Anonymous
06/16/2026 19:45
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:People obsess over private schools for the same reason they obsess over travel sports — they’re trying to compensate for their own failures and projecting on to their kids. And wasting a ton of time and money in the process.
They’d be better off paying for a therapist.
+1,000,000
Anonymous
06/16/2026 19:38
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
My kids are in a Catholic HS because our local high school was not going to give us what we want for our kids. My kids feel their teachers care more, are more invested, and the kids are more accepting. We did not move them to the school assuming it would mean better opportunities for college.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 19:29
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The existence of the college forum and the existence of the public school forum capture...?
I don’t know, I post in the private school forum. Maybe You can send us summary of those forums.
I'm just using your logic.
And…..
In your words, the mere existence of a forum means an underlying obsession.
More precisely, I’m referring to the type of people you often find in this forum, and you’re a case in point.
So by your reasoning the mere existence of a college forum means people with an underlying obsession with colleges and the mere existence of a public school forum means people with an underlying obsession with public schools. Got it.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 19:16
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Yes, I want my kid to attend the best possible school. So far, so good. But my experience in DC has felt a bit off compared to my experience overseas: paying $40,000 for childcare at NCRC partly to get access to top private schools, hiring consultants to prepare children for admissions, dealing with opaque selection processes that seem influenced by connections, and seeing schools treated as symbols of social status.
And then, when you finally get into a top private school, you realize that the college admissions numbers may be distorted by athletes and legacy admissions, and that the actual curriculum is not necessarily stronger than what good public schools offer. So at some point you have to ask: is it really worth obsessing over something that may offer such poor value?
You need to calm the f$ck down. And I'm trying to say this kindly. You've got your panties in a twist about something that isn't a thing.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 19:01
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The existence of the college forum and the existence of the public school forum capture...?
I don’t know, I post in the private school forum. Maybe You can send us summary of those forums.
I'm just using your logic.
And…..
In your words, the mere existence of a forum means an underlying obsession.
More precisely, I’m referring to the type of people you often find in this forum, and you’re a case in point.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 18:36
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Also, people are super defensive when someone raises a concern. You can criticize anything except a school.
You can actually criticize the school… omg TJ (or other public’s) has more advanced math.
I can agree with you … and also think the school without the advanced math and tons of rigor is better (for us).
And that is when you see the defensive person freak out that some are okay with less “rigor”.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 18:32
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Help me understand the private schools. The teachers make half of public school teachers. How many private school parents would take a job for a much lower salary?? Private schools have wonderful sales people!
And most of the teachers there don't even have an education degree
True my kids were taught by an retired economist who went to MIT and Harvard … but no education degree.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 18:02
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The existence of the college forum and the existence of the public school forum capture...?
I don’t know, I post in the private school forum. Maybe You can send us summary of those forums.
I'm just using your logic.
And…..
In your words, the mere existence of a forum means an underlying obsession.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 17:56
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Help me understand the private schools. The teachers make half of public school teachers. How many private school parents would take a job for a much lower salary?? Private schools have wonderful sales people!
Or public schools provide a miserable teaching environment. People take big pay cuts for two reasons — they love what they are moving to, or they hate what they are getting away from.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 17:36
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
I’ve got one in private HS and one in dcps elementary. We chose private for my older child because kid really needed a smaller school than public could provide. Didn’t think we’d even consider private for the younger kid. Now as middle school approaches, and I see the issues with DCPS curriculum changes, and the gaps in my older kids’ skills and knowledge, I can’t deny we have to at least think about it.
But our goal was never to make the kid the most competitive applicant for what comes next because of their school. YMMV.
But our goal was never to make the kid the most competitive applicant for what comes next because of their school. YMMV.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 17:34
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Help me understand the private schools. The teachers make half of public school teachers. How many private school parents would take a job for a much lower salary?? Private schools have wonderful sales people!
And most of the teachers there don't even have an education degree
Anonymous
06/16/2026 17:31
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
I am very happy this is my last year in private school. No more snobbish parents, no more mediocre teachers, no more pretending we are in the best school when we are not, no more obsessive DEI, no more incompetent board directors. Maybe public schools are not perfect, but for my family it works perfectly well.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 17:29
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
My kid applied to private school but was not admitted. Kid attended public school that really isn’t great at all. Kid got into multiple HYPSM. So for unhooked, outstanding kids, public might be better but they have to be really amazing!
Anonymous
06/16/2026 17:26
Subject: Re:Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing….
People who can actually afford these schools and belong there don’t care about prestige, rigor or college admissions.
Your the rube trying to place yourself adjacent to them… which is why people will call you a striver,
The rest don’t care about those sophomoric concerns.
Do they end up with the end goal you sweat and toil over, yes but not why and how you hope it’s happening.
Inside the bubble it’s not opaque… it’s only opaque from the outside looking in.
You are a good example of what I am describing: people tying a school to their social status (“Inside the bubble, it’s not opaque.”)
My only metric is the quality of the education. And by that metric, the top private school my child attends is failing.
So why are you there? Serious question! If I were naming the top high school in the area as far as quality of education, by reputation I think it would be TJ. That’s a public school.
I also feel like if you really want to be “elite” in this country, you don’t stay in DC. This is the backwoods.
If TJ is so great, then why do multiple grads end of up JMU or GMU? What happened there? Could have gotten to that same destination with a lot less effort.
There have always been a few kids like that. They don't transition well to the rigor, they implode academically, something happens in their life.
We3 can argue about whether the education is particularly good but the rigor is definitely hard to beat and the educational opportunities for the kids that can handle that rigor is very high.
Anonymous
06/16/2026 17:00
Subject: Is the obsession with private schools justified?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The existence of the college forum and the existence of the public school forum capture...?
I don’t know, I post in the private school forum. Maybe You can send us summary of those forums.
I'm just using your logic.
And…..