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I think you should send your child to the school where they will best accelerate.
The myth that private schools are somehow better than public is absolutely false. Most of the time parents just don't want to deal with poor people or the possibility of a "bad kid", so they send them to private school out of fear.
Speaking from experience here.
I agree with you completely. Private school is not automatically better than public. Best to do your research, visit the local public and private schools, learn all you can about the education your child would receive and make an informed decision. We did all this as well as re-visiting our decision every year based on our children's needs, growth and performance. We even gave them both the option to attend public school at the HS level. An offer that was immediately rejected by both, much to the dismay of our bank account.
And private schools won't have failing standards? Some don't have any standards at all.
I'm sure you're right. But, we did our due diligence before selecting a private school. I would encourage everyone one to do the same regardless of the private or public school they're considering.
That depends upon the size of the school and how they track kids etc.
Larger schools over a range of classes from more basic up to honors\AP etc.
Is sure not holding back my kids given they aren't even in the same classroom with low performing students the vast majority of time.
But the obvious question is, why would high-performing kids EVER be in a class with low-performing. By the most basic of logic, you have to either abandon dumb kids to keep up with the smart, or bring everyone down to a boring, low-performing level where you are sacrificing added education to the high-performers (and most coveted by societal standards.)
If anything, they should make entire school systems (akin to Mental Retardation Schools that are so popular and expansive) and you should have to qualify similar to college to get into the various school systems based on your talent.
But clearly, people's feelings would be hurt and of course we have to hold back societal evolution and shortchange our brightest kids for participation trophies for future voters.
Ok so one person has an opinion. People can do whatever they want.
But we need to understand that in a society that is as unequal as America expecting schools to overcome those inequities all by themselves is a foolish expectation.
I doubt many of you are sending your kids to schools with a high number of "lower performers".
My son went to the typical upper middle class suburban schools.
The low performers there could be counted on one hand.
The schools he attended were consistently rated above average by the State.
Now where I teach is just the opposite.
Over 80% are on free reduced lunch and a good 40% are low performers.
There is a single school in these rural towns so there is no "choice" of which school to go to.
When 1/3 of the class you teach are low performers you have no real options but to lower the bar.
Now in HS you have your AP classes and they are a pleasure to teach. You only get about 10 students though in these classes (the school is actually losing money with AP classes and don't offer a wide range).
So you can't make broad assumptions based on where you send your kids to school.
Schools are like night and day based on socioeconomics.
At least she is honest in that she is judgmental lol.
Sounds like a young, passionate person. But I actually do agree with the premise (not that private school parents are bad people) that if everyone sent their kids to traditional public schools, the schools would be better since everyone would have a stake in the educational system.
That said, that isn't going to happen in our country. So people passionate about this need to get used to it. I also bet that when she has kids, she won't send them to a crappy public school near public housing.
But something to think about is that in Finland, they had an educational crisis in the 1970s and mandated everyone attend public school and learn the same things and that is how they are the cream of the crop now in education. Everyone was educated. This won't happen in our country because too many of us think less than others who are poorer or browner than the masses, so no concerted effort will be made to improve education for all people. Luckily in many areas, people have school choice and poorer families now have the option of sending their kids to private school for free. Two of my nephews go to private schools and their parents aren't bad people, they aren't the greatest (including my sibling) as parents, but the best decision they made was to give those kids an opportunity to go to a highly regarded school. One of my nephews has an IQ of over 150, we joke (but know it is true) that he is our family genius and he is not even a teenager yet. He would not be well served at the public school in his neighborhood and not because he is black or a boy or low income, but because he is way ahead of them academically and would not be challenged. So even though I would not send my kid to a private school unless there were dire circumstances, I don't think that everyone's decision on education are cut and dry, good or bad.
And this is from a parent who did send my kid to a traditional public school for 4 years and who did "work to make the school better." This cannot be done with just one or two families at a school. Especially when teachers and administrators work together to ensure their school is run in a "business as usual" manner. We had many, what I call "battles" with that school, the board, other families, etc. so made the decision to go with a public charter that is better than most private schools IMO and it was the best choice for us. Parents leaving traditional public education, I feel is a good way to force it to strive to be better and adopt more progressive (not liberal progressive but moving away from the norm) policies on education.
Finland? Really? It's a country of 5.3 million people. 33 years ago, it was a country of 4.8 million people. I'm willing to bet that there are more schoolkids in NYC and LA than there are in the entire country of Finland. Education is easier -- much, much easier -- in a country like Finland that practically has zero growth.
If you are looking to improve education for all people, then ALL PEOPLE have to look to improve education. It's a collaborative venture, not a passive venture. Having put 4 kids through school, I can assure you it's not an easy venture, either.
Whoever wrote that is an idiot. If the public schools suck where I live, then I'm not inflicting a poor education and bleak economic and intellectual future on my kid for the sake of lumping him or her into an environment of kids with poor family values out of the naive hope that things will one day magically get fixed.
I already pay property tax regardless of where my kids would go. Many nations fund their primary schools at much lower levels than we do, yet they enjoy better academic outcomes. It's not just about throwing more money at the problem.
Raised by two public school administrator/teachers > Attended private school. /shrug
Never witnessed a single fist fight or pregnancy during that time. I believe my class had a 98% enrollment in college coming out of senior year.
If I had kids, I would certainly send them to private school. Lockers were routinely being gone-through in the halls during class, to check for drugs, etc. The parking lot was also scanned daily. The staff made sure that kids who disrupted learning for the other kids were expelled quickly. Kids were rewarded for achievements and seeing kids getting bullied or picked on was very rare.
I could not even go to the mall with my cousin who attended the public school down the road. I remember kids from her school following us trying to beat her up. It was like a whole 'nother world to me...girls trying to fist fight each other was just bizarre to me.
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