Private/Public school question....

[joeokw]

Well, I put in my two cents. We sent our oldest Ds to private school from K-4 in 4th grade he took up the trumpet. since it was small school and had minimal resources for any exta-cuuricular activities, all there was was one small school band. His music teacher told him he had talent, but he could not help my DS more. My son also had trouble with fidgeting, talking, and not having socially accepted behavior according to the Headmaster. We were told he was he was bright but he was miserable , because he was always picked on by the other kids. We decided to get him evaluated at the school district's expense and we found out he had ADHD. We told the private school this, but they said "they do not accept students with any disclosed learning diffuculties.". So we decided to send him to our pubilc schools. Our public school has a wide diversity of students both cultually and socio-economically.. We were concerned because rumors of racial tension in the scools, we soon found out this was not true. Our high school sends many to Ivy league and other top flight colleges. Our neighbor's kids both graduated from our high school and graduated Cornell and MIT and they took APs in and all. It has been two years in public school now , in the 8th grade and my DS is in the honors program, plays in the our renowed marching band , also is a member of the all-district concert and jazz groups, played baseball and basketbal for the school(the private school only had a basketball team). He is now a well rounded person , been exposed to many different cultures, and now enjoys school. the funny thing is the private school has almost same curriculum as ours. For high school we are going to leave him in public school, because we believe a person only gets as far he believes he can.
ps. to the person who thinks public college easy.. . I do not know what school you attend, but I sure wished I went to a public college.. because I overpaid for I learned at a private one.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally posted by fklhou

In my son's class, he had a number of kids leave at the end of eight grade to go to public school where these students were assured of being in the top 10% of their class. One of my lawpartners put his son (who is a year older than my son) in public school instead of St. Johns so that he would have a higher class rank. The boy had a lower SAT than my son but was number 8 in his class and was accepted in all of his top choice schools.

Yep, this is true. My dd has a better shot at a better class ranking in public than private. Also my girls like art and band, which is just not offered like we want in private schools around here.

OP, as far as friends, well if your kids are outgoing they will probably be fine. If they hate it you can always put them back into public school again easily, right?

After looking at the colleges attended after graduation (around here) more kids went to top schools from public than private. Try and wrap your brain around that one!

 

[house_of_princesses]

IMHumbleO, it isn't a question of private vs. public vs. home. The question is, where will the child use his time the wisest? Where is he challenged? Where will he grow?

What sense is there in spending 8 hours a day in a place where there is no growth? Why stay in a place where boredom is fostered? If a child is spending M-F in school, only to have to go to enrichment programs on Saturday or after school, what was accompolished during the school day?

Bottom line, we all have to learn how to use our time wisely. We need to teach our children how to do that, regardless of public, private, home.

As for friends, they'll make new ones, and keep the ones worth their salt.