Detroit to Jacksonville (Hastings: refrigerator, magnet schools, high income)

[Shannon4426]

You're right, Bolles is a fine school. Any student should be proud to go there.

Best of luck to you

[jwolfer]

If Bolles, Episcopal, and BK were not better than the public schools no one would pay that kind of money for their kids to go their.(20K/year) Some of the other private schools ( Trinity, Eagle View) you have lots of parents who want their kids in a "Christian" environment with lots of Bible study more so than excellent academics. And those private schools are the ones that are behind public in some cases.

I wish we could afford Episcopal but we can not; we moved out of Duval County. Schools are better in Clay and good academic programs but not on the same level as Episcopal or Bolles. It is close but it is much less expensive. Another factor is the connections that one makes in "elite" schools. Our kids were in classes at an Epsicopal Day School with CEOs kids etc. Those connections are good when you graduate from college and are looking for an internship or a job if you don't have the family connections.

[JaxBlueMan]

Originally Posted by jwolfer

If Bolles, Episcopal, and BK were not better than the public schools no one would pay that kind of money for their kids to go their.(20K/year) Some of the other private schools ( Trinity, Eagle View) you have lots of parents who want their kids in a "Christian" environment with lots of Bible study more so than excellent academics. And those private schools are the ones that are behind public in some cases.

I wish we could afford Episcopal but we can not; we moved out of Duval County. Schools are better in Clay and good academic programs but not on the same level as Episcopal or Bolles.

You are absolutely right. It's entirely possible and even probable that some of the Religious based schools aren't quite on the same academic level as some of the other more secular private schools, such as Bolles. So, in that respect, SJC schools may very well test better than some, or many of those Christian schools.

But, that wasn't the claim that Shannon4426 was making.

Normally, I wouldn't have jumped down his throat, but he did specifically mention Bolles/Episcopal/BK/SJCD as the schools SJC public schools were better then. So, at that point, it was on!

I don't really understand why he couldn't praise his own home town school district, (perfectly understandable) without at the same time peeing all over some of the best private schools in the entire State.

Making the claim that a Bolles student was one year behind a normal Nease student is just too far out there to have let pass by without inserting some actual facts into the discussion.

As I've said several times, we can all agree that SJC schools are an above average option. No argument there.

However, if money isn't a barrier, then the top local private schools such as Bolles and Espiscopal, both of which test far above the SJC public school averages, are definitely something to consider.

[fsu813]

For some reason I feel this is a 1% conversation.

: )

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by fsu813

For some reason I feel this is a 1% conversation.

: )

Not necessarily - there are scholarships at Bolles for low income students (I actually met one such student and his father at some kind of street basketball event downtown one year - he was about 18 inches taller than I am ).

I don't have kids - but keep one toe in the water when it comes to education. When it comes to one of the schools I went to - Cornell - it usually announces local students who have been admitted. They are almost 100% from Bolles and Stanton. I've never seen a kid from Nease. Some of the kids from Bolles are from foreign countries and live on campus. Their countries send them here to learn specific things in high school and college and post-graduate work (like nuclear physics). And then they are required to go home - to work/teach.

On the other hand - it is very important to point out that Bolles is indeed - for most people - an expensive private school. And that Stanton is a pretty exclusive public magnet school. And that a school like Nease is a regular public school. So - for most people who don't have big bucks - or super smart kids - most of the regular public schools in SJC are better than most of the regular public schools in Duval County. SJC does have some stinkers - but not many. And they are mostly in areas with lousy demographics - like Hastings (think poor/black/Hispanic/etc). Not the kind of place most people here on CD are looking at when they're thinking about moving to this metro area.

On the third hand - as someone who was educated in public schools in New Jersey many decades ago - and who moved to Florida 40+ years ago - I have 2 observations. The public schools in Florida are - for the most part - totally substandard when compared to average or better schools in a state like New Jersey (if you exclude the basket case areas like Newark). Second - children today are poorly educated. Probably the fault of the school systems/teachers - the parents - and the children. Three of our 4 parents didn't go to/graduate from college. But when we read their letters and the like - they write in perfect grammatical sentences with no spelling errors. Try to find that in an average college student today. They were also pretty good at math (both our fathers keep/kept detailed written financial records before computers were around).

I reckon a lot of kids today know how to play Angry Birds better than they know how to read or write or do arithmetic. Pretty sorry state of affairs IMO. Gosh - you have to know some basic math/algebra even to do something like install A/C units today. And you need more than that for many manufacturing jobs. There are many companies in the US begging for new employees in manufacturing - but the skill level of the average applicant is far beneath the skill level required of the job. Robyn

[fsu813]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Not necessarily - there are scholarships at Bolles for low income students (I actually met one such student and his father at some kind of street basketball event downtown one year - he was about 18 inches taller than I am ).

Yeah. The "scholarships" somehow usually end up in the hands of really good athletes.

[ssclulow]

most of the regular public schools in SJC are better than most of the regular public schools in Duval County. SJC does have some stinkers - but not many. And they are mostly in areas with lousy demographics - like Hastings (think poor/black/Hispanic/etc). Not the kind of place most people here on CD are looking at when they're thinking about moving to this metro area

.
I'm not sure what the definition of a "stinker" is, but the elementary school servicing Hastings is South Woods Elementary School. It has received an "A" grade from the State Dept of Ed. for the last 3 years despite 77% of the school's students qualifying for free or reduced lunch and 36% of the student's being racial minorities.

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by fsu813

Yeah. The "scholarships" somehow usually end up in the hands of really good athletes.

Hey! Financially challenged athletes need a break every now and then too.

[JaxBlueMan]

Originally Posted by fsu813

Yeah. The "scholarships" somehow usually end up in the hands of really good athletes.

FSU,

Do you have any actual knowledge of the breakdown of scholarship money going to athletes, vs non athletes at Bolles, or that just a sour grapes comment, due to Bolles success in athletics?

Being a parent of two Bolles students, I can't give you the exact specific percentage breakdown of money to 'athletes' vs 'non athletes,' but I can say with certainty, that MUCH of the scholarship money goes to 'regular' students, although at Bolles it can get a little hard to differentiate between a 'regular' student, and an 'athlete' because almost every student plays one or more sport.

In actual fact, Bolles goes to great lengths to make sure that the 800 students at Bolles represent as many different Nationalities, socio economic classes, backgrounds and demographics as possible. And regardless of athletic ability, family money, etc. ALL students at Bolles are held to the same high academic standards, and honor code.

For us specifically, both our children play multiple sports at Bolles, and neither receives scholarship money.

Comments like "I have a friend who heard from a neighbor, who has a cousin, who went out with a guy, who said that all of the scholarship money at Bolles goes to 'athletes.' just doesn't add much value to the conversation.

I don't understand why it so hard for you, and others on this board to just simply say "I don't know," if that's the case.

Rather then bending over backwards to disparage Bolles, as a resident of Jacksonville, you should be be proud that one of the best college prep schools in the Country is located here.

Any actual facts to add to the discussion?

[fsu813]

Comments like "I have a friend who heard from a neighbor, who has a cousin, who went out with a guy, who said that all of the scholarship money at Bolles goes to 'athletes.' just doesn't add much value to the conversation.

I agree.

Who said that?


Rather then bending over backwards to disparage Bolles, as a resident of Jacksonville, you should be be proud that one of the best college prep schools in the Country is located here.

I agree, both Stanton College Prep and Paxon Advanaced Studies are 2 of the best college prep schools in the country.

Good academic private schools are a dime a dozen, however.