NYC Private Schools (rent, neighborhoods, to buy)

[Forest_Hills_Daddy]

Could someone please shed light on the academic standards at the Our Lady Queen of Martyrs school in Forest Hills, Queens? I would like to be informed more about the classroom academic standards and quality of teaching and not the extra-curricular activities like music and art. Most of the feedback I’ve read in other websites dwelled on how the school provides a “loving and caring environment” and not much on academics.

[KRISTINsf]

Originally Posted by Otis_Nevins

Stuyvasent and Bronx Science are among the best high schools on the planet and they're really tough to enter. Be that as it may, my take on the horrendous NYC schools - aside from the magnet schools - is that it's a combination of educated, well-to-do parents refusing to send their spawn to the public schools, thus depriving such schools of good (assumed) students and caring parents, and the awful, horrible, etc. teachers and administrators infecting the restrooms called schools that simply act as holding pens and proving grounds for the next generation of violent criminals. Add in that the City criminal justice system simply does not incarcerate criminally violent "kids" for the duration of their lives (something for which I would not mind paying higher taxes), and you've got a dangerous public school system.

A couple of examples: one teacher I know was not aware that Puerto Ricans were American citizens - a TEACHER. Another had too much difficulty with prime numbers. However, both were big, strong and powerful. Excellent baby-sitting skills, but academically, bottom of the heap. Role models, maybe, but I don't want my kid emulating the "C's get degrees!" school of thought...

Note: if you're a teacher and I have offended you, please defend yourself. The above is my experience and I welcome any changes to my opinions.

I have to agree that many of these juvenile delinquints get a slap on the wrist(if even that)and sent back to class to prey upon the poor schools. There are so many things wrong with these public schools I don't even know where to begin.

[Minus]

Originally Posted by Forest_Hills_Daddy

Could someone please shed light on the academic standards at the Our Lady Queen of Martyrs school in Forest Hills, Queens? I would like to be informed more about the classroom academic standards and quality of teaching and not the extra-curricular activities like music and art. Most of the feedback I’ve read in other websites dwelled on how the school provides a “loving and caring environment” and not much on academics.

I think it's supposed to be fairly decent. I went to Halsey (JHS 157, in Rego Park) - my friend from the neighborhood's mom was actually a teacher there, but she sent him to OLQoM instead. So... go figure.

That was more than 10 years ago, though.

[biggyboy]

Minus, you're better off sending your kid to United Nations International school or Archbishop Molloy, both in Briarwood. or you can just send him/her to P.S. 101 or P.S. 196 (depending where you live in Forest Hills) and have them attend Sunday school. Our Lady Queen of Martyrs is just a pretty school, not much focus on academics.

[Forest_Hills_Daddy]

Originally Posted by Minus

I think it's supposed to be fairly decent. I went to Halsey (JHS 157, in Rego Park) - my friend from the neighborhood's mom was actually a teacher there, but she sent him to OLQoM instead. So... go figure.

That was more than 10 years ago, though.

Thanks for this feedback.

If anyone else out there has more info about OLQM, it would be appreaciated if you could share it in this thread. Thanks in advance.

[Forest_Hills_Daddy]

Originally Posted by biggyboy

Minus, you're better off sending your kid to United Nations International school or Archbishop Molloy, both in Briarwood. or you can just send him/her to P.S. 101 or P.S. 196 (depending where you live in Forest Hills) and have them attend Sunday school. Our Lady Queen of Martyrs is just a pretty school, not much focus on academics.

UNIS is expensive unless the parents are UN officers with an educational subsidy; that's what I heard. Molloy, from what I remember, is a high school. I don't think they offer elementary studies.

Why do you say PS 196 (or presumably PS 99) could be better than OLQM in terms of academics?

Our gameplan is to live in Queens until our first child finishes elementary and them move to the suburbs when she enters middle or high school.

[biggyboy]

PS 99, in Kew Gardens (a 5 minute walk from FH) is a good, a very big school too, and people who came from there went on to some fine colleges. I guess I haven't really heard much about OLQM. Most people don't send their kids there and prefer sending them to some of the better-than-average public schools in the area, saving religious instruction after school or on weekends. Sorry I can't be of more help but you do have great alternatives (99, 101, 196).

[welder]

I know this is going to SOUND crazy, but, bad schools are the result of the KIDS who attend them! It ain't the teachers fault.

When someone sends their kids to private schools, all they are doing is 'levelling the playing field', in terms of what kind of 'backgrounds' and 'home life' the other kids who attend that school will have. If a kid is going to a private grade school that costs 30 grand a yr, chances are that kid comes from a good and stable home enviroment. And more than likely, those kids parents will be educated themselves, and their parents will deem how important education is to them (and very often).

A teacher in a Public School, can't be expexted to be able to deal with a kids 'home life'. I'm not saying that some private schools don't have GREAT teachers, but what the kid goes home to, and what they have to deal with at home, matters more than if a teacher went to Harvard or some state college.

Too much focus is put on the teachers, and not enough on the kids themselves. I was EXPELLED from 4 schools as a kid. Whose fault was it? The teachers or mine? I'd say the blame lays with ME, and only ME! I'm not educated one bit, but, I've yet to meet many people who I can't hang with on a VARIETY of topics. And I fare pretty well against them. Unless they start asking me to find the sq root of something or to do their taxes, etc LOL. But on matters in life, that really matter, I can hang.

Private schools come down to this basically, do YOU want your kids going to school with other kids that live the PJ's, or have ALOT of family and home problems, or are in gangs, etc. It doesn't take ALOT of kids to distract a classroom.

The teachers (in public schools), I feel, work hard and do the VERY best that they can under the circumstances. Blaming the teachers is EASIER than getting to the REAL root of the problem.

I hear the public schools in Seattle are good. But, almost half of the city of Seattle adults, hold atleast an undergrad degree. So, is that really any surprise about the 'public schools' being atleast decent?

[KRISTINsf]

Originally Posted by Forest_Hills_Daddy

UNIS is expensive unless the parents are UN officers with an educational subsidy; that's what I heard. Molloy, from what I remember, is a high school. I don't think they offer elementary studies.

Why do you say PS 196 (or presumably PS 99) could be better than OLQM in terms of academics?

Our gameplan is to live in Queens until our first child finishes elementary and them move to the suburbs when she enters middle or high school.

The United Nations High School will set you back about a hundred grand a year. Even the well heeled will balk at that cost preferring instead the thirty two grand a year schools. If you can afford it you'll get to rub elbows with the offspring of diplomats.

[Viralmd]

Originally Posted by KRISTINsf

The United Nations High School will set you back about a hundred grand a year. Even the well heeled will balk at that cost preferring instead the thirty two grand a year schools. If you can afford it you'll get to rub elbows with the offspring of diplomats.

No, Kristin...you're very much mistaken: The United Nations International School: Admissions » Tuition & Fees