Private Schools in Phili Area? (job, special needs, big home)

[toobusytoday]

I was talking to an acquaintance who teaches as a private school up my way, who has also taught at a public school. He said that he felt that the majority of his time was spent with discipline at a public school, whereas at the private school, that is not even an issue. The joy of teaching at a private school is that you don't have to put up with the disruptive kids day after day. You also don't have to deal with the rigid curriculum that in now the norm in public schools. I know a few parents whose kids just weren't getting the education they needed from our very good local public and now have their kids in private schools. To each his own......

[orrmobl]

Originally Posted by sbhubbell

Gee, thanks for your social comments in response to a newcomer to our lovely city's genuine desire for INFORMATION.

People want the best for their kids. Some people want to give their kids every chance to succeed in life, including possibly an easier time of getting into an ivy league or equivalent school, which in many cases ensures a better job when they graduate, etc. And yes, some people want to shelter their kids from potential obstacles like drugs and gangs and the like... yes, for some its simple snob factor. Who cares? Thank God we have choices.

What you mean is that if the poor child doesn't attend the "right" schools they, and by association, their parents will be looked down upon, and God forbid that happen. Drugs are just as prevalent in public and private schools - affluent kids can afford better drugs and more of them. And how many "gangs and the like" have you seen on the Main Line?

I'm not talking about sending a kid from an inner city neighborhood to a private school. I'm talking about sending a kid from an affluent neighborhood to an exclusive, expensive, private school.

[orrmobl]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

I was talking to an acquaintance who teaches as a private school up my way, who has also taught at a public school. He said that he felt that the majority of his time was spent with discipline at a public school, whereas at the private school, that is not even an issue. The joy of teaching at a private school is that you don't have to put up with the disruptive kids day after day. You also don't have to deal with the rigid curriculum that in now the norm in public schools. I know a few parents whose kids just weren't getting the education they needed from our very good local public and now have their kids in private schools. To each his own......

Did your acquaintance teach in a wealthy district or another one? You are not going to convince me that the kids who all live in the same neighborhood aren't going to be similarly behaved. Children of educated parents tend to be good students. Children of elitist parents tend to be snobby elitist little brats. Public or private education matters not, parenting does.

[J&A'sMOM]

Let me tell you about my experience for discussion - We live in a wealthy school district. I went to public and my DH went to private. When our oldest entered public kindergarten there was a lot of bullying. Even one of the kindergarten teachers was known to yell and belittle her own students!! How crazy is that. The public school wouldn't do anything about it except teach the victim to stand up for himself. The parents of the kids that bully are bullies themselves or don't care so the school doesn't get them involved - either they don't want to or they are worried about getting sued. We switched to private because they can eliminate bullying - The kids must follow the rules or they will not be attending the school. PERIOD!! My son loves his new school.

Plus did you see the % of kids that are getting financial aid according to the 2006 "The Elite 40 List"? Some of the schools listed on the list were 40 percent receiving financial aid. If you don't have enough money then you can apply for financial aid - but only parents who make this a TOP priority do it - it's a lot of work to apply and follow up on it.

I wish I had parents that would of sent me to private schools. They could have afforded it but education was not a top priority in our household. I'm in my 40's and I'll never forget the torture that some of the kids went through with the bullying and my DH who attended private did not have it.

Lastly I feel really good about having my child in an atmosphere where the parents all think (not look) similarly to me. Meaning education and good behavior is a priority. The kids all seem to get along - whatever my priority whether it be religion, education, sports, ettiquette I can find a school to match. How great it is to have choices! Public is also a great choice for many children - one of my best friends has her 3 kids in public and they are doing great. She is really on top of it - but she doesn't allow her kids to ride the bus due to the bullying.

[PhillyIndy]

Originally Posted by orrmobl

Private schools merely perpetuate the system of socioeconomic elitism. This is not an opinion, this is fact.

Why else would the most wealthy neighborhoods with the best public schools have so many residents eschew it for ridiculously expensive private schools? Snob factor and knowing their children won't be rubbing elbows with the unwashed masses.

Centuries ago only the wealthy could afford an education, today private schools fill that role of making the social distinction.

I have no problem with people sending their kids to private schools, I just wish they would be more honest about the underlying reasons for doing so.

Questions

Is there data on the number of kids in those good school districts that attend private schools?

From the list of the 40 best, it seems that the private options (some) are better than many public options. Is the assumption that the list is a bad list?

[sbhubbell]

Just for the sake of discussion, I'll share my experience as well. My parents chose to send me to a Christian school with strong academics, DCCS. They chose DCCS over The Christian Academy, even though TCA was literally across the street from us and DCCS was a good 25 minute drive away, and we were in an excellent public school district, Rose Tree Media. I agree with J&A'sMOM, discipline is not as much of an issue in private schools because the teachers are allowed to discipline as they see fit which includes suspension and expulsion...the parents are aware of this before they send their kids. In fact, at DCCS kids were routinely expelled for things that happened OFF-campus, such as smoking or drinking.

Drugs were NOT an issue at my school, at all. Zero. Not kidding. Granted this is a long time ago, but still. Even drinking was very very minor and not the norm. 90% of my graduating class was not even sexually active when we graduated. And don't think I was just naive, in a class of 66 kids where you knew them from the time they were very little, you knew just about everything about everybody.

In my class of 66 there were about 10 National Merit scholars. That's a pretty high percentage. The kids at the top of my class were very competitive with each other, battling it out for class rank. Several got into ivy league schools and the like, although it's true most kids do choose to continue on to Christian universities...most the better ones like Wheaton and Grove City.

Years later the kids from my school are still a pretty tight knit community. Our parents are a tight community. It's really nice.

I know a lot has changed since I was there, but private school is still a kind of shelter in a storm of difficult discipline issues with kids all over, kids of the wealthy and kids of the poor.

[orrmobl]

And let me share with you my story. I graduated from Upper Darby High with 563 students.

We had kids go on to the Ivies, MIT, lots of physicians, heck, one went on to be the first female headwriter for SNL.

I got picked on a bit in middle school because I was the new kid and quiet and a bit shy, but that was pretty much it. I got ribbed in home room but nothing I couldn't handle. And I got a top notch education and lots of AP courses which was a pretty rare circumstance 20 years ago.

I don't blame someone for placing their child in another school or private school for special circumstances. I just don't understand the pre-emptive assumption that public schools, especially in affluent areas, are dangerous or bad.

The same goes for people who feel the need to live in gated communites - as if the cost of living in an area isn't barrier to entry enough, people have to go the further step to "protect" themselves from the bad elements, typically less affluent people, especially brown ones.

It seems that parents who move to a good area for the schools already have similar goals and values - just because they can't afford or choose not to go the private school route doesn't make them any less dedicated or mean they want any less for their kids; in fact, I would argue it makes them want more because they typically grew up with less, they don't look down upon a public education nor do they take things like private schooling for granted.

Conestoga is in the top 100 high schools in the country and in the top 5 in this area, public or private, and its free. How can you rationally argue against that value proposition save for special needs or circumstances?

[maf763]

It's a ironic that somebody who lives in the Conestoga School District is whining about "the system of socioeconomic elitism" that private schools supposedly perpetuate. As noted there may be many reasons why parents choose private schools - family tradition, curriculum choices, values, sports, class size - to say snobbery is the only reason requires suggests an extremely self-centered view of the world.

[orrmobl]

Originally Posted by maf763

It's a ironic that somebody who lives in the Conestoga School District is whining about "the system of socioeconomic elitism" that private schools supposedly perpetuate. As noted there may be many reasons why parents choose private schools - family tradition, curriculum choices, values, sports, class size - to say snobbery is the only reason requires suggests an extremely self-centered view of the world.

LOL! I currently reside in the Coatesville school district and my son is in private kindergarten - because no other public or private schools would take him because of his November birthday.

And he attends with kids who are plenty old enough for public kindergarten but their parents "can't bear to put them on a bus" or I guess like having a daycare component, not really sure. What I am sure of is that they are paying over $1,000 a month for services their taxes already cover and which they will be using next year...I just don't get it and I guess I never will. I wish these people would work less to earn that money to burn on high end schools and spend more time with their kids, but I guess that ain't gonna happen.

See, I can see using private schools in special circumstances. I cannot, however, see paying top dollar to live in a district like Tredyffrin and then send my kids to private school - just seems wasteful and unnecessary to me and again is mostly to perpetuate the class divisions.

[maf763]

Good to see you have the answers for everybody's needs. Must be quite a burden.