NOVA Private Schools (Roanoke, Fairfax: loans, find a job, school tuition)

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by claremarie

"What you don't mention is The Heights is around $25,000.00 a year per student."

Not quite. Tuition ranges from $14-18,000 per year, depending upon grade level.

"It doesn't mean the FCPS are the equivalent to Public schools in the South Side of Chicago."

I never made that claim. Obviously, the demographics of Fairfax County are completely different than an inner city school. My point was that not all private school parents are elitist snobs chasing Ivy League admissions. Many are people like us, who wanted to remove our children from what has become an increasingly standardized test-centered and relentlessly secular environment that is not particularly boy-friendly.

I thought you and your kids were done with school and you moved to the midwest.

[claremarie]

"o you are telling me that most of the Heights kids go on to attend "Non-Elitists" schools like, Emporia State University in Kansas for example."

Well, that would probably be pretty silly, as Emporia State is an out of state school.
A handful of students in my son's class went to selective, expensive private universities. Most of them went to U-Md, UVA, Wiliam and Mary, George Mason, University of Dallas, Catholic University, and the service academies.
Many people are seriously misinformed about private education -- they make assumptions that are simply not based on reality. Parents choose independent schools for many reasons.

[Nemesis16]

^ Besides William and Mary, all of the schools you listed are big institutions that cater to a higher mass of people similar to public high schools in Northern VA.

I figured a kid who went to a private school with less than 15-20 people a class would attend a liberal arts institution or small state school? This statement only adds to the perception of elitism.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by Nemesis16

^ Besides William and Mary, all of the schools you listed are big institutions that cater to a higher mass of people similar to public high schools in Northern VA.

I figured a kid who went to a private school with less than 15-20 people a class would attend a liberal arts institution or small state school? This statement only adds to the perception of elitism.

Attending a small state school or liberal arts institution reduces the number of options that a student can consider to major in...especially in the engineering fields, architecture, etc.

[Nemesis16]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Attending a small state school or liberal arts institution reduces the number of options that a student can consider to major in...especially in the engineering fields, architecture, etc.

This is true to an extent. If parents can afford to pay $15k a year for K-12, it's a rather logical statement to say they can afford out of state tuition to an elite, small institution like MIT for instance.

And do you know what the percentage of students that major in engineering are? roughly 15%

That's a far cry from the majority of students attending college and a rather naive statement to make a point with if we're talking on a majority based argument.

[claremarie]

"I figured a kid who went to a private school with less than 15-20 people a class would attend a liberal arts institution or small state school?"

Well, you figured wrong. Many of my sons' classmates come from large families, and small expensive private schools (without significant scholarships) are simply out of the question, especially after the families have made the financial sacrifices to send their children to private elementary and secondary schools. A number of my sons' classmates went to tiny colleges that you've never heard of, but the most recognizable names are large public universities in Maryland and Virginia.
In fact, there were considerably more students from our neighborhood public school headed to the big name, expensive private universities and colleges.

[Ashburnite]

Originally Posted by Nemesis16

Besides William and Mary, all of the schools you listed are big institutions that cater to a higher mass of people similar to public high schools in Northern VA.

She mentioned University of Dallas, which is decidedly NOT a big institution catering to a higher mass of people. It's a small catholic college.

[Ashburnite]

I know a family in the Leesburg area that was considering sending their daughter to private school. The daughter was a smart girl about to enter 9th grade but her parents felt she was too distracted by the social aspect to give her best effort. And the same kids she hung out with that were problematic would be going with her to the public high school. They felt a fresh start in a school with (hopefully) fewer distractions like drugs and boys would be good for her. They live in an area that other people think is all rich people but that area had more problem children than many others. Absentee parents is not a good thing.

They did not end up putting her in private school but instead were able to enroll her in a different local high school than the one she was slated to attend. She is about to start her second year there and both she and her parents have been very happy with the change. Sometimes a school, no matter how good the rankings are, just isn't best for a particular child.

I know people who will homeschool their children or send them to private school because they feel that the social pressure in public schools is a problem. They also feel that their child will not get the attention and encouragement they need to reach their full potential. Depending on the child and the school, they may be right - everyone is different.

The issue has crossed my mind because I feel my child is smart and I don't want her potential to be wasted if she doesn't get the encouragement she needs in school. Ultimately, though, I think she'll attend public school and we'll make it our responsibility as parents to supplement what she learns in school with activities at home. We don't intend to bog her down with academics, more just of working what she's learning at school into fun activities at home to reinforce what she's learning. If she's studying the colonists at school, we can get good books at the library about the time period, take her to Mount Vernon, or cook a colonial style meal at home. Things like that.

Of course, she's only just starting kindergarten so we'll see how these big plans pan out!

[slim04]

Originally Posted by dod236

Funny you say that slim04. You have to do more research. Some of the private schools we researched for our daughter have highly dgreed teachers, some of which left the public schools.

You missed my point.

A prior poster had mentioned that "In fact, I read in the Washington Post recently that the teachers in the public schools are actually more degreed than those at the private schools!" That's probably true and I explained why:

1) Public school teachers often have bargaining agreements that reward them to get master's degrees in terms of greater pay and/or promotions.

2) These bargaining agreements don't differentiate between the quality of the programs, so a Master's at Harvard is the same as a no-name school.

3) So a large amount of public school teachers choose to get degrees from online, correspondence, or part-time no-name schools because of their ease, cost, and flexibility. I know of one school where 80% of the faculty has these types of Master's degrees.

Private schools know these types of programs typically don't have the academic rigor of a traditional program and they don't have a bargaining agreement that rewards teachers to get these degrees. So I was talking about private schools not valuing graduate degrees from these easy, flexible part-time programs, NOT graduate degrees from reputable programs in general.

[StOrM666]

Originally Posted by claremarie

"What you don't mention is The Heights is around $25,000.00 a year per student."

Not quite. Tuition ranges from $14-18,000 per year, depending upon grade level.

"It doesn't mean the FCPS are the equivalent to Public schools in the South Side of Chicago."

I never made that claim. Obviously, the demographics of Fairfax County are completely different than an inner city school. My point was that not all private school parents are elitist snobs chasing Ivy League admissions. Many are people like us, who wanted to remove our children from what has become an increasingly standardized test-centered and relentlessly secular environment that is not particularly boy-friendly.

Wow, I have a 10 year old boy in the FCPS and we havent had any issues with excessive teaching to tests or issues with his gender. He crushed the SOLs. I remember them teaching the kids Economics in the 3rd grade. Hes in an accelerated math program and a music program.