Public School w/extras Vs. Private School

[princessmom29]

Ahhhh....outcomes the insecurities of the public school teacher who has to put down someone who wants to send their kids to a private school.

Let me guess you work in Jersey?

I am a public school teacher who chooses to send her child to private school, and I am in agreement with the poster you are bashing. DD's school doesn't take children who do not make a cutoff score on the enterance exam. Public schools do not have that luxury. They must take all comers and everyone, no matter how profoundly diasbled, must take state tests. All of those scores count towards the school's average. You cannot base "my kids are ahead" on average test scores ofr a school, and you cannot know where other kids in the nieghborhood are academically unless you work closely with them or have access to thier test scores. So I just don't see how claiming your kids are ahead of all the public school kidsin your neighborhood has any basis, and turning it into a money/class based issue is frankly distasteful.

 

[js]

Is this tread headed in the same direction as the Tator Tot Thread

 

[mafibisha]

I am a public school teacher who chooses to send her child to private school, and I am in agreement with the poster you are bashing. DD's school doesn't take children who do not make a cutoff score on the enterance exam. Public schools do not have that luxury. They must take all comers and everyone, no matter how profoundly diasbled, must take state tests. All of those scores count towards the school's average. You cannot base "my kids are ahead" on average test scores ofr a school, and you cannot know where other kids in the nieghborhood are academically unless you work closely with them or have access to thier test scores. So I just don't see how claiming your kids are ahead of all the public school kidsin your neighborhood has any basis, and turning it into a money/class based issue is frankly distasteful.

ITA.
In addition, don't we all know kids with a super high *IQ* but virtually NO *EQ*? (*emotional quotient*. IOW, they're socially inept.... )

 

[gerald]

I am a public school teacher who chooses to send her child to private school .

Your honor I rest my case.


But seriously now......You should go back and read from the beginning. I am talking about my little slice of America. My local public schools where I live vs. where I choose to send my children to school. Nowhere did I ever impugn all public schools across the nation. Nowhere did I ever say I was a better parent than my neighbor's. Nowhere did I compare income, or make this about class or social status. I was accused of being "elite" because I gave an opinion. Like I said I could have given anecdotal evidence of conversations I have had with the local teachers about where my sons are vs. what they are currently teaching. I merely cited the testing scores as something that influenced my opinion.

Apparently I have kicked over the hornets’ nest of public school teachers on this.

 

[beckysmith]

Well, I'm just gonna put it out there that I went to private school and I loved it.
I liked the uniforms (less judgmental), knowing everyone in my class, and everything else about it.

 

[princessmom29]

Your honor I rest my case.


But seriously now......You should go back and read from the beginning. I am talking about my little slice of America. My local public schools where I live vs. where I choose to send my children to school. Nowhere did I ever impugn all public schools across the nation. Nowhere did I ever say I was a better parent than my neighbor's. Nowhere did I compare income, or make this about class or social status. I was accused of being "elite" because I gave an opinion. Like I said I could have given anecdotal evidence of conversations I have had with the local teachers about where my sons are vs. what they are currently teaching. I merely cited the testing scores as something that influenced my opinion.

Apparently I have kicked over the hornets’ nest of public school teachers on this.

test scores have very little to do with why I send my DD to private school, and anyone woh bases that decision solely on test scores is being very shortsighted. Don't assume to know my situation. You don't. I teach high school, and DD will likely go to school with me when she gets there.

I still don't see how your comaprison of your kids scores to the average score for the public school proves your kids are "ahead" whatever that means. It is simply NOT a valid comparison, and several PPs have pointed out.

You DID in fact bring money into the discussion by saying that as long as you have the money your kids will never go to public school. Do you not see how that sounds elitist??? If you don't then I don't think there is really anything anyone here can do to help you see it.

 

[gerald]

test scores have very little to do with why I send my DD to private school, and anyone woh bases that decision solely on test scores is being very shortsighted. Don't assume to know my situation. You don't. I teach high school, and DD will likely go to school with me when she gets there.

I still don't see how your comaprison of your kids scores to the average score for the public school proves your kids are "ahead" whatever that means. It is simply NOT a valid comparison, and several PPs have pointed out.

You DID in fact bring money into the discussion by saying that as long as you have the money your kids will never go to public school. Do you not see how that sounds elitist??? If you don't then I don't think there is really anything anyone here can do to help you see it.

Don't assume to know mine. Funny how you make a statement about passing judgment on someone than three sentences later do the same.

You’re right test scores between schools don't matter. It means nothing at all.

Test scores is one component of the decision making process that lead me to my choice. I will continue to stand by my statement of if the means are available to me in the future I will continue with the same educational path. Also if we are not judging anyone; who are you to determine if my statement is "elitist" and why is it important for me to "see it"?

 

[averysmom]

i am a public school teacher who chooses to send her child to private school, and i am in agreement with the poster you are bashing. Dd's school doesn't take children who do not make a cutoff score on the enterance exam. Public schools do not have that luxury. They must take all comers and everyone, no matter how profoundly diasbled, must take state tests. All of those scores count towards the school's average. you cannot base "my kids are ahead" on average test scores ofr a school, and you cannot know where other kids in the nieghborhood are academically unless you work closely with them or have access to thier test scores. So i just don't see how claiming your kids are ahead of all the public school kidsin your neighborhood has any basis, and turning it into a money/class based issue is frankly distasteful.

ita!

 

[surfgirl]

Back to the OP's question - if you read the current research, the correlation between success in school is more related to the amount of parental involvement than the level (or type) of school.

One interesting story -- my 1st grader's teacher has developed "literacy bags" that go home weekly with a book to read and questions, games, and activities all related. It is extra and not required, but the kids love them! We were sitting at his sister's sports practice this year and a teacher (also waiting) was amazed and impressed with the bags and how much time and effort they took from the teacher as well as the weekly commitment by the parents to sit and do them. The ironic part ? My son is a public school kid and she is a private school teacher. Her comment, "most private school parents don't want to be involved and they believe they pay for us to do all the work with their kids". Do I believe that is true for everyone ? Absolutely not! But it was her comment, not mine - and she has much more experience with the private school parents than I do.

You can generalize and justify anything you want. For us, $10k wouldn't "buy" a private school education worth anything - and it would actually be worse than the local public school system. I admit, I am fortunate to have an excellent school district.

Carrying that on to college... those lowly state schools (the college equivalent of public school) were found to be the three most desirable from a hiring perspective according to a WSJ study last year. In fact, 19 of the top 25 were state schools. We can all come up with our reasons why, but it was eye opening for those who believe that the Ivies are the key to long-term success.

 

[mafibisha]

Back to the OP's question - if you read the current research, the correlation between success in school is more related to the amount of parental involvement than the level (or type) of school.

One interesting story -- my 1st grader's teacher has developed "literacy bags" that go home weekly with a book to read and questions, games, and activities all related. It is extra and not required, but the kids love them! We were sitting at his sister's sports practice this year and a teacher (also waiting) was amazed and impressed with the bags and how much time and effort they took from the teacher as well as the weekly commitment by the parents to sit and do them. The ironic part ? My son is a public school kid and she is a private school teacher. Her comment, "most private school parents don't want to be involved and they believe they pay for us to do all the work with their kids". Do I believe that is true for everyone ? Absolutely not! But it was her comment, not mine - and she has much more experience with the private school parents than I do.

You can generalize and justify anything you want. For us, $10k wouldn't "buy" a private school education worth anything - and it would actually be worse than the local public school system. I admit, I am fortunate to have an excellent school district.

Carrying that on to college... those lowly state schools (the college equivalent of public school) were found to be the three most desirable from a hiring perspective according to a WSJ study last year. In fact, 19 of the top 25 were state schools. We can all come up with our reasons why, but it was eye opening for those who believe that the Ivies are the key to long-term success.

I'm really not surprised, and when you think about it, you can probably guess why, but what reasons did the article give?

 

[Piper]

I have a totally different opinion. I don't believe the quality of education depends as much on the school as it does the teacher.

I retired last year from teaching in public school. For the last 17 years, I taught Pre-K. I had 2 classes of 20 kids each--no help. The last year my children spoke 11 different languages at home (a couple of years I had more.) I taught in English. I also did inclusion with the children with disabilities (Some years I had 25 students with no help. The school justified this because the aides were in the class across the hall if I had an emergency.)

Half of both classes left me reading from a first to second grade level. The others knew letters and sounds and sight words but hadn't made the leap to fully reading. They wrote and illustrated multi page books ( the principal almost fell over when a couple of my boys asked if they could just get their writing binders and write on the floor since the writing center was full instead of going to the block center.) My non-readers also wrote books--some of them were at the single word or letter stage. I often had most of the class voluntarily sprawled throughout the room cooperating with each other on story lines or proofreading each other's work or listening to another child share his or her story.

If I put objects in my hand and dropped some, they could tell me how many were left in my hand without looking. They counted by ones, twos, fives and tens. They recognized numerals, made patterns (and recognized them in the environment,) they could take a bunch of objects and form categories and then tell you why they had grouped them that way, read a calendar well enough to tell you what day of the week the 24th was on (or any number) and much more.

Neither the bilingual teacher (who taught her kids in their native Spanish) or the other two ESL teachers came anywhere near having readers or writers or students who recognized numerals beyond 10. They had the same materials I had, but didn't challenge or motivate the kids. When I would share the techniques I used, I heard over and over--that takes too much time (by which they meant effort.)

There were many outstanding teachers in every grade level as well as those who just did what they had to do to get by. Talk to other parents. They know which teachers take their jobs seriously.

 

[princessmom29]

Don't assume to know mine. Funny how you make a statement about passing judgment on someone than three sentences later do the same.

You’re right test scores between schools don't matter. It means nothing at all.

Test scores is one component of the decision making process that lead me to my choice. I will continue to stand by my statement of if the means are available to me in the future I will continue with the same educational path. Also if we are not judging anyone; who are you to determine if my statement is "elitist" and why is it important for me to "see it"?

Again, if you don't get it, I don't know how to make you see. I am not the only one who took it that way. The fact that almost everyone else here seemed to read it the same way I did should tell you something.

 

[skw444]

I have a totally different opinion. I don't believe the quality of education depends as much on the school as it does the teacher.

My dd has been in both private (2 years) and public (2 years) school. In private school, one year we had an awesome teacher, my dd learned a lot and she loved school. The next year, we had an awful teacher. In fact, the school let her go after that year. Same thing has happened at public school. Our first year, my dd had the best teacher who went the extra mile to make sure students got what they needed whether it be extra help because they were behind or more advanced work because they were ahead. This year, I have been less than impressed with the teacher.

 

[NY Disney fan]

Thank you all for your valuable opinions.

 

[ccgirl]

Back to the OP's question - if you read the current research, the correlation between success in school is more related to the amount of parental involvement than the level (or type) of school.

One interesting story -- my 1st grader's teacher has developed "literacy bags" that go home weekly with a book to read and questions, games, and activities all related. It is extra and not required, but the kids love them! We were sitting at his sister's sports practice this year and a teacher (also waiting) was amazed and impressed with the bags and how much time and effort they took from the teacher as well as the weekly commitment by the parents to sit and do them. The ironic part ? My son is a public school kid and she is a private school teacher. Her comment, "most private school parents don't want to be involved and they believe they pay for us to do all the work with their kids". Do I believe that is true for everyone ? Absolutely not! But it was her comment, not mine - and she has much more experience with the private school parents than I do.

You can generalize and justify anything you want. For us, $10k wouldn't "buy" a private school education worth anything - and it would actually be worse than the local public school system. I admit, I am fortunate to have an excellent school district.

Carrying that on to college... those lowly state schools (the college equivalent of public school) were found to be the three most desirable from a hiring perspective according to a WSJ study last year. In fact, 19 of the top 25 were state schools. We can all come up with our reasons why, but it was eye opening for those who believe that the Ivies are the key to long-term success.

Let's face it; just because WSJ writes something does not make it true. I went to a state college. But, I have a hard time believing that an attorney that graduates from a state school and an attorney that graduates from Harvard are going to equally as desirable. Same for pre-med/medical schools. I also want to note that not everyone that sends their children to a private school is wealthy so posters really need to stop making that assumption.

 

[NY Disney fan]

Let's face it; just because WSJ writes something does not make it true. I went to a state college. But, I have a hard time believing that an attorney that graduates from a state school and an attorney that graduates from Harvard are going to equally as desirable. Same for pre-med/medical schools.

I work for a large bank. Many of the entry level bankers come from the Ivy League Schools. They are desirable. But for some odd reason, those who are hiring them and are in key positions come from the non-ivies. Also many Rhodes and Truman scholars comes form public universties and state schools. Sometimes its not all about the school but about the person.

 

[scottmel]

I have had DD in both private and public and private is much more for us. I appreciate that GOD can be brought into the classroom. The parents are way more involved in a private school and I appreciate that kids that aren't working to their full potential (ie poor grades) aren't back the following year. 10k would be best invested in private school in my opinion. Even if you had to foot the remaining balance via loan or grant or whatever unless 10k covers the year. Here it would not....

 

[gerald]

Again, if you don't get it, I don't know how to make you see. I am not the only one who took it that way. The fact that almost everyone else here seemed to read it the same way I did should tell you something.

Funny I didn't know the new definition of everyone means two people.

What does tell me something is that after 3 days you continue to obsess over me.