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First, I must first say that I am not trying to be critical; I am merely curious. Yes, I am a proponent of public schools (I have taught over seventeen years in Atlanta Public and Henry County Schools) but even if I was not, there would be no way I could personally afford tuition at even a modestly priced small Christian School near where I live in Clayton County for my three school aged children. Luckily, my three have truly excelled in their local school. That said, I have many church members that STRUGGLE to keep their children in the modestly priced Christian schools in the Clayton/ Henry area. Their reasons are a desire for a Christ-centered education, a noble goal in my estimation, but from what I read here, that is not the reason behind many of these "Buckhead Privates" posts. From my experience, if your closest private options are Westminster, Pace, or Holy Innocence, you are probably zoned to one of the best elementary schools in the entire Metro (Sarah Smith, Warren T. Jackson, Morris Brandon, or even Morningside.) I realize that middle school and high school may be a bigger concerns, but the International Baccalaureate programs at Sutton, and especially North Atlanta and even Sandy Spring's Riverwood High School have the reputation for being rather top notch. So, I wonder at the attraction. I am not even speculating.....just tell me some of the motivations.
First of all, the wealthy families who live especially in the western parts of Buckhead and Sandy Springs (along Riverside Drive) have a major desire: simply put to keep up their standard of living and for their children to do exactly the same. Therefore, they will do everything they can to provide the highest possible quality education for their kids and in their opinion (and that of those in their social circle) that means attending Westminster or Lovett. They look at the average SAT stats for those schools and the acceptance rates for the most prestigious colleges and universities and these private schools have a real advantage. They believe that if their sons and daughters perform well at the undergraduate college level, they will have an excellent shot at getting admitted to the Medical School, Law School or Business School of their choosing. After they graduate from those schools, they can afford to buy a home in Buckhead (or a wealthy enclave in another city)and continue the "fabulous lifestyles" which their parents have enjoyed. There are a good number of Westminster legacies where the children are following in their parents footsteps.
It's not that the public schools in the affluent zip codes are poor performing schools, quite the contrary. In fact many families will choose Sarah Smith or Morris Brandon for the lower grades, however, after "daddy becomes a partner at King and Spalding", they will transfer to a private school for the high school grades.
Often, these families will pay for a private tutor so that their kids can keep up with the rigorous academic demands of these schools.
It's amazing to think about the number of families in these areas who are paying more than $20K per child per year for private school education. If you ever look at the parking lot of the West Paces Ferry Publix Shopping Center, you will see many a car with either a Westminster or Lovett sticker (often with a Duke or Vanderbilt sticker, too). It takes a lot of work to maintain this lifestyle and these schools are a testament to it.
I've always been fascinated by this phenomenon as well. I think David 1502 is spot on, but I think many of these kids would do just as well in any school due to good genetics (intelligence is somewhat inheritable) and affluent parents able to hire the best tutors money can buy.
What I'm most stunned by is the fact that the number one college Westminster and Lovett students attend is the University of Georgia. I'm not taking anything away from UGA because it is a great school, but if I "invested" 250K in my kids private education, and they end up at UGA I'd be somewhat disappointed.
It's worth noting that some people are honestly just that well off and the costs aren't that big of an issue.
Being a major business center we have many people like this.
From my experience in Gwinnett I see two separate types: (and bare in mind, this often incorporates families in the top 20%, but maybe not the top 1% you will find in Buckhead)
1) Religious fundamentalist, like you spotted out. They differ amongst themselves. Some do it to keep their kids with people they know from church. Others will do it, because they have beliefs (let's face it, politics they are rolling into religious beliefs) that conflict with basic neutral science and they are side-stepping parts of key education.
2) Gwinnett (and I'm sure Clayton and Henry have this) areas with many border line cases and areas where big wealth differences occur in a district. Not all kids, even from affluent areas, are going to excel. The average kid will still be average, so some people can't depend on more rigorous education tracks to separate their children from more transient students or students that just slow down the pace of classes.
Norcross is the best example that comes to mind. It is actually a very good school and has held up really well. It has some of the lowest and highest median household incomes in the metro area within the same district (This map shows both the top 20% MHI and the top 20% MHI in the region; unshaded areas being the middle 60%):
Overall Norcross is a good school and has a strong past of generating graduates that go to flagship colleges, but it also deals with a higher than typical number of transient students and lower performing students that slow things down. So what happens for many living in Northern Peacthree Corners, beyond elementary school, is there child is staying average or even falling behind private school for high school and possibly middle school becomes a strong option.
Not surprising Wesleyan and GACS, two of the largest (not necessarily academically affluent) private schools in the area, are very close by.
It's worth noting that some people are honestly just that well off and the costs aren't that big of an issue.
Being a major business center we have many people like this.
From my experience in Gwinnett I see two separate types: (and bare in mind, this often incorporates families in the top 20%, but maybe not the top 1% you will find in Buckhead)
1) Religious fundamentalist, like you spotted out. They differ amongst themselves. Some do it to keep their kids with people they know from church. Others will do it, because they have beliefs (let's face it, politics they are rolling into religious beliefs) that conflict with basic neutral science and they are side-stepping parts of key education.
2) Gwinnett (and I'm sure Clayton and Henry have this) areas with many border line cases and areas where big wealth differences occur in a district. Not all kids, even from affluent areas, are going to excel. The average kid will still be average, so some people can't depend on more rigorous education tracks to separate their children from more transient students or students that just slow down the pace of classes.
Norcross is the best example that comes to mind. It is actually a very good school and has held up really well. It has some of the lowest and highest median household incomes in the metro area within the same district (This map shows both the top 20% MHI and the top 20% MHI in the region; unshaded areas being the middle 60%):
Overall Norcross is a good school and has a strong past of generating graduates that go to flagship colleges, but it also deals with a higher than typical number of transient students and lower performing students that slow things down. So what happens for many living in Northern Peacthree Corners, beyond elementary school, is there child is staying average or even falling behind private school for high school and possibly middle school becomes a strong option.
Not surprising Wesleyan and GACS, two of the largest (not necessarily academically affluent) private schools in the area, are very close by.
It is in the upper tier as a light blue dot in the western corner of the county.
To follow up on this, my MS has a number of good students in the Advanced classes, but the regular classes have been described as "baby-sitting." So if you aren't in the Advanced classes, you do NOT want to be there. And the private schools are much more rigorous even compared to the Advanced classes. They work the students harder and tend to move quicker.
For some safety is a factor. You don't have the large number of fights and there may be a belief that you can avoid drugs easier, certainly in the Christian schools (it might be the opposite in the private schools where the kids have access to a lot of money).
Then there is also socialization and networking. Those connections may help you later. And there is a way of carrying yourself, dressing, language and refinement. I went to both a city school and a suburban school in the 70s (I mention the 70s because the dynamic is a little different now-but the point applies to public-private). After graduating from a public university, I went to work for a large firm and it was obvious to me who went to a city school and who went to one of the upper middle class suburban schools. I considered myself a "city school" person and I could see the difference. I can only imagine how much more obvious it was to the "suburban school" people.
I've always been fascinated by this phenomenon as well. I think David 1502 is spot on, but I think many of these kids would do just as well in any school due to good genetics (intelligence is somewhat inheritable) and affluent parents able to hire the best tutors money can buy.
What I'm most stunned by is the fact that the number one college Westminster and Lovett students attend is the University of Georgia. I'm not taking anything away from UGA because it is a great school, but if I "invested" 250K in my kids private education, and they end up at UGA I'd be somewhat disappointed.
I've been saying the same thing for years. Seems like everybody I've ever met who went to Westminister ends up at UGA. Not knocking it all, UGA is a lot better than the school I went to, but for all that money I would think an Ivy League school or at least a Duke or something in that ballpark would be the end result. I went to elementary school with a bunch of kids who were private school bound. WT Jackson was cool for the far NW side crowd, but a lot of those parents didn't want their kids going on to middle school which it fed into. And I distinctly remember hearing stuff from the kids themselves that their parents thought the middle school was "too ghetto". Even back then I knew what that was code for. It is what it is though as I ended up going to that middle school (Sutton) for a little bit then ended up at Kennedy, and I quickly saw what a ghetto school really was.
I feel a little surprised about the University of Georgia statistic. Gee, I went to University of Georgia (did pretty well, too, even if I do say so myself) from Forest Park Senior High. Well. Go F. P.!
It's worth noting that some people are honestly just that well off and the costs aren't that big of an issue.
Being a major business center we have many people like this.
From my experience in Gwinnett I see two separate types: (and bare in mind, this often incorporates families in the top 20%, but maybe not the top 1% you will find in Buckhead)
1) Religious fundamentalist, like you spotted out. They differ amongst themselves. Some do it to keep their kids with people they know from church. Others will do it, because they have beliefs (let's face it, politics they are rolling into religious beliefs) that conflict with basic neutral science and they are side-stepping parts of key education.
2) Gwinnett (and I'm sure Clayton and Henry have this) areas with many border line cases and areas where big wealth differences occur in a district. Not all kids, even from affluent areas, are going to excel. The average kid will still be average, so some people can't depend on more rigorous education tracks to separate their children from more transient students or students that just slow down the pace of classes.
Norcross is the best example that comes to mind. It is actually a very good school and has held up really well. It has some of the lowest and highest median household incomes in the metro area within the same district (This map shows both the top 20% MHI and the top 20% MHI in the region; unshaded areas being the middle 60%):
Overall Norcross is a good school and has a strong past of generating graduates that go to flagship colleges, but it also deals with a higher than typical number of transient students and lower performing students that slow things down. So what happens for many living in Northern Peacthree Corners, beyond elementary school, is there child is staying average or even falling behind private school for high school and possibly middle school becomes a strong option.
Not surprising Wesleyan and GACS, two of the largest (not necessarily academically affluent) private schools in the area, are very close by.
It is in the upper tier as a light blue dot in the western corner of the county.
Love the maps.
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