Ridley College (and other CA private schools) vs Well-regarded US Public Schools? (fit in, school rankings)
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My family and I are Canadian, but have lived in the US for quite some time. Recently, I was having a debate with a Canadian friend of mine whose middle school-aged children attend Ridley College in St. Catharines. His argument is that Ridley provides a "far superior" education than what I would find in a "high end" Massachusetts public school system, like say, Dover-Sherborn (where my kid goes), Lexington, Brookline, Lincoln-Sudbury, etc.
I am not sure if this is true, but it did get me thinking! It seems easy to find facts about any US school, but difficult for Canadian schools, and even more difficult for Canadian private schools. In the US, I'd look at US News, Niche, Greatschools, etc, but I am not sure where to find similar for Canada? Usually I look at test scores (yearly, and SAT), matriculation rates, colleges attended by grads, teaching standards, etc.
Not sure if they have the info you want, but the Fraser Institute's reports are the most cited in terms of school rankings in Canada. I'd recommend Googling that.
Of course, Fraser does rankings by province, so you only know how good or bad schools are relative to others in the same province. Not versus other provinces, and of course not versus schools in the U.S. either.
As you probably know, many Canadians subscribe to a meme that the U.S. education is crap except for the top, say, 1% crème de la crème.
That school district you referenced has the number one high school in Massachusetts. And the Boston area is one of the world capitals of learning by any measure. I am sure kids who go to school there are getting an excellent education.
I am sure the education at Ridley is excellent as well.
But it's virtually impossible to compare the two.
Is private always better than public? Hard to say.
(Full disclosure: my kids all went to private high school, and theirs in the most recent ranking was tied with a couple of others for the number 1 spot in the entire province of Quebec out of just under 500 schools.)
Secondary education is so subjective in North America that you'd really have to take those rankings such as US News, Greatschools, etc. with a grain of salt. Sure one can rate schools based on test scores and graduate acceptances to "prestigious" universities (and even that postsecondary level is subjective) but you'd really have to delve all the way down to the atomic level and find out the school's curriculum, method of pedagogy, student body, and perhaps most importantly, recent graduate satisfaction to judge the quality of a school. Did you look at Ridley College's website for a start? Does it look like an appealing school to you based on the information provided there? Their website is typical for a private school website in that they put in a lot of information to entice families to apply their children there. That is not always the case with public school websites, which at times are bereft of important information. Beyond that, what constitutes a "superior" education is subject to debate.
Not sure if they have the info you want, but the Fraser Institute's reports are the most cited in terms of school rankings in Canada. I'd recommend Googling that.
Of course, Fraser does rankings by province, so you only know how good or bad schools are relative to others in the same province. Not versus other provinces, and of course not versus schools in the U.S. either.
As you probably know, many Canadians subscribe to a meme that the U.S. education is crap except for the top, say, 1% crème de la crème.
That school district you referenced has the number one high school in Massachusetts. And the Boston area is one of the world capitals of learning by any measure. I am sure kids who go to school there are getting an excellent education.
I am sure the education at Ridley is excellent as well.
But it's virtually impossible to compare the two.
Is private always better than public? Hard to say.
(Full disclosure: my kids all went to private high school, and theirs in the most recent ranking was tied with a couple of others for the number 1 spot in the entire province of Quebec out of just under 500 schools.)
Maybe because the Fraser Institute is here in BC we hear more about them, and their obvious bias.
Their school rankings constantly come under question. All levels of schools.
Their agenda is against public schools, and for private schools, however " Even leaders from private schools that rank top of the Fraser Institute’s report card think the right-wing think tank’s methodology is bogus."
Not sure if they have the info you want, but the Fraser Institute's reports are the most cited in terms of school rankings in Canada. I'd recommend Googling that.
Of course, Fraser does rankings by province, so you only know how good or bad schools are relative to others in the same province. Not versus other provinces, and of course not versus schools in the U.S. either.
As you probably know, many Canadians subscribe to a meme that the U.S. education is crap except for the top, say, 1% crème de la crème.
That school district you referenced has the number one high school in Massachusetts. And the Boston area is one of the world capitals of learning by any measure. I am sure kids who go to school there are getting an excellent education.
I am sure the education at Ridley is excellent as well.
But it's virtually impossible to compare the two.
Is private always better than public? Hard to say.
(Full disclosure: my kids all went to private high school, and theirs in the most recent ranking was tied with a couple of others for the number 1 spot in the entire province of Quebec out of just under 500 schools.)
Thank you for the reply. I was not able to find Ridley College in the Fraser site? Which school did you kids attend in Quebec? Were the public systems not all that great, or did you have other reasons for private schooling?
Thank you for the reply. I was not able to find Ridley College in the Fraser site? Which school did you kids attend in Quebec? Were the public systems not all that great, or did you have other reasons for private schooling?
My kids' high school is probably "too much information", though it's not that hard to get a good idea of which one it might be - there are only three private high schools in my city.
As for why we sent them there, well my kids really wanted to, and since it's so cheap in Quebec (about 3000 CAD per year) it was a bit of a no-brainer. Public high schools where I live are IMO just *OK*, though they've improved quite a bit in recent years. Especially if your kid is in one of a whole slew of special programs. Though the private schools are almost all a cut above academically. Though they're not for everyone. Some kids (even some who are good at school) don't like or don't adjust to the private school environment.
American private schools are American private schools. Whether or not they do a better job than Canadian public or private schools is subjective.
Canadian universities don't tend to care where you came from, in my experience. You could come from Ridley--or UCC, or Crescent, or St. George's--and not make it into University of Toronto. Meanwhile, me, with my Lawrence Park CI (a public high school in Toronto) credentials, was welcomed in.
Short answer: Canadian universities admit students on their marks. Private schools meet provincial standards as regards education, the same as public schools. Canadian universities admit students based on marks, but never what private school they went to, or what extracurriculars they participated in. Marks only.
In short, me, a working-class kid, got a U of Toronto education, ahead of a Ridley, UCC, Crescent, and St.George's kid. Why? I was smart. Private school kids were smart too, but maybe not enough. Basically, I got the same education, but I was smarter. So I was admitted to one of Canada's finest universities: University of Toronto. From a working-class background, and out of a public educational system, and ahead of private school kids; who could have guessed?
Hey, if you want to blow a lot of money on private school in Canada, in hopes of somehow getting ahead in the line for post-secondary education, you go right ahead and waste your money. Like I implied, smarts count in Canada--not what snooty private school you went to.
American private schools are American private schools. Whether or not they do a better job than Canadian public or private schools is subjective.
Canadian universities don't tend to care where you came from, in my experience. You could come from Ridley--or UCC, or Crescent, or St. George's--and not make it into University of Toronto. Meanwhile, me, with my Lawrence Park CI (a public high school in Toronto) credentials, was welcomed in.
Short answer: Canadian universities admit students on their marks. Private schools meet provincial standards as regards education, the same as public schools. Canadian universities admit students based on marks, but never what private school they went to, or what extracurriculars they participated in. Marks only.
In short, me, a working-class kid, got a U of Toronto education, ahead of a Ridley, UCC, Crescent, and St.George's kid. Why? I was smart. Private school kids were smart too, but maybe not enough. Basically, I got the same education, but I was smarter. So I was admitted to one of Canada's finest universities: University of Toronto. From a working-class background, and out of a public educational system, and ahead of private school kids; who could have guessed?
Hey, if you want to blow a lot of money on private school in Canada, in hopes of somehow getting ahead in the line for post-secondary education, you go right ahead and waste your money. Like I implied, smarts count in Canada--not what snooty private school you went to.
Well said. I tried to rep you again but I needed to spread more wealth around. My older cousin who grew up in the York Region also attended public secondary school and got into U of T because she worked hard at it. That said, I kind of think that many students who attend private schools like Ridley want to also prepare for higher education abroad. It is in those private schools where you can make the connections, perhaps even having the son or daughter of a diplomat or Fortune 500 CEO as a classmate, and get groomed to be a member of the entire world. I am not making accusatory statements but private secondary schools have been known to also inflate grades thereby making it easier for their pupils to get high marks. I did my graduate studies at Tufts University here in Boston and during my time there, met so many international rich kids among the undergraduate population who attended private school or international school, it was astounding. Tufts may not be Harvard but it is not easy to get into either. This Urban Peasant who attended a well regarded public urban high school in Boston and does not dress in Saks or Holt Renfrew quite obviously did not fit in that crowd but I could have cared less because I had earned just as much of a right to attend the school as they did and maybe more.
American private schools are American private schools. Whether or not they do a better job than Canadian public or private schools is subjective.
Canadian universities don't tend to care where you came from, in my experience. You could come from Ridley--or UCC, or Crescent, or St. George's--and not make it into University of Toronto. Meanwhile, me, with my Lawrence Park CI (a public high school in Toronto) credentials, was welcomed in.
Short answer: Canadian universities admit students on their marks. Private schools meet provincial standards as regards education, the same as public schools. Canadian universities admit students based on marks, but never what private school they went to, or what extracurriculars they participated in. Marks only.
In short, me, a working-class kid, got a U of Toronto education, ahead of a Ridley, UCC, Crescent, and St.George's kid. Why? I was smart. Private school kids were smart too, but maybe not enough. Basically, I got the same education, but I was smarter. So I was admitted to one of Canada's finest universities: University of Toronto. From a working-class background, and out of a public educational system, and ahead of private school kids; who could have guessed?
Hey, if you want to blow a lot of money on private school in Canada, in hopes of somehow getting ahead in the line for post-secondary education, you go right ahead and waste your money. Like I implied, smarts count in Canada--not what snooty private school you went to.
This is very, very true. Where you went to high school doesn't count when it comes to university admissions in Canada, though sure your marks might be weighted differently by the university admissions people. This might work for or against private school kids BTW.
Another thing is that in Canada where you went to university has very little effect on your job prospects. Though I suppose indirectly, if you went to a university that offers its students articling with prestigious law firms, and that shows up on your CV, that can help. But you may attend that university and not get a chance to have one of those plum internships too...
But AFAIK basically one gets a job simply because they have a law degree from U of Toronto as opposed to the U of Calgary or U of Ottawa.
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