Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am PP, one more point. Science was the weak link for us in private. MS and HS in particular. Science curriculum and teaching has been much stronger in public. We are at a "w" school.

As this pp said, so much depends on the actual private vs the public. While I completely agree that it is hard for the private upper schools to compete in science / STEM with TJ or Blair (and their HGC/AAP feeders), some independent schools do have innovative new programs. For example, I hear great things about Bullis' engineering program from a senior there, and the curriculum looks amazing).

At the middle and elementary level, it is not such a cut and dry comparison, primarily because of the impact of large class sizes and inability to differentiate. By 7th grade in MCPS, my DC was slated for a "mixed" "advanced" science class in which the "advanced" kids acceleration was to consist of being given "extra" work. Seriously? Congratulations! You're great at science. Here's another worksheet! And my DC complained about the kids in class who were slower and took up a lot of the teachers' time on basic concepts that should have been mastered.

We moved DC to an independent that has excellent science teachers, both in the lower and middle schools. DC's science teacher, Caterina Earle, was recognized by Bethesda Magazine recently, and she also encouraged the kids to participate in a county-wide engineering competition sponsored by The Maryland Space Business Roundtable. Mrs. Earle's 7th grade team came in second in the physics competition - and this included STEM students from all Montgomery County independents as well as publics, including, all of the HGCs and magnet middle schools.

We have experienced non of that.. Lots of labs and projects. I think it is very dependent on your school and the teacher.

This is pp. Exactly, there is a lot of variability in individual schools, and to be fair, we didn't move DC because of science. We had more concerns about writing. We still have another child in MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am PP, one more point. Science was the weak link for us in private. MS and HS in particular. Science curriculum and teaching has been much stronger in public. We are at a "w" school.

As this pp said, so much depends on the actual private vs the public. While I completely agree that it is hard for the private upper schools to compete in science / STEM with TJ or Blair (and their HGC/AAP feeders), some independent schools do have innovative new programs. For example, I hear great things about Bullis' engineering program from a senior there, and the curriculum looks amazing).

At the middle and elementary level, it is not such a cut and dry comparison, primarily because of the impact of large class sizes and inability to differentiate. By 7th grade in MCPS, my DC was slated for a "mixed" "advanced" science class in which the "advanced" kids acceleration was to consist of being given "extra" work. Seriously? Congratulations! You're great at science. Here's another worksheet! And my DC complained about the kids in class who were slower and took up a lot of the teachers' time on basic concepts that should have been mastered.

We moved DC to an independent that has excellent science teachers, both in the lower and middle schools. DC's science teacher, Caterina Earle, was recognized by Bethesda Magazine recently, and she also encouraged the kids to participate in a county-wide engineering competition sponsored by The Maryland Space Business Roundtable. Mrs. Earle's 7th grade team came in second in the physics competition - and this included STEM students from all Montgomery County independents as well as publics, including, all of the HGCs and magnet middle schools.

We have experienced non of that.. Lots of labs and projects. I think it is very dependent on your school and the teacher.

Anonymous wrote:I am PP, one more point. Science was the weak link for us in private. MS and HS in particular. Science curriculum and teaching has been much stronger in public. We are at a "w" school.

As this pp said, so much depends on the actual private vs the public. While I completely agree that it is hard for the private upper schools to compete in science / STEM with TJ or Blair (and their HGC/AAP feeders), some independent schools do have innovative new programs. For example, I hear great things about Bullis' engineering program from a senior there, and the curriculum looks amazing).

At the middle and elementary level, it is not such a cut and dry comparison, primarily because of the impact of large class sizes and inability to differentiate. By 7th grade in MCPS, my DC was slated for a "mixed" "advanced" science class in which the "advanced" kids acceleration was to consist of being given "extra" work. Seriously? Congratulations! You're great at science. Here's another worksheet! And my DC complained about the kids in class who were slower and took up a lot of the teachers' time on basic concepts that should have been mastered.

We moved DC to an independent that has excellent science teachers, both in the lower and middle schools. DC's science teacher, Caterina Earle, was recognized by Bethesda Magazine recently, and she also encouraged the kids to participate in a county-wide engineering competition sponsored by The Maryland Space Business Roundtable. Mrs. Earle's 7th grade team came in second in the physics competition - and this included STEM students from all Montgomery County independents as well as publics, including, all of the HGCs and magnet middle schools.

Public school was too slow for our DS. He finished all the work for the week on the first day, then was very bored. He did a lot of extra projects in his spare time. The teachers attitude was like, thanks, but I have kids in here that need more help with the material from 2 grades ago. Some of the teachers were good, but some were awful. Some of the teachers did go way out of their way for our DS and were very kind. But others I thought should not even be in the teaching field. We looked into moving to a better public, but the parents there said that it was much the same in tone although the work may have been more challenging. Some recent changes in public school curriculum are not beloved by many parents.
Our particular public was not very good. DS easily qualified for a great private and it has been a much smoother experience. While not all of the teachers in private are excellent, there are none of the really bad ones that we saw in public. After he was in private for a few months, I realized that I had been very frustrated with our public and that nothing was going to change that. Overall have been very happy with the change. But it is not worth going bankrupt over.

I am PP, one more point. Science was the weak link for us in private. MS and HS in particular. Science curriculum and teaching has been much stronger in public. We are at a "w" school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cons - Cost

Pros - everything else

You beat me to it!

We looked very closely at our MoCo public since cost is definitely a consideration for us. Hands down, the privates we considered beat the public in every single aspect- better curriculum, better facilities, more recess, more PE, more art, music and drama, better differentiation and ability to teach to the individual child, better teachers (from what I've heard, there are some awesome and some not-so-great teachers at our public- the teachers at our private are across-the-board incredible), greater emphasis on character development, greater emphasis on reading/writing/public speaking, better lunch offerings, not only smaller classes, but smaller overall school so that kids are all known by the Headmasters, most of the teachers and most other families of the school. Having attended both a "top" public and a private school myself eons, ago, I admit I'm biased. While in many situations, one can obtain a comparable education, the overall experience at a private is generally far superior than the overall experience at a public.

I find it hard to believe that there are no average/just OK teachers in private schools and only public schools can have a mix of awesome & not-so-great teachers. Certainly private schools can offer a lot of advantages but it is certainly possible to run into a not-incredible teacher in ANY school. In fact, my friend whose kids are at a private school was just complaining to me this a.m. about the awful science teacher she's dealing with this year (DD in 6th grade).

My DCs had some so-so and even one really bad teacher at a private that is frequently talked about here in glowing terms. It's one of the reasons they went back to public.

We have been at 2 privates and public for our kids. The privates in no way had across the board incredible teachers. There were so wonderful teachers who really loved teaching and really connected with the kids and their subjects. Other teachers were so bad, it was hard to understand why they even went into teaching. Little enthusiasm, did not really understand the material, completely unconnected with the kids. Overall, i think both public and private have good and bad teachers. You have to be lucky to get the good ones.

We chose private (parochial) because we want DS to have a Catholic education. In all other regards our local public would have been just fine for us, though.

NP here - Yes - I believe that prior post meant to say PE every day vs once a week (instead of recess). I also might add that it isn't just the quantity but the QUALITY of the PE can really vary. I have a son in who enjoys sports (previously played outside of school). But he was never that enthusiastic about PE at his public school. It was in a crowded gym (they rarely went outside, though I am sure they do at some schools), and the teacher was just going through the motions. We have now switched to private and my son says the PE is great - actually playing "real" sports, playing on actual fields with space, and an enthusiast teacher.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:private pros:
recess every day (vs. once a week)
music and art part of the curriculum

aren't these things true at public schools??

They are true in MCPS.

Not true in MCPS. Rosemary Hills zoned family here. PE once a week K-2. And we were told this was county-wide.

Well said 19:10! We thought we would send our DC to our local public but after visits and meeting with the Principle and attending PTA meetings we felt it may not be a good fit. I look back on it now and I'm convinced he would have done fine w A,B,C's and 1,2,3's at the local public. His friends are all doing well and their families seem okay with the school. The big difference has been the social and emotional development along with the relax learning environment. I went in thinking my snowflake needed to be pushed because he is sooo smart that public would not be able to differentiate and would teach to the middle. What I have learned is my DC has been allowed to explore, create, and play so he can be ready to learn when it's time. He never attended public so I would be a fool to say these things don't exist at any public but my DC is having a very different experience than the kids I know that attend the local public. Not better, just different. And I believe it's a luxury not a necessity depending on your local public. Is it necessary for a K class to have 6 field trips before the holiday break....maybe not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cons - Cost

Pros - everything else

You beat me to it!

We looked very closely at our MoCo public since cost is definitely a consideration for us. Hands down, the privates we considered beat the public in every single aspect- better curriculum, better facilities, more recess, more PE, more art, music and drama, better differentiation and ability to teach to the individual child, better teachers (from what I've heard, there are some awesome and some not-so-great teachers at our public- the teachers at our private are across-the-board incredible), greater emphasis on character development, greater emphasis on reading/writing/public speaking, better lunch offerings, not only smaller classes, but smaller overall school so that kids are all known by the Headmasters, most of the teachers and most other families of the school. Having attended both a "top" public and a private school myself eons, ago, I admit I'm biased. While in many situations, one can obtain a comparable education, the overall experience at a private is generally far superior than the overall experience at a public.

I find it hard to believe that there are no average/just OK teachers in private schools and only public schools can have a mix of awesome & not-so-great teachers. Certainly private schools can offer a lot of advantages but it is certainly possible to run into a not-incredible teacher in ANY school. In fact, my friend whose kids are at a private school was just complaining to me this a.m. about the awful science teacher she's dealing with this year (DD in 6th grade).

My DCs had some so-so and even one really bad teacher at a private that is frequently talked about here in glowing terms. It's one of the reasons they went back to public.

It's entirely possible that virtually all factors could line up on the pro-private side of the line, without necessarily being blinkered or bigoted, depending on the child and the schools in question.

We happen to live in a bad public school district. We are close to a pretty decent one, and we have multiple friends who moved in order to be able to attend it. Before our child came along, we assumed we might consider doing the same thing.

But when said child actually came and we had our first pre-school experiences we quickly learned the environments where our kid did well and where they didn't Neither the local public school nor the next one over (which is bursting at the seams) would have worked. We really needed something where the classes were small and the attention very individualized, so that our child could race ahead in some areas while getting some extra attention in others. We had learned the hard way how things didn't go as well when this type of tailoring was't practicable due to the number of kids.

In our case public vs private was an absolute no-brainer, and that has nothing to do with any feeling of superiority over families in the public school system. It was what was right for us.

Since lurking on the DCUM boards it's always been a mystery to me why some feel the need to compare public vs private in some abstract sense, when the only thing that matters to a family is what is best for their particular child.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cons - Cost

Pros - everything else

You beat me to it!

We looked very closely at our MoCo public since cost is definitely a consideration for us. Hands down, the privates we considered beat the public in every single aspect- better curriculum, better facilities, more recess, more PE, more art, music and drama, better differentiation and ability to teach to the individual child, better teachers (from what I've heard, there are some awesome and some not-so-great teachers at our public- the teachers at our private are across-the-board incredible), greater emphasis on character development, greater emphasis on reading/writing/public speaking, better lunch offerings, not only smaller classes, but smaller overall school so that kids are all known by the Headmasters, most of the teachers and most other families of the school. Having attended both a "top" public and a private school myself eons, ago, I admit I'm biased. While in many situations, one can obtain a comparable education, the overall experience at a private is generally far superior than the overall experience at a public.

Every single aspect of private school is better. Wow.

I know.. .my kids are in private but responses like this are just embarrassing and myopic. We are not all this clueless. I know so many kids who were better off and thrived in public schools (non-magnet and non-"W") also.

On the other hand, for $40,000 a year, every single aspect of private school ought to be better, or the school is doing something wrong.

No 1 school is "better" for every child. So, no, every single aspect is not better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cons - Cost

Pros - everything else

You beat me to it!

We looked very closely at our MoCo public since cost is definitely a consideration for us. Hands down, the privates we considered beat the public in every single aspect- better curriculum, better facilities, more recess, more PE, more art, music and drama, better differentiation and ability to teach to the individual child, better teachers (from what I've heard, there are some awesome and some not-so-great teachers at our public- the teachers at our private are across-the-board incredible), greater emphasis on character development, greater emphasis on reading/writing/public speaking, better lunch offerings, not only smaller classes, but smaller overall school so that kids are all known by the Headmasters, most of the teachers and most other families of the school. Having attended both a "top" public and a private school myself eons, ago, I admit I'm biased. While in many situations, one can obtain a comparable education, the overall experience at a private is generally far superior than the overall experience at a public.

Every single aspect of private school is better. Wow.

I know.. .my kids are in private but responses like this are just embarrassing and myopic. We are not all this clueless. I know so many kids who were better off and thrived in public schools (non-magnet and non-"W") also.

On the other hand, for $40,000 a year, every single aspect of private school ought to be better, or the school is doing something wrong.

Anonymous wrote:private pros:
recess every day (vs. once a week)
music and art part of the curriculum

Wow, where do you live that public school doesn't have this?