The best schools...PERIOD. (university, public schools, grade, history)

[austinnerd]

Originally Posted by Biscuits

I'm guessing a kid or two from Johnston High School have gone to Harvard, does that make it equal to Andover or even Bowie? Was there a better basis as to why you chose the schools you did for your kids?

You're missing the point. How can one even have serious debate when you're trying to compare a public school to a private schools that get to hand pick the cream of the crop and then you want to try to compare numbers. Again, you toss about terms like "equal to" as if there is some absolute measure that one can use. To answer your question, I utilized many criteria in picking schools, none of which included any notion of generic academic "goodness" (at least as a criteria unto itself). If you know anything about pianos, to give you an example, Steinway's are excellent pianos, some would consider them the best pianos made, period. I personally am not a fan of the "Steinway sound" and so _for_me_ Steinway is not the best option, there are others that are, IMHO, better. Does that mean that Steinway's are "not the best", no, but I'd easily argue that no other measure can be used to claim that Steinways _are_ the best. There is a whole slew of things that factor in to that notion and anyone claiming that you can declare a best by some objective measure is just kidding themselves.

Originally Posted by Biscuits

As for using the term selfish, that may have been too cutting on my part. Assume your brother and his wife were unquestionably better parents than you and your wife. If they offered, would you let them raise your kids? If not, would that be a selfish act?

Again, you assume that the question is that cut and dry, and frankly it's not. Of course I could give you some answer "for the sake of argument", but I think anyone capable of deeper thought can understand that it's not that simple. If I were a crack smoking child killer and my wife prostituted children then I probably would let my bro take the kids (assuming some moment of clarity and completely ignoring the fact that if I were that bad, chances are I wouldn't/couldn't make such a lucid moral choice).

Originally Posted by Biscuits

Just a simple test of selfishness vs. putting the interests of the child first.

But it's not that simple a test. Your simple test is far too vague to get any type of meaningful response.

Now I'm going to assume that you are serious in your inquiry. But it seems to me that you have already formulated your judgement and are really looking to prop your case. You create artificial constraints that favor your stance, you minimize my _real_life_ experience, and you trivialize the factors involved. You seem already convinced that _not_ sending your kid to some "top flight" school(s) (if you have the $$$) is a sign that you don't have your kids best interest in mind. My counter is that I feel that your argument has absolutely 0 validity outside the context of some made up perfect world.

My _experience_ is such that I've known many folks who've been very successful. Some went to Ivy's, some went to public universities, some never made it through a college. For those that I would consider "successful in life", the schooling factor, by itself and with no context, plays a significantly minor role in that success. So again, what's the point?

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by Biscuits

Just a simple test of selfishness vs. putting the interests of the child first.

1. That statement is totally asinine.

2. That poster was simply pointing you to the correct forum for your hogwash.

[Biscuits]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

1. That statement is totally asinine.

2. That poster was simply pointing you to the correct forum for your hogwash.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

The original question -- I felt -- was a valid one. There are hundreds of parents paying $50,000+ per year to send their child to a truely top prep school. Many of these parents are not wealthy and are busting their ass to give their child an advantage that few have. Apparently these people are bad parents or at least not as good as you or I. Furthermore, these unquestionalbly eliete schools are not enticing to some even if they were free. Good to know.

[Gorfml]

anyone who is not wealthy and spends that kind of money on their kids k-12 education has mental issues...

[Biscuits]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

anyone who is not wealthy and spends that kind of money on their kids k-12 education has mental issues...

9-12 would be more likely.

Mental issues is being brainwashed that a RRISD education is going to produce anything significantly above average.

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by Gorfml

anyone who is not wealthy and spends that kind of money on their kids k-12 education has mental issues...

As is any weathly person that pawns off the duties of raising their child to a school.

[EzPeterson]

Originally Posted by Biscuits

Mental issues is being brainwashed that a RRISD education is going to produce anything significantly above average.

The point is that the high $$$ PS education doesn't guarantee above average either. The parents, and to some extent genetics and luck, have equal chance.

[Biscuits]

Originally Posted by EzPeterson

The point is that the high $$$ PS education doesn't guarantee above average either. The parents, and to some extent genetics and luck, have equal chance.

Keep telling yourself that.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Newbe10

I am not saying that you are dumb at all; but what I am really trying to get across is that I' am a lot more knowledgeable than you think. There are too many ignorant older folks on CD that seem to think that us younger folks are somehow stupid.

Not younger folks in general...

[mesmer]

I'm normally the last person to say that a thread is irrelevant to this forum... but this thread is completely irrelevant to this forum. I'm not sure how that's a controversial statement - this thread is barely tangentially related to life in Austin. The schools listed were all in the northeast and the question was hypothetical.

I'm not old, by the way. I don't feel as though anyone has treated me like I'm stupid.