Private Schools

[jennlin]

Apr 11, 2013 10:54:06 GMT -5 @jennuinne said:

I had a public education and turned out just fine, w/ the ability to take honors classes and do running start and challenge myself when the class was moving too slow.  I'm sure our kids could get a better education in a private school, but I am concerned that they will lose some persepctive.  I don't want them going to school w/ all rich, white kids and becoming elitist and not relate to other people. 

i already answered in the homeschooling thread...but basically what @jennuinne said here.

i'm also fortunate enough to own a home where i feel comfortable with the public schools...

don't know if this search will show up, but i chose top rated public highschools within 60 miles of seattle, and the HS my new house is under is #3.

www.greatschools.org/search/search.page?lat=47.6062095&lon=-122.3320708&state=WA&locationType=locality,political&sortBy=GS_RATING_DESCENDING&normalizedAddress=Seattle,+WA&totalResults=1&city=Seattle&zipCode=&locationSearchString=seattle,.+wa&distance=60&gradeLevels=h&st=public

edit: c&p all of it, and it should show up correctly. h also went to this school...i went to #5.

[catbus]

I also basically just answered this in the homeschooling thread, but I am open to private schools because I think SPS are just too poor at this point to consider. That said, we want to stay in Seattle for its diversity (in all socioeconomic aspects--income, race, education, etc.). I feel like E would have a more insular and isolated experience if we moved out to a "rich" suburb where the really good public schools are than if we stay in our current neighborhood and opt for private school.

Ideally, yes, we'd do public school for the reasons you cite, but as of right now those schools just aren't doing well enough for me to feel comfortable with them. A lot can change in a few years, though, so I'll keep holding my breath for improvements.

[sarack]

i went to public school and i think i'm pretty awesome.

he will be fine, but do you think that you'll always live in that area? from the sounds of it, it seems like you'll need to upgrade eventually.

also, you said "if we can't get babyniq into a better highschool".. is there something you're not telling us? niq @jennuinne lol.

[ashleyp728]

Apr 11, 2013 11:35:21 GMT -5 sarack said:

also, you said "if we can't get babyniq into a better highschool".. is there something you're not telling us? niq @jennuinne lol.

Haha I'm glad I wasn't the only one that was a little aught off guard here!

[jennlin]

Apr 11, 2013 11:52:16 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

Apr 11, 2013 11:48:22 GMT -5 ashleyp728 said:

Haha I'm glad I wasn't the only one that was a little aught off guard here!

I'm confused as to what's confusing? XD

my guess is that they're both concerned about where they live *right now*, and it seems kinda like they're having a child together....

but i get it. they're not...


riiiiiiight guys? niq @jennuinne.

[niq]

Apr 11, 2013 11:52:16 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

Apr 11, 2013 11:48:22 GMT -5 ashleyp728 said:

Haha I'm glad I wasn't the only one that was a little aught off guard here!

I'm confused as to what's confusing? XD

I can't tell if people thought babyniq is secretly already in middle school or that @jennuinne is my baby's mama!

I blame all wring words on Swype

[InBetweenDays]

I'm a big proponent of public schools, and would need a VERY compelling reason to send our kids to private school. They may get a slightly better education, and it may help them get into a better college, but with definite trade offs. I love the diversity at E's school - in a what I consider a "white" neighborhood in a "white" city there are only 60% of the students at her school that identify as caucasian. I love that going to our neighborhood school gives us more a sense of community. And I feel that she is getting a very good education so far. She's tested a grade+ above in math and 3 grades above in reading, and her teacher is able to work with her to make sure she is challenged.

I think I may be biased because of the industry I am in, and I would maybe feel differently if I was in more of a business type field, but going to the best highschool and getting into an Ivy league college isn't the end-all, be-all to me. I don't even think an Ivy league education holds that much more weight in my industry.

I can certainly see why some people value a private school education, but for us I don't think we feel it is worth it for the trade offs.

[jennlin]

Apr 11, 2013 11:28:15 GMT -5 catbus said:

I also basically just answered this in the homeschooling thread, but I am open to private schools because I think SPS are just too poor at this point to consider. That said, we want to stay in Seattle for its diversity (in all socioeconomic aspects--income, race, education, etc.). I feel like E would have a more insular and isolated experience if we moved out to a "rich" suburb where the really good public schools are than if we stay in our current neighborhood and opt for private school.

Ideally, yes, we'd do public school for the reasons you cite, but as of right now those schools just aren't doing well enough for me to feel comfortable with them. A lot can change in a few years, though, so I'll keep holding my breath for improvements.

this is a good point, and i will admit...when h and i were "ultimately choosing" where to live...we were both set on our kids either going to his highschool or mine. we both went to some of the top public highschools in the area.. but we chose his because 1) closer to work. 2) there's a higher asian population there...and you're right. mukilteo is full of rich kids... *but* we feel like public HS mukilteo wouldn't be as bad as private school where the kids are being pulled out of what is "good enough" to go somewhere "better". the diversity would here would still be more rich than a private school in the area.

i guess, however, if i lived in seattle public schools area, i would also probably do private school...but based on where we live, we prefer public.

spunbutterfly does have a terrifying point, of having the connections to get into the right schools....maybe we'll put our kids in private school for senior year only haha.

[jennlin]

Apr 11, 2013 12:10:40 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

Apr 11, 2013 12:08:11 GMT -5 jennlin said:

this is a good point, and i will admit...when h and i were "ultimately choosing" where to live...we were both set on our kids either going to his highschool or mine. we both went to some of the top public highschools in the area.. but we chose his because 1) closer to work. 2) there's a higher asian population there...and you're right. mukilteo is full of rich kids... *but* we feel like public HS mukilteo wouldn't be as bad as private school where the kids are being pulled out of what is "good enough" to go somewhere "better". the diversity would here would still be more rich than a private school in the area.

i guess, however, if i lived in seattle public schools area, i would also probably do private school...but based on where we live, we prefer public.

spunbutterfly does have a terrifying point, of having the connections to get into the right schools....maybe we'll put our kids in private school for senior year only haha.

Some private schools don't allow senior transfers due to adjustment issues and not being 'on par' with the rest of the class. Not all of them, but something to keep in mind (even though I think you were mostly joking.) XD

yes, joking. our kids would hate us to transfer them senior year.


however, i still think it's how you apply yourself, not necessarily where you went to school. h and i are both uw-rejects, and we did really well with ourselves, i think. i mean, we're not the richest of our friends, but we're definitely up there.

[Deleted]

For us I feel private schools aren't an option as we can't afford it. Not to mention with there being no private high school on Bainbridge we would have to send them to Bremerton or Seattle for it, it would get really expensive. Not to mention the fact that we most likely won't be buying a house on Bainbridge so while Poulsbo is closer to Bremerton I still don't think we can afford it.

[niq]

Just catching up after our daycare tour ... man, BH is a button-downed operation. And expensive!

I went to private schools K-12 and then private college. The Atlanta schools are terrible. The best high school sent something like 60% of its students to college, and almost all of them to 2-year programs or Georgia State (which is ... I dunno, slightly worse than Western Washington?). The suburban schools were better but we lived in the city. They were also more diverse than the private schools, but there was still a lot of white flight and they were still not as good. I would even say by going to an in-city private school I was with kids who were less racist and had less racist parents than if I had gone to a suburban public school. I lived a less sheltered life than a lot of my classmates, but I have no illusions about it; I was a pretty sheltered kid.

In retrospect, I think my parents could have sent me to public schools K-5 or K-8 and then private high school or middle+high school and I would have turned out about as smart but more aware of the world.

Msniq's entire school career is on 23rd/Montlake between MLK and 50th st. (Madrona     Elementary I think, Washington Middle, Garfield High, UW). All of her siblings went to public school and turned out okay, though for some of them it took a while . One sister got into really good private schools and was very upset her parents wouldn't let her go because of affordability.

Because enough public schools in the city are pretty good, and because private schools tuition has skyrocketed into the "who the f*** can afford this?!?", we both really want to try sticking with the public school system. Despite all the rhetoric from politicians, a lot of public schools are perfectly fine places to learn. Also like catbus I think part of the reason we are staying in the city is to be a more diverse environment (but somewhere like Federal Way would be more diverse than our neighborhood).

College, all bets are off. babyniq can go where he wants and we'll pay for it, but, we may try and give him lots of incentives to go to UW if his other choices are mid-tier out-of-state private schools .

[jennlin]

[Source] niq said:

College, all bets are off. babyniq can go where he wants and we'll pay for it, but, we may try and give him lots of incentives to go to UW if his other choices are mid-tier out-of-state private schools .

Clicky coming soon.