Is there a private school this good?

M

MalibuRenter_IHB

New member
I am near a number of private elementary and high schools. Some of them look like colleges. I decided to take a look at some of their websites.



A couple of them have the same tuition as UCLA (for people who aren't CA residents). $22k/year.



Depending on your tax bracket, mortgage interest rate, and a few other details, being able to get an equally good public school education "for free" should be about equal to paying $400k more for a house, $800k if you have two kids.



Has anyone here gone to that kind of private school? Something that sounds like university tuition? Do you feel it was that much better than a good public school?



Anybody paying that kind of money now? I had the impression that enrollment at expensive schools like this would be going down in the current economy.
 
I read an article once about how this "luxury" is one of the last that families let go of - that they sacrifice all other stuff first. I would never pay this kind of tuition unless I was a multi-millionaire. I always just move to the part of town with the best school district and get it for free.
 
[quote author="gypsyuma" date=1243938651]I read an article once about how this "luxury" is one of the last that families let go of - that they sacrifice all other stuff first. I would never pay this kind of tuition unless I was a multi-millionaire. I always just move to the part of town with the best school district and get it for free.</blockquote>
No such thing as a free lunch, you either pay more for a home or more for a rental to be in that area with the good public schools.
 
[quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1243938948][quote author="gypsyuma" date=1243938651]I read an article once about how this "luxury" is one of the last that families let go of - that they sacrifice all other stuff first. I would never pay this kind of tuition unless I was a multi-millionaire. I always just move to the part of town with the best school district and get it for free.</blockquote>
No such thing as a free lunch, you either pay more for a home or more for a rental to be in that area with the good public schools.</blockquote>


True. But with 4 kids - that would be $88,000 a year for me in tuition. Even the best apartment in the city would not be that kind of premium - I hope not anyway! Plus, for the extra rent I also get to live in the best part of the city. Its a win-win.
 
I wouldn't pay that either, but here are some of the reasons people might:

1. Parental treatment - private schools tend to be a lot nicer to private school parents (ex. get the kiss up treatment instead of "Welcome to public school - here is your 30 pages of forms to turn in next week")

2. Social networking - ladder climing execs get to socialize via their kids with other higher up execs whos kids go to the same school. Same for the families/wives trying to climb the social ladder.

3. Status

4. Privacy - if the school is a closed campus, might be better if your parents are public figures (ex. high level politician, celebrity, etc) to keep the press away



As to the actual education - I think there is a lot more variance between individual private schools, or individual public schools, than there is between private and public schools in general.
 
Before moving to Irvine my children attended private schools. From my experience much of your points ring true. One point that you missed, and I found to be on the top of a lot of parents lists, is safety. I figured this was tops for most because "the expulsion of problem students" was the number one brag amongst parents.



[quote author="Anonymous" date=1243976717]I wouldn't pay that either, but here are some of the reasons people might:

1. Parental treatment - private schools tend to be a lot nicer to private school parents (ex. get the kiss up treatment instead of "Welcome to public school - here is your 30 pages of forms to turn in next week")

2. Social networking - ladder climing execs get to socialize via their kids with other higher up execs whos kids go to the same school. Same for the families/wives trying to climb the social ladder.

3. Status

4. Privacy - if the school is a closed campus, might be better if your parents are public figures (ex. high level politician, celebrity, etc) to keep the press away



As to the actual education - I think there is a lot more variance between individual private schools, or individual public schools, than there is between private and public schools in general.</blockquote>
 
I think that exclusivity varies with the individual school. Some private schools are all inclusive (ex. all kids of this ethnicity, or country of origin, or religion are welcome at this school) while others are not (ex. this is an acedemic prep school - everyone not with that program is out). Public schools are the same: some welcome everyone, some exclude some (ex. do drugs and it's off to Creekside for you), some are exclusive (ex. this is a magnet school, we only take well behaving A students here).



I guess I should really add to my original list

5. Identiy - parents want their kids in an environment that follows their religion, cultural beliefs, and so on rather than the secular melting pot that is public school



[quote author="Mcdonna1980" date=1243999291]Before moving to Irvine my children attended private schools. From my experience much of your points ring true. One point that you missed, and I found to be on the top of a lot of parents lists, is safety. I figured this was tops for most because "the expulsion of problem students" was the number one brag amongst parents.



[quote author="Anonymous" date=1243976717]I wouldn't pay that either, but here are some of the reasons people might:

1. Parental treatment - private schools tend to be a lot nicer to private school parents (ex. get the kiss up treatment instead of "Welcome to public school - here is your 30 pages of forms to turn in next week")

2. Social networking - ladder climing execs get to socialize via their kids with other higher up execs whos kids go to the same school. Same for the families/wives trying to climb the social ladder.

3. Status

4. Privacy - if the school is a closed campus, might be better if your parents are public figures (ex. high level politician, celebrity, etc) to keep the press away



As to the actual education - I think there is a lot more variance between individual private schools, or individual public schools, than there is between private and public schools in general.</blockquote></blockquote>
 
We found a really interesting home in San Juan Capistrano recently and were tempted, but the more I looked in to the school system the more confused and concerned I got. I kept hearing a lot of concerns about the quality of the education in the SJC schools and there seemed to be a lot of turmoil going on due to some recent redistricting, etc. A lot of the "richer folks" seemed to send their kids to private schools with very high tuitions (St Margaret's was about $21k per year!) and this seemed to create a haves/have nots situation in the community. Even if we could afford it I worried about the potential lack of diversity in a private school. Once you've lived in Irvine it is real hard to consider going anywhere else that doesn't have comparable public schools......



If anyone has any knowledge about the SJC schools I would enjoy hearing about it!
 
I went to a public school up to 5th grade and then switched to a private school. The public schools in my area were not very good at all.

Attending a private school was like night and day. I truly believe if it was not for my private high school I would not have gone to college.

My high school was a college prep, so all the classes I needed to apply for college were mandatory (99% of our graduating class went to college).

I know people in some other public schools (Aliso Viejo) in their senior year, ready to apply for college, realized they didn't have the right classes.

Although it was not ridiculously expensive, currently they charge 8k a year.



I would send my kids to a private school if the schools in my area are not up to par.
 
One pays taxes to fund public education. When you choose private schools, you pay the tuition, along with your normal taxes. It seems sort of stupid to pay for two educations while only receiving one.
 
My anecdotal experience at the lower level (K-3) is that a good private school is ~ 2 years ahead of public school, even in the best areas. We live in one of the wealthier towns in the Bay area. Our child goes to what I would call an academically oriented private school and after finishing Kindergarten reads at a 3rd grade level as confirmed by a family friend who teaches 3rd grade in South OC. I judged the 8th grade science fair at this school a few months back and the 8th graders were taking Geometry and displayed projects proving various scientific principles with equations etc. - far beyond what I recall for an 8th grade science fair. This school is not very expensive - $1100/month for 1st grade. There is another school up here called Harker that is ~$30K/yr, and is to Stanford what Exeter/Andover are to the Ivies.



Up here we do have one exception: Cupertino. The home of Apple and other tech firms, Cupertino has the state's first 1000 API school, Faria Elementary. This district has experienced significant "white flight" to the local Catholic schools, largely due to the academic pressures exerted by the Asian majority.
 
[quote author="OC_Boston_Bay" date=1249192324]My anecdotal experience at the lower level (K-3) is that a good private school is ~ 2 years ahead of public school, even in the best areas. We live in one of the wealthier towns in the Bay area. Our child goes to what I would call an academically oriented private school and after finishing Kindergarten reads at a 3rd grade level as confirmed by a family friend who teaches 3rd grade in South OC. I judged the 8th grade science fair at this school a few months back and the 8th graders were taking Geometry and displayed projects proving various scientific principles with equations etc. - far beyond what I recall for an 8th grade science fair. This school is not very expensive - $1100/month for 1st grade. There is another school up here called Harker that is ~$30K/yr, and is to Stanford what Exeter/Andover are to the Ivies.



Up here we do have one exception: Cupertino. The home of Apple and other tech firms, Cupertino has the state's first 1000 API school, Faria Elementary. This district has experienced significant "white flight" to the local Catholic schools, largely due to the academic pressures exerted by the Asian majority.</blockquote>


I'm curiouos, what is the student demographic of the private schools you speak of? Do you think the "white flight" is race thing or a flight from a test driven education?
 
[quote author="Mcdonna1980" date=1249211871][quote author="OC_Boston_Bay" date=1249192324]My anecdotal experience at the lower level (K-3) is that a good private school is ~ 2 years ahead of public school, even in the best areas. We live in one of the wealthier towns in the Bay area. Our child goes to what I would call an academically oriented private school and after finishing Kindergarten reads at a 3rd grade level as confirmed by a family friend who teaches 3rd grade in South OC. I judged the 8th grade science fair at this school a few months back and the 8th graders were taking Geometry and displayed projects proving various scientific principles with equations etc. - far beyond what I recall for an 8th grade science fair. This school is not very expensive - $1100/month for 1st grade. There is another school up here called Harker that is ~$30K/yr, and is to Stanford what Exeter/Andover are to the Ivies.



Up here we do have one exception: Cupertino. The home of Apple and other tech firms, Cupertino has the state's first 1000 API school, Faria Elementary. This district has experienced significant "white flight" to the local Catholic schools, largely due to the academic pressures exerted by the Asian majority.</blockquote>


I'm curious, what is the student demographic of the private schools you speak of? Do you think the "white flight" is race thing or a flight from a test driven education?</blockquote>


High income Asian - mostly Chinese and Indian. The school is called Challenger. It is based on the principles of our Founding Fathers - free enterprise, individualism and natural rights. It's ironic that the school is most popular with Asian high tech types. This is due to the curriculum being on par with a foreign school, so if the family for whatever reason has to return to the native country, the kid won't be behind in math etc. With Stanford and Cal casting such a large shadow, combined with the ethos of Silicon Valley, academic competition at the top high schools is ferocious.
 
This debate is one that is always intriguing to me...I've only attended public schools (grammar, hs, college, and grad school). My brother and I grew up in the same household, with the same parental influence, and the sameschools until we reached high school. He went to a private high school and I attended a public school. Interestingly enough, he and I both scored around the same on our SATs (I think we both took it twice and once we scored the exact same score). I think the clear difference for me in how the private school impacted us (putting aside the differences in personal interests and aptitudes) was that he was MUCH more prepared for college than I. He sailed through the majority of his college courses while I struggled for the first two years and found a bit of a stride towards the end. I've seen the same in my husband. He went to a college preparatory school in the Bay area and it was RIDICULOUS how easy college was for him, especially the first two years. Most of that success is because he's frighteningly smart and his parents enforced in him the importance of an education but I think his high school played a part too. He knew how to study, how to apply himself, how to be confident going into an exam, etc. So I think his private schooling helped to enhance his natural talent and apptitude. Both my brother's and his private high schools were known to be outstanding schools and the cost was very similar to college tuitions.



More than anything, like so many others in these forums have said, I think parental influence and the influence of friends around each child makes a difference in motivating a child to academically excel but the right schooling may make it easier to be successful; a good education doesn't guarantee success and a lesser education doesn't guarantee mediocrity. I also think that rather than looking at public vs. private, you have to look at the quality of school and whether or not there's an environment in which your child can thrive. I've known plenty of f-ups whose parents paid a ton of money so that they could attend private schools and just because you paid for it doesn't make it good.



<edited for spelling error>
 
ohnelly - Just curious. How did you guys (your parents?) decide to put him in a private school and you in public. Was it your choice or theirs?
 
I attended a private Catholic school when I was very young, and transferred to public school later. From personal experience, the kids in Catholic school are a little better behaved. But there are bad apples everywhere.
 
[quote author="ohnelly" date=1249260325]This debate is one that is always intruiging to me...I've only attended public schools (grammar, hs, college, and grad school). My brother and I grew up in the same household, with the same parental influence, and the sameschools until we reached high school. He went to a private high school and I attended a public school. Interestingly enough, he and I both scored around the same on our SATs (I think we both took it twice and once we scored the exact same score). I think the clear difference for me in how the private school impacted us (putting aside the differences in personal interests and aptitudes) was that he was MUCH more prepared for college than I. He sailed through the majority of his college courses while I struggled for the first two years and found a bit of a stride towards the end. I've seen the same in my husband. He went to a college preparatory school in the Bay area and it was RIDICULOUS how easy college was for him, especially the first two years. Most of that success is because he's frighteningly smart and his parents enforced in him the importance of an education but I think his high school played a part too. He knew how to study, how to apply himself, how to be confident going into an exam, etc. So I think his private schooling helped to enhance his natural talent and apptitude. Both my brother's and his private high schools were known to be outstanding schools and the cost was very similar to college tuitions.



More than anything, like so many others in these forums have said, I think parental influence and the influence of friends around each child makes a difference in motivating a child to academically excel but the right schooling may make it easier to be successful; a good education doesn't guarantee success and a lesser education doesn't guarantee mediocrity. I also think that rather than looking at public vs. private, you have to look at the quality of school and whether or not there's an environment in which your child can thrive. I've known plenty of f-ups whose parents paid a ton of money so that they could attend private schools and just because you paid for it doesn't make it good.</blockquote>


I had the same experience. I sailed thru public high school. I didn't even going the last year - I graduated after my junior year. Only to totally lose it in college - I was nowhere near prepared. And my grades suffered for it - I did recover the last couple years, but my GPA totally sucked.
 
[quote author="SoCal78" date=1249269679]ohnelly - Just curious. How did you guys (your parents?) decide to put him in a private school and you in public. Was it your choice or theirs?</blockquote>


Mine - I didn't really want to go to the private school, which lead me to whine and cry to my parents and not cooperate very much during the entrance interview. So basically I was wait listed to get in and because I didn't want to go there and made clear in a way that only 13 year girls olds can, my parents didn't push it with the school and I didn't go there. My folks were so disappointed and I think they've always felt weird about having one kid graduate from a private school and the other from a public.
 
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