Private or public school?

As many of you know i have a 4 year old daughter. Im torn between private and public school. The school system where i live sucks ass. I went the same public school when i was a kid but it wasnt that bad then. And i turned out ok. The system lost its accrediation but gained it back last year. I know that private school is expensive but we have looked at a few and the cost is roughly the same as we currently pay for daycare. What are your opnions? Where did you/your kids go?

 

I was educated in Catholic schools, never attended public. We started our eldest son in the local public school system. The early grades were kinda OK, but only because QW was totally immersed in it with him... even started a parents group to support and encourage the students. Things went stupid in the 4th and 5th grades and entirely unacceptable in the 6th. We tried a local Christian school, but found those folks to be unreasonably restrictive and closed minded. We ended up ditching the system and homeschooled from that time onward.

Our two younger children never set foot in a formal classroom until they enrolled in college. They've all turned out great! (QW worked her ass off with them... homeschooling is not for lazy or timid parents!)

If private school won't tax your budget any more than the day care has, and they meet your standards of care and education, I'd recommend giving it a shot. The key to the success of any educational choice will be the dedication and involvement of you and your wife. Good luck, whatever your choice!

 

I went to both public (K-6) and private (7-12th) schools and then to a public university. Here are my thoughts.

- It seems to me the main determinate in student success was their parent involvement. By this I mean that the reason I received good grades was because my parents were always on my ass about getting homework done and getting involved with my projects and making it clear that it was expected that I go to college. The other "smart" kids in the classes (whether public or private) also shared this degree of parental involvement.

- Regarding my private school experience, it seems like many of the other kids just had wealthy parents who expected the school to somehow do their parenting for them and thought that throwing money at the problem (the problem being their lazy/delinquent children) would fix the situation. My parents sent me to private school to take advantage of the smaller class sizes, and in that respect perhaps the money was worth it. In some of my classes there were only 8 other students and learning was quite enjoyable, especially since the teacher was free to cover whatever subjects her or she wanted and in whatever time frame they chose.

- That being said it really comes down to cost. Even though the class size was much smaller in the private schools and overall I think the teacher's degree of freedom was beneficial, I think I probably would have done an equally as well if I would have just stayed in public schools the whole time. However I haven't heard of any public school systems near me ever losing accreditation so maybe your situation is more dire down in Georgia.

-And yes I would agree that home schooled children generally turn out to be socially awkward.

 

/threadjack/
Read this ChrisJericho:
Social Disadvantages of Homeschooling
/end threadjack/

ralphie250: Whatever choice you make, stay connected with your child. Your daughter will take a strong cue from you and your wife while developing her attitude toward education.

 

Ok I read it. And I laughed.

 

If I could afford it, I'd send mine to private school. The advice about keeping up with your child's education, and being hands on is right on the money though. I wish my parents had been more involved in mine.

 

I don't have kids yet but I always felt both private and public schools teach things that are invaluable. From what I've seen if you can afford it the basics of education, habits, curiosity, resources to explore and develop a child's identity are best at a private school at a younger age. But there are social aspects that are best learned at a public school. I went to private pre-school/kindergarten. I was exposed to computers in the late 80's in a classroom environment and has forever shaped me. From then on I was in public school and I never touched a computer at school until the 2-3rd grade. I always wondered if I had stayed at a private school for a few more years how I would be. But finances kept my parents from keeping me in a private school. Like many, had they been able to my parents would've kept me in private schools all my education.

I have a few friends who's parents had them go to private school till middle school and high school for them was public. The parents did it purely to better their child's odds at college since colleges select who gets in purely on a per school basis and not so much against all applicants. Schools accept x amount of students per school so if your child is competing against his or her peers, the standards at a public school may be lower. So your kid's chances are higher at a public school versus at a private school where each child is considered to be academically excelling. Out of most of my friends they seemed the most successful in life emotionally and many financially. They were at many times years ahead in learning material and by senior year socially not too awkward either.

Personally I think a mixture of both is good. Private in the earlier ages so they get the attention they need with parental involvement that way they learn how to learn. Develop strong hobbies, interests and drive. Then public school at the latter years for the social aspects they need to pick up. My friends who went to private schools coming into Public always felt they were sheltered to a certain extent, things amazed them in terms of freedom and structure. With that environment you get kids who are naive? so they have this innocent, sheltered demeanor and then you have my other friends were a bit more degenerate who fought against everything because of being in that more sheltered environment. So the stereotypes you see on TV with private schools were true to a certain extent. You have the quiet sheltered type and the more devious type who also kept up appearances.

 

Where I currently live private school is very much the preferred option. Some public schools are fine but it completely depends on where you live. My current SO is an administrator at a well known and well respected private school. If it had a beach the campus would look a lot like a resort in Cancun. I've spent some time on campus doing things like judging spelling bees and helping tutor conversational English (me teach English? That can't be good.) From what I've seen many staff and teachers spend a great amount of time dealing with parents who have an "don't you know who I am?" attitude. I often thought "yes, I know who you are. You're the parent of the kid who spends every class talking on his iPhone and complaining about getting poor grades." Blah, glad it's not my job to deal with these parents.

I have zero experience with private schools in the US. The only ones I'm aware of in my home town are religious based and my parents would have never sent me to one even if the school paid for me to attend. Dad read the bible very often but thought organized religion was BS. So my only experience as a kid was dealing with students of the local LDS, SDA or Catholic students. Those kids were kept in such captivity during school hours once the bell rang they went ape shit. My first BJ was from a nice Catholic girl I met at the mall one afternoon. Never got her name or number, she simply stated she felt like sucking a dick and who was I to say no?

So I wouldn't send my child to a religious based school but I might go private school if I could find the right fit. In my opinion public schools have been bleed dry and the teachers over worked to the point of being ineffective. There's a lot of good teachers out there but the class sizes and general funding has become pretty insane in way too many schools. I also wouldn't rule out home school. I've known some pretty awesome kids who were home schooled. But it takes a ton of work n the parent and child t make it work.

So private if I could find the right one. Home schooled if I had the time. And if I had to go public I'd be there at least every other day making sure my child was getting edumacated.

 

I strongly agree with all those who highlighted parent-involvement.

Like ChrisJericho , I went to public schools (Kindergarten until and including Year 7) and private (Year 8 until Year 12). I'm attending a private university, and will continue to another private one next semester.

I've seen a whole bunch of public and private schools and the fundamental difference? Connections/background of the classmates. From the educational perspective, I saw very little difference. In fact, most private schools I've seen were equipped worse than public ones. And the connections part? Whole lot of bullshit. Connecting with well-off people makes more sense in tertiary education (and private unis pay off in this aspect).

There's only one type of private schools I really recommend, ralphie250 : IB World Schools. Seriously, the International Baccalaureate provides an excellent education and will give your daughter a better understanding of different ways of thinking, as well as being involved in your community (CAS program). IB Diploma graduates are also often given advanced standing in universities (most US, EU and Asian universities).

As far as I understand, there's a bunch of private schools in the US that offer the IB.

 

My brother-in-law's kids went through a private school system, Le Lycée International. He's a diplomat, and it has the advantage of having the same curriculum regardless of where you are in the world, so he was able to keep them in the same system no matter where he was posted. He managed it because the government picked up the tab when he was posted abroad.

They are fine kids. The school offered them a lot of advantages, but it was extremely tough. And because of the curriculum, they all had their HS equivalencies at very early ages. And it kind of seems to have screwed them. They have drifted aimlessly for the last few years, in and out of university, back home, temporary jobs... all 3 of them. The oldest has kind of settled down and will have a degree soon, but she's almost 30. The 2 younger boys show no interest in getting on with life now.

So I would suggest that public or private, it's a combination of the school, the kid, and the parents that will tell, far more so than just the school itself.

 

I went to both, and have taught at both.

Mrs. Levite and I are already starting to talk about what we'll do with the Little Levite. So far, the tentative consensus is that we plan to send the kid to a Jewish day school at least through sixth grade, and maybe through eighth. And we'll gauge at that time how much the kid seems to enjoy/not enjoy their school experience, how we feel about the school, and elements like quality secular academics and opportunities for diversity; and if it seems appropriate, then at that point we'll offer the kid the choice of whether to stay in day school or switch over to public school.

But for us, a lot depends on getting a good Jewish education early on. Our kid will be more privileged than most, in that respect, coming from a household where both parents are rabbis. But we both have other responsibilities, and neither of us is a qualified teacher of Hebrew language to young children.

If the Jewish education factor were not part of the picture, my guess is that we'd lean toward public school if the schools in our area were good (and as it happens, they are). But it would also depend on whether there were areas of emphasis not supported in public schools that we wanted focus on: an arts-heavy school, or a science-heavy school, or immersion in some other language (the mrs. and I are both fans of multilingualism, regardless of religious considerations), or suchlike.

It's worth noting that in general, as a teacher, I have not found students to be significantly more educable, better engaged, better behaved, or anything else at public versus private or vice-versa. It's all about the same. The big differences tend to be in class size, in flexibility of curriculum, in classtime allotments, in resources, and in teacher remuneration-- and those, of course, nearly always favor private schools. Nearly, but not always.

 

They are having an open house at 1 of the private schools that we are looking at in a few weeks. Any suggestions as to the questions that I should be asking?

 

Well we took a tour of one of the schools a week or so ago and turned in our application. So we'll see...

 

If I am living in Chicago school district and have school age kids, they will absolutely be private or homeschooled.

If they are in another part of the country or we are living in AZ, they would go to the charter school where my mom is a principal. The charter school has a lot more variety in its curriculum and school offerings, and I personally know the teachers and their teaching styles.