<p>Very thought provoking discussion. In the end, you make a very personal decision that is criticism-proof because it is so necessarily subjective. </p>
<p>I agree with bostdad’s point about a teenager being able to absorb only so much in a day. I might be able to go along with the conclusion about a 20-30% value added, though there’s certainly a case for bumping up to 40 or 50%, and this may well have a lot to do with what is available locally – not all “adequate suburban public HS”, nor the other local resources, are the same, and local may mean 5, 10, 15 and 20 or more miles away. </p>
<p>What does that 20-50% consist of? I suspect it consists of “big” opportunities that can be hard to replicate locally, and “small” daily ones whose recursive nature shapes character over time. What about the self-identity that comes from contributing to a BS community that cultivates a strong “ethos”? My two kids came into high school as good thinkers and writers; I think that BS is leveraging those skills much better than my local ps would. A definite part of that is the much smaller teacher-student ratio, which is what private tuition is always paying for (and the elephant in the room as far as public education goes). </p>
<p>The idea that a teenager will be the same person four years later, because s/he ends up at the same college, whether the path was public school or BS, is less persuasive. It’s a harder sell that the public teen somehow became a “better leader” for learning how to deal with “real” people. My two kids have already, in half a year and one and a half years, gone after multiple opportunities that were only available because of what the school brought to the table, the limited size of the student pool, and the mutual support and encouragement given in this school ethos. </p>
<p>But we’re not facing “severe financial distress”. If that were the case, it’s probable that we would decide differently. Sustaining “poverty for private”, when there would be a choice not to be poor by forgoing BS, that is the province of the very strong-willed.</p>