The value of education
March 30, 2019 3:02 PM Subscribe
Which do you think would be more valuable and why? Private school (secular) for elementary years or middle/high school years?
I am not asking what you think of private school or for value judgments. I'm simply asking - if you had to pick one or the other - which you would choose and why.
I am not asking what you think of private school or for value judgments. I'm simply asking - if you had to pick one or the other - which you would choose and why.
Also high school because most likely the calculus (or linear algebra, statistics ) and biogeochemistry will (likely) be more robust, and more suited to collegiate and professional endeavors. Though in some situations that is not the case. It really does depend on the schools in question and your values. I tend to value math and the natural sciences, YMMV.
(I did go to private high school and gradeschool but public middle school; I am wrestling with these decisions myself for the future of my toddler)
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:18 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
(I did go to private high school and gradeschool but public middle school; I am wrestling with these decisions myself for the future of my toddler)
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:18 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
I think knowing what you find valuable will help narrow down. Are we talking $$$ career dough, network, academics, etc...
I'm pretty sure starting strong with a good school early - academic/social/etc... has good scientific merit. Like - I think there are studies..not that I'm a cool enough poster to link up/find them.
Who knows what the future will hold - if you can swing it now might as well do it. Maybe they can get merit scholarship later.
I'm full public school tho - no personal knowledge.
posted by PistachioRoux at 3:24 PM on March 30, 2019
I'm pretty sure starting strong with a good school early - academic/social/etc... has good scientific merit. Like - I think there are studies..not that I'm a cool enough poster to link up/find them.
Who knows what the future will hold - if you can swing it now might as well do it. Maybe they can get merit scholarship later.
I'm full public school tho - no personal knowledge.
posted by PistachioRoux at 3:24 PM on March 30, 2019
I went to (non-secular) private school from 1st grade all the way through high school and I don’t feel like private elementary school really did anything for me, although I have no frame of reference for the equivalent public schooling.
My private high school was excellent and I’d send my imaginary future kids there in a heartbeat. Middle school could probably go either way but at least for me, it was part of a feeder network so the majority of my class went to the same high school and it was an easy transition.
posted by caitcadieux at 3:36 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
My private high school was excellent and I’d send my imaginary future kids there in a heartbeat. Middle school could probably go either way but at least for me, it was part of a feeder network so the majority of my class went to the same high school and it was an easy transition.
posted by caitcadieux at 3:36 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
I’m not sure I can think clearly about the question without a specific kid and a specific set of schools in mind. And with a specific kid, the arrow of time prevents you making an informed choice in that way — you can guess what they might need today and tomorrow but five, eight years on? You don’t know who they’ll be and you also don’t know what the various schools near you will be like.
I was full public school (until college) and I think my parents would have been nuts to pay for private at any age, because the schools in my area were pretty great for what I needed. I think my dad sort of wanted to send me to Catholic school but my mom talked him out of it.
posted by eirias at 3:40 PM on March 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
I was full public school (until college) and I think my parents would have been nuts to pay for private at any age, because the schools in my area were pretty great for what I needed. I think my dad sort of wanted to send me to Catholic school but my mom talked him out of it.
posted by eirias at 3:40 PM on March 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
I think it depends massively on the educational model and the goal. If your goal is to build a child with a strong internal sense of self-worth and you have an elementary school that can nurture that child and help her find her gifts and build confidence in them, then that is the choice.
If your goal is to give your child the advantage of college prep and better access, then go with high school.
My bias is that I went to private school pre-K through senior year and attended three schools with thhree very different approaches to education. The elementary school I went to shaped my life and I left with tremendous self-esteem and confidence in my abilities. This allowed me to survive the much more traditional school I was sent to next, and gave me to sense of agency and autonomy to advocate hard to get myself out of it and into a different highschool.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:50 PM on March 30, 2019 [4 favorites]
If your goal is to give your child the advantage of college prep and better access, then go with high school.
My bias is that I went to private school pre-K through senior year and attended three schools with thhree very different approaches to education. The elementary school I went to shaped my life and I left with tremendous self-esteem and confidence in my abilities. This allowed me to survive the much more traditional school I was sent to next, and gave me to sense of agency and autonomy to advocate hard to get myself out of it and into a different highschool.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:50 PM on March 30, 2019 [4 favorites]
Neither. Evidence has shown time and time again that the biggest predictor of income and education level for kids is... the income and education level of their parents - and that whether they are in the shittiest public school, or the most expensive private school, it has basically no discernible impact on outcomes.
Parents (and schools, especially private) instinctively recoil from this, of course. Because they feel it means what they do with regards to education doesn't matter anywhere near as much as they think it does - and everyone is is keen to point out that a) they are somehow different and a statistical outlier, and b) that because they had positive/negative experiences at school, the type of schooling they had is clearly better (or worse).
I wouldn't argue that what you do doesn't matter, but more that any shortcomings in schools are addressed in the home environment by wealthier/more educated parents, and also that whatever advantages a private school may offer are not enough to overcome the challenges of an impoverished home life.
But ultimately, if you look at statistics, private education is a terrible investment and there's no real evidence it pays off in terms of education levels and income for kids down the road.
posted by smoke at 3:55 PM on March 30, 2019 [19 favorites]
Parents (and schools, especially private) instinctively recoil from this, of course. Because they feel it means what they do with regards to education doesn't matter anywhere near as much as they think it does - and everyone is is keen to point out that a) they are somehow different and a statistical outlier, and b) that because they had positive/negative experiences at school, the type of schooling they had is clearly better (or worse).
I wouldn't argue that what you do doesn't matter, but more that any shortcomings in schools are addressed in the home environment by wealthier/more educated parents, and also that whatever advantages a private school may offer are not enough to overcome the challenges of an impoverished home life.
But ultimately, if you look at statistics, private education is a terrible investment and there's no real evidence it pays off in terms of education levels and income for kids down the road.
posted by smoke at 3:55 PM on March 30, 2019 [19 favorites]
I feel compelled to add some links to the evidence.
Thirty studies and 15 years later: review shows public schools produce same results -A detailed analysis of almost 30 academic studies has found public, private and Catholic schools produce the same results when comparing children from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.
A paper published last week in an academic journal called npj Science of Learning attracted an unusual amount of press attention.. - It looked at the GCSE results of 4,814 students at three different types of school — comprehensives, private schools and grammars — and found that once you factor in IQ, prior attainment, parental socio-economic status and a range of genetic markers, the type of school has virtually no effect on academic attainment. Less than 1 per cent of the variance in these children’s GCSE results was due to school type.
My study of MySchool data and 2017 Victorian Certificate of Education Year 12 results shows that public schools with similar Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) rankings or socio-economic status have very similar or better VCE results than private schools.
New study finds low-income students do not benefit from private schooling - A new study from the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education finds that low-income children or children enrolled in urban schools do not benefit more from enrolling in private school between kindergarten and ninth grade.
There is so much more out there, this is really just a taster.
posted by smoke at 4:03 PM on March 30, 2019 [19 favorites]
Thirty studies and 15 years later: review shows public schools produce same results -A detailed analysis of almost 30 academic studies has found public, private and Catholic schools produce the same results when comparing children from similar socioeconomic backgrounds.
A paper published last week in an academic journal called npj Science of Learning attracted an unusual amount of press attention.. - It looked at the GCSE results of 4,814 students at three different types of school — comprehensives, private schools and grammars — and found that once you factor in IQ, prior attainment, parental socio-economic status and a range of genetic markers, the type of school has virtually no effect on academic attainment. Less than 1 per cent of the variance in these children’s GCSE results was due to school type.
My study of MySchool data and 2017 Victorian Certificate of Education Year 12 results shows that public schools with similar Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) rankings or socio-economic status have very similar or better VCE results than private schools.
New study finds low-income students do not benefit from private schooling - A new study from the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education finds that low-income children or children enrolled in urban schools do not benefit more from enrolling in private school between kindergarten and ninth grade.
There is so much more out there, this is really just a taster.
posted by smoke at 4:03 PM on March 30, 2019 [19 favorites]
> But ultimately, if you look at statistics, private education is a terrible investment and there's no real evidence it pays off in terms of education levels and income for kids down the road.
That's how I feel about it. I went to private schools from 1st grade through high school. I see what my kids are doing in their public schools, and so far I haven't seen anything that they're missing compared to my experience. Unless we're talking about extremes, like private schools that cost $50,000 a year and will take your children to Bermuda on a boat to study oceanography, or public schools with 30-year-old textbooks and burned-out teachers.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:08 PM on March 30, 2019
That's how I feel about it. I went to private schools from 1st grade through high school. I see what my kids are doing in their public schools, and so far I haven't seen anything that they're missing compared to my experience. Unless we're talking about extremes, like private schools that cost $50,000 a year and will take your children to Bermuda on a boat to study oceanography, or public schools with 30-year-old textbooks and burned-out teachers.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:08 PM on March 30, 2019
> I'm simply asking - if you had to pick one or the other - which you would choose and why.
Oh, as far as answering the question: based on my local district, if I were to send my kids to private school for one or the other, I would have them in private when they're younger (smaller class sizes) and public when they're older.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:10 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
Oh, as far as answering the question: based on my local district, if I were to send my kids to private school for one or the other, I would have them in private when they're younger (smaller class sizes) and public when they're older.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:10 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
If quality of the two programs is comparable, (especially in the fine arts/sports/language if these are important to you) then public is fine. If the quality is not, then go with the better. And if this is a real decision for you, look at the feeder patterns before choosing. Some private high schools feed directly from private elementary/middle schools and new students are only accepted as space allows. And career/college planning can vary widely also.
posted by beaning at 4:36 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by beaning at 4:36 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
Depends on what you want and what your local district is like. It also depends on what your kid is like. If they have special needs, you might get better and more affordable access to specialists within the public school system. You may also be in a well-resourced public school system with better options than most private schools-- it's hard to know. Education is largely what you put into it, and your home learning environment (learning, reading, playing, and talking as a family) is the main thing that will matter throughout life. Except...
High school matters for college admissions. In my opinion, most public high schools don't offer access to the resources you need to get into a good college, where "good" is defined as "exclusive." You need AP, IB, SAT coaching as part of the curriculum, high expectations, extracurricular opportunities, and well-resourced sports teams competing at a high level in your regional division. Public high schools mostly don't have that. If the money is there and you think your kid will want to go to college, send them to the private high school or spend the money on enrichment experiences out of school. Your goal in high school is to get into the best college possible or at least keep your options open...colleges do not look at your elementary or middle school transcripts.
If they are artistic, very academically inclined, or athletic, you should send them to the high school with the best program that is a match, regardless of where that is in your region. In some places, the local public school has a great sports team or performing arts program or whatever, but it's usually a private school that offers that.
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:00 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
High school matters for college admissions. In my opinion, most public high schools don't offer access to the resources you need to get into a good college, where "good" is defined as "exclusive." You need AP, IB, SAT coaching as part of the curriculum, high expectations, extracurricular opportunities, and well-resourced sports teams competing at a high level in your regional division. Public high schools mostly don't have that. If the money is there and you think your kid will want to go to college, send them to the private high school or spend the money on enrichment experiences out of school. Your goal in high school is to get into the best college possible or at least keep your options open...colleges do not look at your elementary or middle school transcripts.
If they are artistic, very academically inclined, or athletic, you should send them to the high school with the best program that is a match, regardless of where that is in your region. In some places, the local public school has a great sports team or performing arts program or whatever, but it's usually a private school that offers that.
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:00 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was a poverty-line kid who went to public schools until 5th grade, then got scholarships to private schools through high school. Anthony Abraham Jack studies people like me, the privileged poor, and finds that being exposed to upper-income people made our adjustment to university life less alienating than it would be if we had gone straight to universities from low-income public high schools**. Some of the studies above seem to be controlling for factors that Jack is studying directly. I was definitely under-challenged in my elementary years, and if I had gone the opposite direction — from an enriching private-school primary environment to an authoritarian public high school environment — I'm not sure how my life would have gone. In my case I could say that public-to-private-to-college gave me a clear sense of growth and leveling-up — but that leveling-up certainly gave me some alienation from where I had come from.
**The important and urgent finding of Jack's studies is that that lower-income students who don't go to private schools have it worse in elite colleges, because elite colleges are set up to perpetuate privilege — just as private schools are in general. But to the extent that your question is about how to increase the educational privilege of children you have the ability to make choices for, private high schools seem to be the most status-quo way to do it.
posted by xueexueg at 5:00 PM on March 30, 2019 [16 favorites]
**The important and urgent finding of Jack's studies is that that lower-income students who don't go to private schools have it worse in elite colleges, because elite colleges are set up to perpetuate privilege — just as private schools are in general. But to the extent that your question is about how to increase the educational privilege of children you have the ability to make choices for, private high schools seem to be the most status-quo way to do it.
posted by xueexueg at 5:00 PM on March 30, 2019 [16 favorites]
But ultimately, if you look at statistics, private education is a terrible investment and there's no real evidence it pays off in terms of education levels and income for kids down the road.
Is that really the right set of metrics to be considering, though? Maybe I'm an outlier, but I look at this question from the vantage point of "what is going to be the best environment for my kid as she is right now, today; what will help her become the best version of herself." Not the wealthiest version, not the one with the fanciest letters after her name -- the one that has the skills to be the most content. That's how I felt about my own schooling too -- I was happy (enough) not because I thought the school would help me achieve some material outcome, but because it was a good (enough) place for me as I was right then. Some schools would not have been.
I don't think educating a kid is as simple as "insert coin, wait seventeen years, obtain Harvard degree and job on Wall Street." I mean, maybe smoke and I agree, in that sense. But it's hard to imagine, if my kid is miserable at school, that anything I do at home will really fix that. I get like an hour a day with my kid on a weekday. The school gets seven. The now matters to me.
posted by eirias at 5:18 PM on March 30, 2019 [4 favorites]
Is that really the right set of metrics to be considering, though? Maybe I'm an outlier, but I look at this question from the vantage point of "what is going to be the best environment for my kid as she is right now, today; what will help her become the best version of herself." Not the wealthiest version, not the one with the fanciest letters after her name -- the one that has the skills to be the most content. That's how I felt about my own schooling too -- I was happy (enough) not because I thought the school would help me achieve some material outcome, but because it was a good (enough) place for me as I was right then. Some schools would not have been.
I don't think educating a kid is as simple as "insert coin, wait seventeen years, obtain Harvard degree and job on Wall Street." I mean, maybe smoke and I agree, in that sense. But it's hard to imagine, if my kid is miserable at school, that anything I do at home will really fix that. I get like an hour a day with my kid on a weekday. The school gets seven. The now matters to me.
posted by eirias at 5:18 PM on March 30, 2019 [4 favorites]
I went to public elementary school and private middle/high school because my parents decided that's what fit my needs. There was a talented and gifted center for elementary school that was fantastic. The public middle school didn't offer enough academic challenge for me, and the high school was not a safe environment.
I don't have a specific answer to your question, other than it really depends on the child.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 5:19 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
I don't have a specific answer to your question, other than it really depends on the child.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 5:19 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
The rule of thumb here in Seattle is that parents can complement and supplement and volunteer to make a not-great elementary school just fine but that the ability to do that at the high school level is not as easy.
posted by k8t at 5:25 PM on March 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by k8t at 5:25 PM on March 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
Our daughter attended a private Montessori school for K-8 and then attended a public high school. As a result of her elementary/middle school experiences she was able to think critically, research and be organized in ways that enhanced her high school, college and now graduate education. I would say that her early school experiences made her the person she is today.
posted by Xurando at 5:55 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Xurando at 5:55 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
If I had to choose, I'd choose private elementary school. A good foundation will set your child up for a successful high school experience. For most private schools the tuition is lower for elementary school, because there are fewer specialist teachers (languages, science, math, etc.)
From a parent's point of view (and full disclosure, this parent went to mostly private schools) the expectation that the faculty and administration is available to parents is incredibly crucial. My parents called teachers at home, routinely. When my children were in public school it was nearly impossible to actually connect with my children's teachers - they were not available at all in the evening or on weekends, and they would only make outgoing calls to me at their convenience. As a bedside nurse I could never receive telephone calls, so communication was thwarted. This alone prompted me to pursue private education. The point is the kids, not the teachers!
We moved both children to private school. Immediately, I received email and home phone numbers for administrators and faculty. I used them very rarely because the private school environment was much more suited to both of them, but occasionally I'd need to reach someone --- and I could. Without difficulty.
Both kids continued in private high school, but I believe they would have been well prepared to navigate public school. As third graders in public school my daughter actually could not read fluently (denied by the public school but addressed aggressively by the private school, We pursued testing and she is dyslexic. The public school refused to test her) and my very bright son was totally disengaged. We got a call from the school more than a month after one of his critical assignments (which we'd never even known about) was missed. In a private school this would never, never have happened.
It's all about communication and allowing the parents access. At a public school they make all the rules. A private school is much more collaborative and the parent's involvement is encouraged.
posted by citygirl at 6:30 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
From a parent's point of view (and full disclosure, this parent went to mostly private schools) the expectation that the faculty and administration is available to parents is incredibly crucial. My parents called teachers at home, routinely. When my children were in public school it was nearly impossible to actually connect with my children's teachers - they were not available at all in the evening or on weekends, and they would only make outgoing calls to me at their convenience. As a bedside nurse I could never receive telephone calls, so communication was thwarted. This alone prompted me to pursue private education. The point is the kids, not the teachers!
We moved both children to private school. Immediately, I received email and home phone numbers for administrators and faculty. I used them very rarely because the private school environment was much more suited to both of them, but occasionally I'd need to reach someone --- and I could. Without difficulty.
Both kids continued in private high school, but I believe they would have been well prepared to navigate public school. As third graders in public school my daughter actually could not read fluently (denied by the public school but addressed aggressively by the private school, We pursued testing and she is dyslexic. The public school refused to test her) and my very bright son was totally disengaged. We got a call from the school more than a month after one of his critical assignments (which we'd never even known about) was missed. In a private school this would never, never have happened.
It's all about communication and allowing the parents access. At a public school they make all the rules. A private school is much more collaborative and the parent's involvement is encouraged.
posted by citygirl at 6:30 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was a really academic kid and I’m now an engineer. I went to public school, where we had great accelerated math and reading programs throughout elementary school, through sixth grade. In sixth grade that all disappeared and I was bored out of my mind and not learning anything, so I tested into and got a scholarship for a secular, private girls’ school. That school offered language, writing, and AP opportunities my public school district did not. Also, our public school district did not help a family friend’s kid a bit older than me apply to MIT because “our students stay in the Midwest.” (He persevered through other means and was admitted and ended up with his PhD) Whereas the guidance counselor at my private school not only helped me navigate the elite engineering school applications for schools all over the US successfully, she clued me in to the brand new, admitting-its-first-class engineering school I ended up attending. So that was a tremendously valuable service the private school provided that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
But the strengths there were academic. We had a modest, hobby-grade music program that wouldn’t have gotten anyone into a Big 10 marching band, okay athletics for one or two sports but not a lot to write home about, and no vocational programs, whereas my public school system did have all those things. So YMMV.
We plan to send our kids to our public schools. We moved to a district that has very good schools (which we pay for with our property taxes, believe me, yeesh) and a strong vocational school as well as special ed catering to a wide range of learning and behavioral challenges. We have no plans to go private. As far as networking and peer groups, they have two white collar professional parents and our social circle is full of PhDs and upper management in the tech industry - they’ll be fine. We don’t need to drop $30k/year or more for them to get to know other yuppie kids; they’re privileged enough and they’ll benefit more from the various axes of diversity they’ll encounter in our public system. But YMMV.
posted by olinerd at 6:33 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
But the strengths there were academic. We had a modest, hobby-grade music program that wouldn’t have gotten anyone into a Big 10 marching band, okay athletics for one or two sports but not a lot to write home about, and no vocational programs, whereas my public school system did have all those things. So YMMV.
We plan to send our kids to our public schools. We moved to a district that has very good schools (which we pay for with our property taxes, believe me, yeesh) and a strong vocational school as well as special ed catering to a wide range of learning and behavioral challenges. We have no plans to go private. As far as networking and peer groups, they have two white collar professional parents and our social circle is full of PhDs and upper management in the tech industry - they’ll be fine. We don’t need to drop $30k/year or more for them to get to know other yuppie kids; they’re privileged enough and they’ll benefit more from the various axes of diversity they’ll encounter in our public system. But YMMV.
posted by olinerd at 6:33 PM on March 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
Hah, I have the opposite experience to Xurando's child! Admittedly, I attended public school K-12, but my high school is/was one of the oldest and best in the nation, and I would absolutely compare it to private school. I was mostly bored silly in grade school, and I had very poor social skills. (Although I still remember the object lesson in racial microaggression. Going to the public grade school I did made me aware of race and how to not be a dickhole about it, for which I am exceptionally grateful.) I feel like I became a person in high school, and that's where I had specific values (including more anti-racism!), as well as a top-notch education that made college easy, instilled in me.
All of which is to say, it will depend on your child and the schools in question, as so many others say.
posted by kalimac at 6:33 PM on March 30, 2019
All of which is to say, it will depend on your child and the schools in question, as so many others say.
posted by kalimac at 6:33 PM on March 30, 2019
After private non-secular elementary (until 4th grade) and public the rest, I'd have wanted private high school. The middle was enough to get me socialized a bit, the high school was boring as hell and anything else would have to be better. Caveats, small town with one public high school... I'd have to had at least tried to be Catholic to fit into private high school. But they had better teachers and curriculum than the public side of things. YMMV.
posted by zengargoyle at 6:49 PM on March 30, 2019
posted by zengargoyle at 6:49 PM on March 30, 2019
Private and public school captures such broad ranges that you can't compare them directly. I had the pleasure? displeasure? of experiencing both extremes of the spectrum outlined above and would send my kids to the private high school I graduated from, or a peer school, in a heartbeat despite the massive oversupply of privileged dickweeds instead of the school where the textbooks said "when man walks on the Moon..." (I am not a Boomer.) But some indifferent little academy vs. Stuyvesant or Boston Latin? The reverse.
posted by praemunire at 6:54 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by praemunire at 6:54 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
Washington State has a program called Running Start that lets any motivated high school student take classes at their local state or community college full or part-time for free (plus the cost of books). All of the most successful Washingtonians I know did this, entirely bypassing highschool, and the most successful among them were either home-schooled for their elementary years or attended a private primary school (Waldorf or the like).
So if you live in WA or a similarly progressive place, I would recommend the latter arrangement.
posted by lordcorvid at 11:47 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
So if you live in WA or a similarly progressive place, I would recommend the latter arrangement.
posted by lordcorvid at 11:47 PM on March 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
I went to a private school on scholarship until 8th grade and found myself hopelessly behind when going to a public high school, because there were middle school feeder programs for more advanced classes in high school. I learned the hard way that the “advanced” work I was given in 7th and 8th grade was just extra worksheets on the same topic. I was pretty much exactly one year behind my classmates through graduation, and this had repercussions through college. If I were considering private school for my child I’d have a lot of specific questions about how the private and public schools line up in terms of curriculum, and I would probably make the switch point at 6th grade instead of 9th, one way or the other.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:55 AM on March 31, 2019
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:55 AM on March 31, 2019
"what is going to be the best environment for my kid as she is right now, today; what will help her become the best version of herself." Not the wealthiest version, not the one with the fanciest letters after her name -- the one that has the skills to be the most content.
This was the factor in our decision to send our kids to private school after public elementary for both of them and public middle school for one. I wrote and then erased what turned out to be a long, detail filled explanation about why we chose the route we did. Suffice it to say that our kids were just a part of the crowd in public school but they shone in private school. They were both recognized at their graduation ceremonies for their participation in the arts, something that was being drastically cut at the public high school they would have attended. They both took honors and AP classes, something that would have been denied my daughter in public school (she kept missing the gifted designation by one or two points in public school but the private school saw her potential). While we were and are conflicted about public vs. private (we definitely support public education and we always vote for levies for the school district but we also recognize the privilege we had to make that choice), we think we made the best decision for our kids.
posted by cooker girl at 7:10 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
This was the factor in our decision to send our kids to private school after public elementary for both of them and public middle school for one. I wrote and then erased what turned out to be a long, detail filled explanation about why we chose the route we did. Suffice it to say that our kids were just a part of the crowd in public school but they shone in private school. They were both recognized at their graduation ceremonies for their participation in the arts, something that was being drastically cut at the public high school they would have attended. They both took honors and AP classes, something that would have been denied my daughter in public school (she kept missing the gifted designation by one or two points in public school but the private school saw her potential). While we were and are conflicted about public vs. private (we definitely support public education and we always vote for levies for the school district but we also recognize the privilege we had to make that choice), we think we made the best decision for our kids.
posted by cooker girl at 7:10 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
Where I live, the primary schools are good, and the secondary schools are less good (with some exceptions). So I'd pick private secondary school. But I think the answer to this question depends very much on the specific schools you are choosing between which will depend on your location.
posted by plonkee at 8:22 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by plonkee at 8:22 AM on March 31, 2019 [2 favorites]
DC-specific
DC public schools preK to 2nd grade
DC private school 3rd to 6th grade
(not a fancy one, it was located in a church basement) graduated with 12 students
moved to Montgomery County MD
public school 7th to 12th grade, graduated with 500 students
public universities
The private school was a life saver. I did have to learn multiplication tables in the summer before 3rd grade to catch up with my class.
posted by MichelleinMD at 11:43 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
DC public schools preK to 2nd grade
DC private school 3rd to 6th grade
(not a fancy one, it was located in a church basement) graduated with 12 students
moved to Montgomery County MD
public school 7th to 12th grade, graduated with 500 students
public universities
The private school was a life saver. I did have to learn multiplication tables in the summer before 3rd grade to catch up with my class.
posted by MichelleinMD at 11:43 AM on March 31, 2019 [1 favorite]
It certainly a lot has to do with where you live and the strength of both types of schools. But another thing to consider is the importance of the private school connection in the working world. Where I live, people ask what high school you attended. The networks of alums and parents can be a big deal post college life.
My answer would be private for high school for those reasons.
posted by maxg94 at 7:45 PM on March 31, 2019
My answer would be private for high school for those reasons.
posted by maxg94 at 7:45 PM on March 31, 2019
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Source: went to private high school.
posted by warriorqueen at 3:09 PM on March 30, 2019 [13 favorites]