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Babies: 9 - 12 Months
Wanna have a public vs. private school debate?
I don't, but I wouldn't mind reading one.
j/k
No I'm having troubling because we live in a good school district but we've decided on private school for our kid(s). I'm just not a big believer in the public school system in general, for many reasons. My friends are like, why? What's the point? And I don't know how to not sound like I think THEY are making a bad choice. Even, "its just not right for us" sounds snotty, doesn't it? Bleh. I really don't want to be. I think private school has issues as well, don't get me wrong, but I think the odds are better in every measurable way when you go private and I just want him to have every opportunity and the best education possible. Is that so wrong?
As a former teacher, I feel like I've been a line cook in a really dirty restaraunt that everyone in the neighborhood loves, and they just don't get why I won't let my kid eat there.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Wanna have a public vs. private school debate?
It TOTALLY depends on the district in which you live.
I'm a teacher, and in the district we live in now, we'd starve to death to send DD to private school before we'd send her to this district, it is so very bad.
But we teach in a well-known private school, and there are some major issues we've seen. When we are able to move to a nicer area, we'll send her to the public schools in those suburbs. I would say out of the 10 or so major school districts in my metropolitan area, I'd send DD to 4 of them over any private schools.
One of the main issues is money. The non-religious private school here goes for 12k a year. We will not ever be able to afford that for DD or any other children because as teachers we'll never make enough money. And having experienced the good public schools (which here are excellent) in our interactions with work, we know that's the best choice for her.
We were both raised in private religious schools from kindergarten into and through college, FWIW. Will still pick public.
TeacherJess -- curious which school districts you think are good. I think we may live in the same area
The first fight DH & I had was public v. private schools. I went to public, he went to private 1-12. I do think that you can sometimes get a better education at a private school, including more discipline, if its religious values can be taught, more options with higher level books, etc. (I'm comparing my experience to his here) I was in advanced classes, and even still he was reading higher level books than I was in his "regular" classes. Now with No Child Left Behind, I think that divide may be greater and students with higher potential in public schools will be held back more.
However, I think you learn more about life and can build more character at public schools. There are a wider variety of people from different backgrounds to be exposed to and different choices to be made.
He is adamant about sending our children to private school. I am on the fence.
This is a major issue for dh and me. We are both huge supporters of the idea of public schools (and we are both in the education field). However, we recently moved to an area where the public schools are, in our opinion, not very good. They simply don't provide the type of education we want ds to have. Therefore, we have decided to send ds to private school (though this school is only up to 6th grade). We are getting involved with a group writing a charter for a high school for the arts and if that gets off the ground it might give us another option. ?
I live and teach in Northern VA and will probably send my DD to public school. I have taught in 3 different states/districts before this and I know a great school district when I see it.
That being said, if DD has learning disabilities and/or has gifted/talented, I would consider private school if the programs available were not meeting her needs.
Ditto this. There are ONLY religious private schools here. My only options are public school or homeschool.
Are Blake, Minnehaha, and Breck religious? I was offered a job at the Blake School-- I don't remember it being religious in nature.
Those are prob. really really expensive schools, though.
who knew. Blake is non-religious and about 10 miles from my house. Crazy! Thanks for the info. I'm surprised i've never heard of it before (maybe cause I lived on the other side of the metro growing up). too bad it will be half my salary as a nurse. hah. $18k. Who has that to spend on one kid's school, much less 2-4.
Private school isn't an option for us due to financial reasons ... thats why when we bought our home we only looked at homes that were in accetable school districts.
The Mouse ~ 06.12.08 | The Froggy ~ 02.23.11
private school is the ONLY option for us in LA. dh worked for the school district and there is no public school we could think of sending Lu to.
that said i know i will go broke for her education. people are sending their kids to preschool at $20k a year.
I always thought we'd send DD to public. When we bought I assumed (learned my lesson, huh?) we were in the district for the HS that is located in the town were in...turns out we are across the street from the district cut off, which puts us in the zone for the worst hs in the metro. To make matters worse, we can't even open enroll b/c there is a diversity policy.
So, since we don't plan on moving, I have been exploring private schooling. Unfortunately, there is only one, it is no where near our house, and it's catholic. So what's worse, sending your kid to a drug filled school with a 50% drop out rate or sending her to a much cleaner, nicer school that will pressure her into a religion we don't believe in? Hmm...maybe I'll home school! LOL.
The elementary is caddy-corner from our house, so I've put myself on a deadline to decide before she hits jr. high.
DH and I have already discussed this, DD will go to private catholic school for a few reasons:
1. DH and I both went to private catholic school and felt it was a better choice for learning about our religion and being prepared for college.
2. We currenlt live in West Virginia, and the public school system is....well bad. If we moved back to Chicago we would rethink our decision, but still probably go with parochial school.
I went to a non parochial, all girls private school (after elementary), and my husband went to public school. We don't know what we are going to do yet. Money is a huge factor in the decision.
BUT, you mentioned not really being sure what to answer your inquiring friends. One big difference that you may like about private school and be able to put into words is..
Public schools are required to meet the state requirements/curriculum. Teacher are basically judged on their students' standardized test scores. All of this pressure on the teacher - be it a good teacher or not - often results in "teaching to the test" and more rigidity, knowing they have to fit in X,Y, and Z in a certain time frame. Obviously, private schools have requirements, accrediting curriculum, etc, but there seems (IMO) more space for creativity, hands on learning, following to the lead of the classroom . Let's say a kindergarten class has a great time with, i don't know, some counting by 5's activity, In the private school, I think it is much more likely that they will take this activity to the playground and then even take it a step further because of the curiosity and interest of the class. If counting by 5s was a state requirement for kindergarten in the public school, I think the teacher would likely stop once the skill is taught because he/she has to mark it off the mastered list and move to the next item. I think private school teachers have more freedom to do what they want and use their education...often resulting in more passionate teaching. Obviously, GREAT, creative teachers are a public schools too and crappy teachers are at private schools.
I also think the smaller student/teacher ratio and unfortunately money - often better materials, more creative fieldtrips, able to bring in more outside speakers/activities, more dedication to art, music, drama, etc - all put marks on the "plus side" for private schools. At my school we had exposure to unbelievable, state of the art chemistry labs, art and dance studios, libraries, computer labs, sports fields and equipment, swimming pools, exchange programs, educational class trips, etc., as well as the freedom and trust to gain independence and internal motivation to succeed.
Stepping off my soap box and still undecided for my DD
SM
My husband went to Catholic school from kindergarten to his masters degree. I went from k-8, then did high school at a public school.
We are probably going to do what I did. I had a fantastic grounding in the basics that really put me about 2-3 years ahead of my public school classmates. But there were more opportunities in public high school that made it a good time to switch. Plus, as private schools are smaller, it can actually make it harder to be appreciated as a great student. In a graduating class of 50 kids, you might be in the top ten, but not the top ten percent. I had a friend at a nearby Catholic school who graduated the same year I did and got bitten in the a$$ by that.
DH has been to public school, a private Christian school, and he has been homeschooled (military brat). He hated private school, wasn't a big fan of public but didn't hate it, and loved homeschooling. He said that he really liked being able to set his own pace with his schooling and felt that private and public moved too slow for his liking. He wants to homeschool Liliana.
I have only experienced public school. I don't really have anything to compare with. I'm just not sure on the homeschooling, though..
Check with the Catholic school about this.
When I was in Catholic school, we had several Jewish kids, and a number of Protestants of all stripes, and one really wacky girl who had three hippie parents who lived together and taught at a nearby college. They didn't participate in our worship aspects, and had an extra art or reading class instead of religion. Actually, starting in fourth grade or something, the Jewish kids had their rabbi come and do a class with them while we were having our religion class, and sometimes he'd come talk to us, too.
Catholic schools are often really used to being the only private school option in an area, and making accommodations for people of other faiths isn't uncommon.
We are already planning DD's H.S. strategy. Our top choices are one public (Boston Latin school, a public exam school) and Philips Andover (private)
So we are targeting both....I have no allegiances to any type of school, just looking for the best opportunity for my kid.
If I lived in NYC, I'd be going all out to try and get her into Stuyesant, a public high school...one of the best in the country, imho.
*snort* nothing like a blanket statement to win the day!
I teach private school and am certified to the hilt, but thanks for playing
It does depend where you are. It varies state to state, and even within states that don't require, some schools do.
I know, but it was a fairly judgmental and ignorant statement nonetheless.
A lot can change in the 15 years before high school, especially if it is the school that is bad but not the district. So hopefully by the time you get to that point you'll have better options.
And, sometimes schools have bad reps that aren't necessarily deserved (not saying this is the case here, but something to keep in mind).
I went to a public high school that had a reputation for being full of gang activity, drugs, bad teachers, but it wasn't really true. It had a very high immigrant population and the district encompassed poorer neighborhoods than others in the county, so I think that is why people assumed it was bad and started spreading rumors about it.
But we had a great principal and some really fantastic teachers, and I think I got a wonderful education there. I wouldn't change anything. But after I graduated the principal died :-( and the good teachers left, so it deteriorated. I have no idea what it is like now.
DH went to a private, all boys school and is a fan of that for our children. I think if we stay somewhere with good public schools, like we are now, she'll go to public, but if we move to Richmond I don't think I'll be able to convince him not to send our kids to his school (or its sister school).
But I truly cringe at the thought of paying for private school.
I'm kind of torn about this one. DH and I were both public school students and had very difference experiences.
I was in the honors program and most of the time, I had great teachers. They cared about your academic achievements and made sure the class was challenged. However, because my school and district in general were very poor, there were a lot of educational opportunities I missed out on. For example, I had a creative writing class I loved that was cut because nobody in the class, besides me, had taken the proper Language Arts level for their grade. They almost cut my AP Calculus class because only 6 of us enrolled in it (and it was the only AP class in the school, which was lame).?
We didn't have genetics classes, psychology, or an auto shop. There were a lot of cool things I would have indulged myself in but couldn't, because the Seattle Public Schools were too poor to offer them. I was the type who took a full schedule throughout school even when I had sufficient credits because I loved learning. Only 20% of my class passed the WASL (Washington's learning assessment) and I'd guess that that 20% were the honors students. The goal was to have 100% pass it.
So, for the most part, I was challenged enough but at other times I wasn't challenged at all. There were a lot of basic things I felt like I didn't learn.
My high school now has an IB program. I feel jealous that it was not available for me, but am glad for the students that are enrolled in it now.
DH's experience was that the teachers didn't care and the students didn't care. People could do whatever they pleased during class and everyone got away with a mediocre education, at best.?
Private schools around here are expensive and they're all Catholic. Not that I have anything against Catholic schools (as I was born a Catholic and once you're a Catholic you're always a Catholic) but if Catholicism isn't the religion my DD has chosen at that time, I don't want her to feel forced to get a good education that happens to be Catholic, kwim??
I've also had friends that went to the private schools and the jury is still kinda out on those. On one hand, the products of the Catholic school seem to be well-educated enough but on the other hand, they seemed to have more exposure and access to drugs than the public school kids (richer parents to give them money. Public school kids couldn't afford as many drugs) and I heard many stories about oral sex in the bathroom on campus that I didn't hear in public schools. I guess "rich kids" behave badly differently than us poor kids do.
Nobody read this, but that's cool with me. I typed it out more for myself.?
Responding just to you here, JAC- where I (maybe we??) live, good districts-- Centerville, Beavercreek, Springboro, Oakwood. I'd send her to any of these.
Bad would obviously be Dayton Public.
Um, way to be ignorant. DH and I teach at private schools and we don't have to just "sorta like kids," in the state of Ohio, there are rigorous educational guidelines we have to meet every time we renew our licenses to keep them. And we can't teach in our school without a license.
For instance, we started in two-year licenses, and had to pass a state-mandated observation and prep to then get five-year licenses, and to renew those, we have to have more or less started master's degree classes or earned equivalent credit hours, and by the time we renew for our five-year licenses after that we have to have the equivalent of a master's degree in credits, or just a straight up master's degree.
So much for "just liking kids." But you're probably the kind of parent who would come into conferences and treat me like your babysitter anyway.
IMO public school teachers are more qualified to teach and get paid more. ?private school teachers are often paid much less and don't have to have degrees in education, be certified, or get master's degrees. ?i have a friend who teaches at pretty prestigious private school in san francisco, ca and she is not certified. ?she does have an undergrad degree in biology. ?she teaches anatomy and biology to high schoolers.
as a public school teacher, i see the amazing opportunities that are available in public schools. ?the drama and art departments at my school are fantastic and the productions that are put on are top-notch. ?no way you are going to get that kind of opportunity at a private school. ?
plus, there is limited curriculum at private schools. ?for example, there are almost 20 different AP classes you can take at my high school. ?at private school, they may offer AP Bio and AP Lang and Lit and that's it. ?
i guess it does depend on the district. i work in montgomery county, md and i am increasingly impressed with the school district each year i'm in it. ?i work with absolutely amazingly committed teachers and administration. ?people who go above and beyond day after day.
i also HATE the idea of limiting the kind of people my DS is exposed to. ?the last thing i want is for him growing up thinking the only people in the world are middle class white people.?
Again, this is an ignorant statement as MANY states require the same certification for private school as they do for public and even when the states do not require it, the schools do. Anecdotal stories cannot be taken as a general rule.
I thank god every day I live in Canada. Statements like this "I'm just not a big believer in the public school system in general, for many reasons.?" are reserved for the ignorant up here.
Truly. I've never seen anything about pvt. vs. public before the nest. Ever. Its public all the way, and I believe very strongly in it. It must be really sad to have public schools dismissed and looked down upon. I think it says a lot about how a country views children in general.
I just shake my head at these discussions. Like the anti healthcare for everyone debates, they just make 0 sense to me. ::kisses ground:: ?Public school rocks here and I wouldn't consider, even for a second, supporting any sort of private system. So weird.?
yes, some states do. ?some states don't. ?i don't think it is ignorant to say that in some states public school teachers are more qualified.
i also know that in some states private school teachers are more qualified. ?my entire extended family lives in new orleans suburbs and i know if i lived there DS would go to private school. ??
I think anyone who argues "public is best" or "private is best" is a fool.. You should do a school by school, opportunity by opportunity comparison for your child.
Identifiying the BEST education model, method, and placement for your child should be your motivating factor, NOT whether the school is public or private. When deciding what school to send a child to, the devil is in the details...