<p>Having gone through both experiences, all I can say is that when you do get a good match between the student's needs and a school, it makes life so much easier. And it is also easier with some kids more than others. </p>
<p>I unwittingly entered the nursery/preschool arena as I posted above simply because of the partial tuition remission given by Uof Ch to students and workers at its very convenient Lab school. We would have survived had our son not gotten into the school but with another little one and one on the way, it would have made life a little bit harder. Just as a mismatch between school and kid does. We have gone into contortions to find the best educational environment for our kids. College apps for the most part have been an easier process.</p>
<p>In high school, my son felt that he was at a disadvantage applying to selective colleges from an average public high school. He is now a junior at Stanford and he has been telling us about some of his friends who say that they did not have good high school experiences at highly competitive prep schools. So perhaps the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.</p>
<p>Garland, to be fair, we went through contortions to get a <em>good</em> public hs, not in LAUSD, for instance. Some private school families didn't distinguish, nor much veil their sympathy and pity.</p>
<p>Many parents who go through the contortions for private schools are looked up with pity and scorn by those who do just fine with the public schools. Many of the public school parents shake their heads at the the private school admissions rituals. Many parents I know here think that those going through the selective college angst are nuts. They had the whole thing wrapped up months ago with their kids in State U and the idea of paying $45K+ for 4 years is insanity to them. We pick our own journies and fights.</p>
<p>I never went to preschool at all.. and neither did any of my family. Never saw the point to it. I did teach it during high school though, and that was pretty cool.</p>
<p>YOU GOTTA BE JOKING!!! DEY ARE RESORTING TO THIS NOW. I think people should try to adress this problem we have come to face in this competitive society. I mean, now, we are dipping near less than 10 percent accetpance rate in colleges now. something obviously must be done. whats next, acceptance now in the 2 percent range. its getting ridiculous.</p>
<p>I went to preschool back in the 60s and so did my sister. Because it was the easy way into the highly-selective competitive-admissions elementary school my mother wanted us to go to. Ironically, it was a Quaker TLC school that preached the evils of competition and taught public service once you were in. These days it's even more selective about whom it accepts. And they still teach the whole do-gooder ethic.</p>
<p>what colleges are you talking about less than 10% rate?
lots of colleges admit just about anyone who has the background to show they want to attend college.
basic prep courses- SAT/ACT scores- decent grades
it may take some looking and you might not get to wear a HYP sweatshirt but you probably won't have that HYP bill either!</p>
<p>Going back to the article, i find it very exaggerated. I go to one of the schools mentioned in the article and i didn't find the admissions process (if you can call it that) anything like that. I applied to one school showed up to their entrance test, got in (along with most of the other ppl that i knew), and then registered. Maybe it's just my family, but it wasn't stressful at all or anything like that.</p>
<p>I would have loved to have gone to preschool
I went for about a week in the 60s and for some reason stopped- my mom probably didn't want to hassle with getting me there with my younger brother to throw in the car.
My kids both went to preschool- co-op preschools, but many kids today attend preschool/child care- I think it is good if it is a decent one. Kids can learn socialization, basic academic skills- have access to toys and art materials they wouldn't otherwise- my kids loved preschool- even my challenging one ( although we had to arrive early every day and she got dressed in the housekeeping area- before anyone else came) but the exposure to other kids was good for her.
They weren't competitive preschools- the elementary school my oldest ended up attending has a preschool- but we never looked at it- requires testing too- and the elementary parents have suggested that the preschoolers be tested again in order to attend the primary- but thankfully the school hasn't gone for it.</p>
<p>fortunately, i don't think they stressed much either, i filled out most of the app. my parents aren't naturally stressed or competitive ppl, for which i'll thank them for sure! they've passed that down to me, and it's kept me much happier.</p>
<p>(Jamimom: Hey, another parent who sent kids to UofC's Lab School! )</p>
<p>We sent both our daughters there for a while, they actually commuted by train from Valparaiso,IN for two years after we moved. The $$ was huge, but our older D was visibly losing all enthusiasm for school in the public school environment in Indiana. My wife and I were blissfully ignorant about the competitive atmosphere surrounding admissions to KG & lower grades when we moved to Chicago from upstate NY.</p>
<p>Both D's moved to IMSA (Illinois Math & Science Academy) for their last 3 years of high school. This is a publicly funded school for gifted kids, and (OK, biased opinion here) is one of the best in the country. Both our girls loved it, and emerged <em>so</em> prepared for college life....</p>
<p>My 2 older kids, who are 17 and 16 now, never went to pre-school. We had a mothers' playgroup that met twice a week at each others' homes or playgrounds, and they had the best time ever. Other than that we went to the local libraries, zoos, shows, cooked, painted, etc. </p>
<p>They were the only kids who could read :eek: and write :eek: :eek: in their kindergarten class(es), and turned out every bit as sociable, humorous, and happy as I could have hoped.</p>
<p>The situation described in the article is an easy one to mock, but keep in mind that the most exclusive schools in Los Angeles are public, not private. When my son was admitted to his magnet school four years ago, the district received nearly 1500 applications for 40 kindergarten spots. Rich or poor, many parents in weak districts will do what they can to make sure their kids get the best education available to them.</p>
<p>Apparently Suzie and I live in the same town, seperated by 7 hours. Around here there are 3 pre-schools and you look them over and pick the one you want. Most people know to look into it in the Spring before the fall that you want your child to start because there are only so many spots, but they are definately filled by first come, first served. My older kids went to 2 years of pre-school and my youngest to just one year.</p>
<p>BTW, growing up in Delaware, we didn't have public kindergarten. My husband didn't go to Kindergarten and started first grade at the tender age of 5. The only things I remember about kindergarten is naps, snacks and play time and now they don't even have naps in pre-school!</p>
<p>There are 10 kids in my family and 6 (children #4 through 9) of us are stairsteps (one child born every year from 1955 to 1960). So we went to kindergarten every other year. I remember my oldest brother did not go, he started first grade when when the next kid started kindergarten, my sister did not go to kindergarten, she went to first grade when I was old enough to start kindergarten, same for children # 8/9. </p>
<p>Since my mother was a stay at home mom, she did a lot of homeschooling (it probably wasn't called home schooling then) so the kids that started in first grade, already knoe how to read, write , spell and do math when they got there. I remember having the 2 giant dictionaries, to the world book enclyopedia set, and my mother giving us spelling and vocabulary words fromt he green pages (where the list went from grade 1 to 12).</p>
<p>I did not go nuts over pre-school, but remember all of the testing and waiting for admissions decisions when I was looking at kindergarten. I remember when Daughter got admitted to a nice quaker school where the cost for kindergarten was $8100/yr with an additional $5,000 for afterschool. Then there were all of the other miscellaneous expenses. I was so proud when I told my sister that DD was accepted. Instead of being happy, she stopped and yelled "whoa, I am a grad student at Columbia, and I don't pay $8,100 to go to school. She's gonna take naps and learn how to play with other kids". Then I had a light bulb moment , no matter where I sent her , I would still have to support the public school system (because my tax $$ would still be paying for it). </p>
<p>By the time I realized that HUnter College school took kids in kindergarten, it was too late to apply. Began doing research, obtained a variance (to place D into a school outside of our regular school district where the local public school was literally across the street from my front door) and placed her in to school in Tribeca with the same emphasis on cooperative learning and multi age grouping that the private school had. The student kept the same teacher for 2 years,m so they got the opportunity to be one ot the older and younger kids in the class. Over the 13 years, I raised a lot of money, chaired many committes, served on PTA boards, and volunteered a lot of time at the public schools my child attended. In the end, it all worked out.</p>
<p>The articles speaks to reality as I undertand it, even if we didn't participate. Admissions to Crossroads, Notre Dame Academy, Harvard-Westlake, Marlborough, John Thomas Dye, Windward, etc. are all highly stressful crapshoots for those aiming there. In addition, the schools are not interchangeable, so it's not a case of "if you don't get into one, another will fit just as well."</p>
<p>As Spoonyj points out, the best public schools--magnet schools--have similar problems. The gaming of the system that begins in kindergarten to get in the right middle school to get into the right high school...y'all probably think I'm kidding.</p>
<p>Our own gaming was similar but different: understanding the permit system to get into Santa Monica schools until we could afford to actually live in Santa Monica. Like other systems with a built-in bias, it rewards those who understand bureaucracies and how to play them. At the time D was going into kindergarten, permit applications were reviewed and then all appointments for in-person interview and assignment were set for a single day in the whole year, sometime in March. I cleared my calendar for the whole day and made sure I was at the interview an hour early.</p>
<p>Once she was in, it was mostly a matter of submitting renewal paperwork every year and making sure that D never engaged in any behavior that warranted expulsion, which would automatically revoke the permit.</p>