer their family social circles starting in the early grades.

I can say for certain that this is not true at Sidwell. My child received FA and he has never mentioned feeling left out of anything because of our small home, etc. His friends come from all different circumstances and he has dated girls from very wealthy families ( as well as girls from middle class families.) He has also dated girls of diverse racial, and religious backgrounds, as well as girls who are from international families. I really think the PPs who claim that that the big 3 are full of wealthy snobs have no first hand experience at least not with Sidwell US. I have no knowledge of the other schools.

Yikes, how much dating is he doing?

Ok you want politically incorrect? I DON'T think our highly ranked private offers a better education than our public. I DO think the name matters though and will help in college admissions and network throughout life. That's what we're paying for.

Duh. I know Trump went to private. But, he's not counting on private school people to vote for him, he's counting on the un-educated or lowly educated whites to back him.

Anonymous wrote:OP -- my politically incorrect post is that if more people went to private and had a brain, D. Trump would not be the Republican nominee.

Well, Trump himself is a product of private schools, so where does that leave us?

OP -- my politically incorrect post is that if more people went to private and had a brain, D. Trump would not be the Republican nominee.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like a lot of people don't say what they really think because they are afraid of coming across as snobby or elitest.

I'll start first. I think that my private offers a higher quality education than our highly ranked public.

The real question isn't whether your private is better than your public. It's is the benefit to your children of going to your private instead of your public greater than any other benefit that you could purchase for them with the same amount of money.

Not if you have enough money for private plus other opportunities.

AP and IB programs are creating private schools within publics.

I went to private and public schools. So did my children. There was no comparison. Private schools were always head and shoulders better. They screen out special needs students, obviously. The faculty are completely accountable, which is less and less the case in public schools. If you can afford it, go private or parochial.

Anonymous wrote:

I don't care what people think about my choice but I don't like it when people think my choice is a rejection of theirs.

I love this comment, especially the last part.

Me too! Very well put and accurate.

My politically incorrect observation is that some of the kids at my child's independent school clearly need services that they aren't getting.

The teachers keep telling the parents that all kids learn at a different pace, and there's all levels of impulse control or whatever, but the parents are in for a rough ride when they realize it's not normal to still struggle to write your name or read fluently at the end of lower elementary.

Anonymous wrote:None of these comments have been that incorrect.

I have one.

Public schools kids can be exposed to more ghetto/classless kids. My daughter who initially was in magnet was bullied/threatened by some low income girls because of her nice clothes. Moved her to private. Nothing like that even remotely occurred.

My experience was the reverse. I was a FA kid and a minority at the top of my class. I was mercilessly bullied at a WASPy local private school. Transferred to a public magnet for HS and had a lovely, wonderful social and intellectual experience.