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Private school can be worth it. You need to determine what is the curriculum difference between private/public. In you can afford it and your child is interested in going to private school, let them try it out. If it doesn't work out, it seems like public school is not bad based on their ranking you mentioned.
$42/k for a private HIGH SCHOOL seems ridiculous, especially when you are in a good public school district. But hey, if you got money to blow than go for it. Even then it seems like that kind of money could be put to better use.
I live in Los Angeles where the public schools are mostly horrendous. We chose a private Catholic school for middle and high school. It was 10 grand a year versus 30-40 for the high end private schools. My son got an excellent education and was very well prepared for college.
I was given a choice for high school, I chose public while my brothers all chose private. It was a long time ago, but I know I would have made more of an effort to keep my grades up if my parents were paying for my education. I was more interested in having fun, and I sure did!
Our kids were given the choice, only the eldest opted for private. In his case, we lived in FL, where public schools are not highly regarded. We relocated before the next two entered hs, they both attended a well rated public school and did fine.
I hate the fact that where you live can limit the education available unless you can afford to pay.
If your kid is average-to-stupid, send them to private school and hope for the best. If your kid is a genius and the private school is the only place they can be challenged, send them to a private school targeted for geniuses.
Otherwise, if your kid is a self-motivated mid-to-high-performer, it won't matter what school they go to. I went to a ****ty hick public school in BFE. My stupid classmates drove tractors to school and spent their time drinking, fighting, and getting each other pregnant. Even so, there were smart kids there too, and the public school provided a motivated (I wanted to fly spaceships) kid enough AP classes that I started at an esteemed engineering university a year ahead of my peers.
If you were a religious nut seeking out a madrassa or an elite with unlimited money putting your kid on Ivy track regardless of whether they're a genius or a dip****, you wouldn't be asking this question. So, for us normal proles, the best we can do is stay as involved as our kids will let us and go ahead with the public school system. I guess another reason to go to private school is to keep your kid away from (some) bad influences if they are a suggestible type.
I guest lecture on technical topics at a private and public high schools. The good/smart kids are about the same in each. There are fewer troublemakers in the private school, but the public schools are generally bigger so there are smarter kids there, overall.
Stay FAR away from religious private schools. Those ding-dongs literally make us check that our material is Beezus-friendly. It's Engineering, you idiots. I can't pretend the universe is 5000 years old or that the Flying Spaghetti Monster makes airplanes fly with magic ****ing fairy dust.
I went to a private school for one year. Learned NOTHING and it set me back once I entered back into public school the next year. Private school does not always = more rigorous curriculum.
So all private schools are bad because you had a bad experience?
$42K for any high school is absolutely ridiculous. The most expensive schools in our region are half that, and even then they're full of children of the social elitists and their "new friends" from the ghetto on scholarship.
My sister has sent her grandkids to the finest private schools @ $20K average x 4 kids x 12 years. That's $960K of after tax money. And her husband is 73 years old and still having to work while the kids are getting ready for college. One just got out of the New School in NYC @ $42K tuition plus costs of living in Manhattan for 4 years.
And of the other 3 kids, they're all expected to go to a state university and go into Granddaddy's business. It seems like such a waste.
Our granddaughter has been going to a $6K private elementary school that's got a great reputation. Local wealthy people have been very generous and funded a brand new building without any mortgage.
How to tell a desire to go to private school is for legitimate reasons, rather than just trying to keep up with the Jones?
Is it YOUR desire or your son's desire?
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