Mt. Pleasant Schools: Public or private (Charleston, North Charleston: fit in, private schools, university)

[OleTomCat]

Originally Posted by nerdyone

Maybe in a state ranked poorly, but if you come up to the Philadelphia suburbs, then it's a different story. Lower Merion Township is one of the best school districts in the country. When I graduated I was on(-5sp) of 8 who went to Ivy League with 3 of my class attending Harvard.

Yes anywhere, I grew up in NJ and the schools there are very good, and guess what the private schools are better....

It all has to do with Parental involvement, you don't have the thug attitude in private schools because they don't allow it they make the parents come in and correct it, or in some schools they correct it themselves.....

[susankf]

im not sure the ages ur inquiring about, elementary has whitesides big new school, mt plsnt academy is also a great school, moultrie middle is great and only 1 high school wando who principal was just voted best in nation

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by OleTomCat

Well the statistics do agree with me, compare any private school student with any government school student and the private schools will run circles around the government......

A weak student put in a good private school will do better than if they stayed in the government school...

can we get a link?

[greenvillebuckeye]

one thing you'll find disturbing is that many of the private schools around SC as a whole were founded either just prior or just after many of the districts desegregated. makes ya wonder if the school was really founded for religious or academic reasons.......or....other reasons.

[greenvillebuckeye]

check out pinewood prep's fast facts link sometime. they brag about sending so many kids to clemson and usc. you know why kids from the midwest and mid atlantic come down to clemson and usc? because they can't get into rutgers, penn state, ohio state or suny - buffalo. i wouldn't brag about sending graduates to STATE schools in south carolina.


pinewood prep's class of 2008 had an SAT average of 1110. i attended public school in Ohio and scored a 1010. wow!!!!! spend thousands of dollars to get your kid a 100 point increase. money well spent there mom and dad. probably would've saved some bucks had they simply gone to a barnes and noble and checked out a study aide. . just saying.

[emom975]

Tour the schools and see for yourself. My experience with the Park West schools Laurel Hill Primary and Pickney elementary have been wonderful. Most parents in mount pleasant are happy with their decision public or private. The public schools in Mt. pleasant from my exerience have huge parental involvement etc. Its a wonderful place to raise a family-- I don't think you can go wrong. There are plenty of private schools if you decide to go that route that probably are as expensive as Chicago but do give the public schools a chance!

[CharlestonChava]

I empathize with your concerns...education has been the most important/debated issue in our family with three children. We came here a few years ago from Atlanta, where our kids had always been in private schools...and, had often said we'd never send ours to a public (government) school. Ever. In Charleston, our experience has been that First Baptist for Pre-K, K, and elementary was terrific; wonderful, caring teachers, strong academics, and small class sizes...would do it all over again. Moultrie for middle school was also a very positive experience; strong teachers, a high degree of parental involvement, but larger classes. And, we've been pleased with Wando HS; more programs, both academic and athletic, than any private school in the area; very large (the size of a small college), quality of teachers and level of parental involvement equals any private school we've experienced.
On the other side, our experience with two other private schools in the area was mostly negative. Whatever you choose, as long as you stay "in the kids' business, all the time", stay on a first name basis with their teachers, and help them choose good friends (those with parents who have values similiar to your own), they'll do great.

[beachme]

My children are in the Laurel Hill/Pickney/Cario/Wando schools and the experience has been wonderful. I actually have a child going to Belle Hall this year also so I will be able to comment more on my experience this school year.

As far as private my husband attended Bishop England and he transferred to Wando. My nephews both attended BE and chose to transfer last year to Wando. Money was not a factor they and their parents just did not like BE.

[roxanneself]

I met a lady this week who had just transferred here, and was going through the process of enrolling her child in one of the private middle schools here in Mount Pleasant. She had to provide report cards for her sons entire school experience, all the way back to Kindergarden. When she expressed surprise about this policy they told her they didn't have the resources available to help children with special needs, and they identify those children using past report cards. Now I'm not suggesting they do this deliberately to ensure they have good students that will succeed, but deliberate or just a happy coincidence, it's not hard to show high success rates when you stack the deck in your favor.
I do think that children do better when they are challenged by other kids around them, but I would hesitate to place my child in the school mentioned above unless I thought he/she was above average and wasn't ever going to need any extra attention.
My boys will be attending Cario and Wando, and I couldn't be happier with our school choices. We'll see how I feel at the end of the school year, but I am optimistic.

[calgirlinnc]

Of course, there are those who select private education because of the potential religious aspect.