<p>She enrolled them at another school that accepted both. </p>
<p>Yes, people do send their kids to different private schools but, imo, rejecting any 3 yr. old from any pre-school is ridiculous. </p>
<p>My friend was furious.</p>
<p>^ My contributions would stop that day…</p>
<p>I now see why we get at lot of NYC transplants here. I never really quite understood it but now it makes perfect sense.</p>
<p>What is really a shame is that the New York City public school system use to be one of the best in the country up until the late 60’s/early 70’s.</p>
<p>One of my kids was rejected for preschool in NYC by the school my other two children attended. I wasn’t happy, but the school was actually correct. The third one had learning disabilities that they saw, but I did not fully acknowledge at the time. In my experience, the private schools know what they are doing. </p>
<p>I have trouble justifying the price, too, and can talk forever about this, but there is phenomenal quality in some of these schools.</p>
<p>After going through the NYC high school selection process, getting into college is a piece of cake.</p>
<p>redpoint-that may be true about the quality vs the public schools in NYC proper, but I still can’t see that they are THAT much better than public schools in other parts of the country that have top educational systems but you have to do what you have to do (I’m just glad we were never in that position to have to chose). Now, our kids did go to a private elementary school-at a whopping tuition rate of $1000/year, discounted 10% for each child, because we liked the school.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that NYC private schools are better or worse than top publics in the rest of the country, I’m just comparing private to public Ed within NYC. We do have some great public high schools; my child goes to one, but she does not get the personalized attention and understanding there that my kid in private school gets. At the same time, I like the culture of the public school better :)</p>
<p>It seems to me that those super-exclusive schools aren’t charging enough. If they raised their prices even more, they’d still fill their classes easily, and get some of that money that’s going to consultants.</p>
<p>Don’t give them any ideas! 
Not all of us who send our kids to private schools are filthy rich. Sadly, there is no middle ground between free and $35,000. (well, except parochial schools, which being kind of an atheist, I never considered)</p>
<p>I just can’t get past the $450,000+++ to pay for a K-12 education, or over $500,000 if you add in a few preschool years. For that amount of money you could move out of NY to a state with good public schools and pretty much retire or if you wanted to work, you could work at McDonald’s and still have enough money for a house and living expenses.</p>
<p>Even in NJ, with excellent public school system, there is still a long waiting list for a handful of top private schools.</p>
<p>I know, it’s nuts. I’m not denying that. (And there can be good public school options, especially if you have uncomplicated children.) But many of us love NY, have stimulating jobs here, and can’t imagine wanting to live anyplace else.</p>
<p>I just watched “Waiting for Superman” on Netflix (watch instant) last night, a documentary that speaks to this issue of the vast disparity between schools in some areas of the country (NYC was profiled) and the lotteries held for the very few seats in the best schools. I was in tears over the outcomes. If you are not familiar with the travesty that is public school in some areas and the injustices children are subjected to, this film will educate you. I am not naive regarding how abysmal schools are in some areas, but I was truly not aware of how desperate the situation is in the worst cases, where there is simply no hope beyond the impossible odds of a lottery for an education. This film doesn’t make $39K for nursery school seem reasonable, but it eloquently points out how outrageously elitest American education has become (perhaps always has been, but not to the degree it is today since tuition rates have spun out of control). If I could afford $39K for nursery school and thought that was reasonable, this film would seriously give me pause as to where my resources should be going.</p>
<p>^^^^Sounds interesting. I’m going to check it out.</p>
<p>Well, here’s the trailer: <a href=“http://www.hulu.com/watch/187840/chictv-movies-waiting-for-superman-davis-guggenheim[/url]”>http://www.hulu.com/watch/187840/chictv-movies-waiting-for-superman-davis-guggenheim</a></p>
<p>Thanks Nrdsb4.</p>
<p>That side of the movie is very moving of course, not to disparage that, but the film is regarded as pro-charter school propaganda by many, and proponents of regular public schools have voiced valid criticisms.</p>
<p>this thread reminds me of a recent episode of 30 rock.</p>
<p>[30</a> Rock Recap: Private Schooled – Vulture](<a href=“http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2012/01/30-rock-recap-season-6-episode-3.html]30”>30 Rock Recap: Private Schooled)</p>
<p>review of waiting for superman.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“http://seattleducation2010.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/09/29/waiting-for-superman/[/url]”>http://seattleducation2010.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/09/29/waiting-for-superman/</a></p>
<p>I agree that it would be better to fix the public schools we have, but it seems that the teachers union does not want to cooperate. Jeffery Canada started with that premise–fix what’s broken in the public schools and hit a brick wall as did Michelle Rhee in DC although she did make some progress. It appears that tenure and the inability to pay for performance works against the core of the solution – attracting and keeping outstanding teachers and getting rid of the lemons.</p>
<p>Canada had to jump out of the system in order to prove that his theory works. Sadly, even with his amazing results staring us in the face, our public school bureacrcy appears unmoved. I’m not for privatizing, but what are the options when the beast won’t be tamed?</p>
<p>To go back to the OP I would add that while $40,000 sounds like a lot to me, to some families in NYC that may be less than what they pay to lease a car ( or pay their nanny).</p>
<p>My kids both went to excellent preschools- co-op preschools but they both went to private elementary schools. Different schools, different kids.</p>
<p>What I don’t understand if there is such a demand for private schools in NYC, why new schools aren’t coming in to meet that demand?</p>
<p>OIC New York parents 
[Why</a> New York’s New Private Schools Are Struggling – New York Magazine](<a href=“http://nymag.com/news/features/23783/index1.html]Why”>Why New York's New Private Schools Are Struggling -- New York Magazine - Nymag)</p>
<p>I’ve heard that there is a “prestige” factor in the Northeast with choosing nursery schools, which is pretty ridiculous. However, it is also possible that the public preschools/kindergartens are lousy and that the private schools overcharge because they can. In fact, overcharging might increase the allure.</p>