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Your child, your choice... as long as you're not counting on government funds to pay for said school. There are awesome and horrible private schools, so do your homework.
For both K-12 and higher education, private schools are better than public schools.
Some private schools have a religious component that is appealing.
Private schools are pricy at all levels.
In the K-12 years, there are public schools that are outright dangerous. In some districts, a parent is risking their child getting beat up daily in a public school. The physical and psychological damage of bullying and getting beat up would be a reason to avoid a public school. Bullying does happen in private schools but is more likely to be verbal rather than physical. Private school bullying is enough to cause long term psychological damage but still better than public schools, where physical damage can compound psychological damage.
For both K-12 and higher education, private schools are better than public schools.
Some private schools have a religious component that is appealing.
Private schools are pricy at all levels.
In the K-12 years, there are public schools that are outright dangerous. In some districts, a parent is risking their child getting beat up daily in a public school. The physical and psychological damage of bullying and getting beat up would be a reason to avoid a public school. Bullying does happen in private schools but is more likely to be verbal rather than physical. Private school bullying is enough to cause long term psychological damage but still better than public schools, where physical damage can compound psychological damage.
You're making generalizations that don't apply to all schools. Private schools are much more popular in the South. In states like PA and New York, there are many excellent public schools.
Many people do not want a school with a religious component.
Are you genuinely interested in discussing this topic or your mind is completely made up? Are you willing to hear from "ridiculous" person who actually knows what he is talking about based on his current and ongoing experience with private school? I don't get a sense that this topic really concerns you, but seems your friends are concerned trying to avoid "liberal indoctrination" . Can you ask your friends if their school mentions any of these words - diversity, inclusion, equity, belonging.. If the answer is yes, which is more likely then no then your friends are not getting what they wanted... By the way in NY area my friends actually go to a private school that is free of "liberal indoctrination", I could not believe it, but it is true ... As you can imagine it is not nationally ranked school and its graduates don't usually go to ivy league..
Using current marketing puffery (diversity, inclusion, equity...) as a metric for the education they deliver, or their political leanings, is ridiculous, Completely ridiculous.
You're making generalizations that don't apply to all schools. Private schools are much more popular in the South. In states like PA and New York, there are many excellent public schools.
Many people do not want a school with a religious component.
I wouldn't say that. At least, not in my experience (I can't speak for all of the South.)
I wouldn't say that. At least, not in my experience (I can't speak for all of the South.)
This is what I have heard about some Southern states such as the Carolinas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. I once looked at a job in South Carolina and it looked like we would've had to enroll our kids in private school. There are very few options for private schools where I live in Western PA.
One of the key things we parents do is determine the schools to which we send our children. By doing this, we determine the universe from which our kids will select their friends & peers. This has a huge beyond-the-classroom. Imagine that their friends & peers are focused primarily on, say, skateboarding or music or youth culture or football vs. say focusing on the importance of academic achievement to become a doctor or engineer or... well you get the idea. In the former example, they hang out at their friends' houses and its all about Keeping Up With The Kardashians & there are sports memorabilia on the walls with little evidence of academic focus vs. in the latter case there are great books & diplomas and photos of achievement.
So think beyond the on-campus academics. Think about the message it sends, and the future friendships you would like your child to have vs. friendships of which you would strongly disapprove. We as parents are our children's most important role models. Next in line are the parents of our children's friends.
One of the key things we parents do is determine the schools to which we send our children. By doing this, we determine the universe from which our kids will select their friends & peers. This has a huge beyond-the-classroom. Imagine that their friends & peers are focused primarily on, say, skateboarding or music or youth culture or football vs. say focusing on the importance of academic achievement to become a doctor or engineer or... well you get the idea. In the former example, they hang out at their friends' houses and its all about Keeping Up With The Kardashians & there are sports memorabilia on the walls with little evidence of academic focus vs. in the latter case there are great books & diplomas and photos of achievement.
So think beyond the on-campus academics. Think about the message it sends, and the future friendships you would like your child to have vs. friendships of which you would strongly disapprove. We as parents are our children's most important role models. Next in line are the parents of our children's friends.
My kids both attended private Catholic schools in Dallas.
From my son's cabal of school friends - my son is a neurosurgery resident, three engineers, two other MDs, three in finance, two lawyers, a CPA, a Marine Corps pilot, a mathematics professor, a TV reporter, a PGA tour player, an MLB player and a couple of MBAs one has become a very successful homebuilder, one works for his family business.
My daughter's cabal is smaller - she's a medical student probably headed into head injury focused neurology but that could change, three engineers including DD, four financial analysts, a veterinarian in training, a nurse and one who is in law school.
I understand a lot of that is due selection bias. However, all of these kids were well supported and much was expected.
My wife and I have allocated money to send our grand kids to private schools.
This is what I have heard about some Southern states such as the Carolinas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. I once looked at a job in South Carolina and it looked like we would've had to enroll our kids in private school. There are very few options for private schools where I live in Western PA.
Not in North Carolina. Obviously there are private schools, but no more than what I saw in other places like Minnesota or Illinois.
Some of that has to do with residual effects of desegregation. In areas that have seen significant growth since then, it's not as prevalent.
Where I grew up almost all of the private schools were Catholic. The few that weren't were extremely expensive.
I can understand wanting to use a private school for kids but I am flabbergasted by some of the prices. In the end is it really worth it? I went to one of these schools, I think I turned out ok but it's not like I'm changing the world over here either. Currently the high school i went to is now 53k a year, the middle school is 51k. It doesn't have an elementary school. The popular private elementary school near us (it also has a middle school) has these prices:
These are things i think about as I have 2 kids who are 5 and 7. It will take some time to see who they become as students for us to decide where they should go. I think some people have the mentality of oh if you can afford it do it. It feels like so much more than that. I want to be sure I want to even give a private school that much money in the first place. The town we live in has an excellent public school. It's sad that some people think parents are slacking or something if they choose to send their kids to public school.
I have to say that in the working world these days it doesn't really seem to matter where you went to school or even if you have a masters anymore (unless it's needed in a certain field). I've seen people go to ivy league schools who dont seem to have this amazing career the way they were expected to. I think being intelligent is important but it's also how you communicate with others and how hard you work. I simply don't think those are necessarily traits you get from a private school where most of the kids there are wealthy and are handed money by mom and dad.
Ive known plenty of people who went to public schools who went on to better colleges than kids I knew from private school. It's really so hard to figure out what will work best in the end. If you have a lot of money to spend it's probably not a big deal to just bite the bullet and spend they money on private. Wealthier people always have that advantage. Many of the wealthy kids i knew who went to private were handed jobs at their parents company or got a job based on parents' connections and had trust funds, handed homes, etc...so in the end i kind of have to wonder, those kids didn't really need private school. For the average person...i just dont know. Ive seen so many different scenarios.
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