<p>@austinmshauri I don’t think we’re “hoi polloi.” We simply send our children to schools where the don’t have to share space with distracting bottom feeders who don’t care about school (which can encompass the bottom 5-50%). I can say with certainty the secondary school my children attend doesn’t have any students who don’t care about school or are failing most of their classes. Those students are 1) not allowed in or, 2) promptly removed. Sorry I’m not sorry my children don’t have to encounter these types of students. If you’re offended by this and respond by attacking me, may I suggest you examine your motives.</p>
<p>Ellen- just check out the eye-popping prices at the “therapeutic boarding schools” that are now in vogue.</p>
<p>These are the children of the 1% (who else can afford it?) whose kids end up taking a plea bargain and heading to Utah in lieu of jail time; kids who have been thrown out of tier one boarding schools, then their local day school, and the parents are desperately seeking a solution which will put the kid back on track.</p>
<p>I have a colleague whose kid ended up in one of these. All I can say after hearing about the experience is, “Thank god they didn’t foist this kid on the local public HS, so that those kids didn’t have one more drug addicted peer to deal with”.</p>
<p>Proud member of the uber class.</p>
<p>@blossom Great anecdote. I’m sure your public school troops are really excited to read that.</p>
<p>^^^ Just MHO, but it seems to me like the parents of the children in these kinds of situations need to be more involved in the kid’s day-to-day life instead of shipping them off and paying others to put the kid “back on track.” </p>
<p>When my husband’s cousin moved into an area where the high school had a lot of non college bound kids, I begged them to put their kids into the Catholic schools near them. But it’s difficult a lot of time to really assess schools. The public school was new and shiny and gave out a lot of press, bragged a lot, and did have kids who did well there. Better maybe than the Catholic high school. The big difference was that the Catholic high school had a close to 100% 4 year college matriculation rate for their graduates each year. The public school not only had a lot of kids who did not go to college at all, but who dropped out, ended up in alternative programs and they did not show up in the data. In all fairness, the Catholic school did not report their drop out rates, but I’ve been able to track them down. Trying to get that kind of info from a public school has been futile for me.</p>
<p>The Catholic high school was smaller, more down in heels, dinghy, not in a great area, not as many resources, but IMO was the better bet for kids who were not in the upper echelons motivationally, academically, intellectually. And sure enough, the cousins fell into the lower percentages of kids that just did not make it. I put my money on the peer pressure, what the classmates are doing in such situations, unless the kids are clearly up there in stats. </p>
<p>blossom and bestfriendsgirl,</p>
<p>Re-therapeutic boarding schools, don’t judge people who have sent their kids to such schools unless you’ve walked their paths. I know two families who have sent their kids to therapeutic boarding schools. In one case the child had a severe eating disorder. She spent years in and out of the hospital, both when she was at a local private day school and after that at the local public school. The family is one of the most loving, warm, centered and involved families I know, they did everything they possibly could to help her recover, and they only sent her to the boarding school as a last resort. I firmly believe that without it she’d be dead of a heart attack, but instead she’s back with her family, finishing high school. </p>
<p>The other child had ADHD so severe that she was miserable and made everyone around her miserable, despite extensive therapy and medication. A therapeutic boarding school made a huge difference in her life. The school helped her learn to manage her symptoms and for the first time she was able to succeed academically and socially. Her parents missed her terribly and they were conflicted about sending her away, but at the recommendation of her therapist they cashed in one of their retirement accounts to do so. </p>
<p>Sue, I’m not judging. I’m pointing out that kids from “good families” (i.e. not the rif-raf that one poster is so fearful of) also have issues. And that sending your kid to private school is hardly a way to insulate your child from kids with problems. Some health related. Some drug related. Sometimes criminal activity which requires being removed from the old friends and neighborhood. I think the idea that having your kid in a public school exposes your kid to terrible people and terrible pathologies is highly judgmental- especially since kids who need intervention of some kind come out of all kinds of families- rich, poor, supportive, neglectful, arrogant and humble.</p>
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<p>Although we are white, we found the lack of diversity in our public high school concerning. Our private HS gives financial aid to a good number of students, so many kids from not only different ethnic backgrounds but also lower SES can attend. It was not the only factor for us, but it was a consideration. </p>
<p>Btw, there are very few disciplinary problems at either the public or private, but my very non-scientific view is that it is actually the higher SES group that is over-represented in the misbehaved group. </p>
<p>Blossom, sorry if I misread you. </p>
<p>I think it’s pretty much impossible to answer the OP’s question without a whole lot of other parameters. There’s so much variety among private schools that asking “Is private worth it?” is like asking if going on vacation is expensive.</p>
<p>I feel it depends on your surroundings and the type of neighborhood you live around. I was never put in private and I still turned out fine (: lol</p>
<p>Chance me back at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1663804-how-am-i-looking-for-an-acceptance-into-the-university-of-south-carolina.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1663804-how-am-i-looking-for-an-acceptance-into-the-university-of-south-carolina.html#latest</a></p>
<p>Pretty please && THANK YOU!!</p>