WHAT CHOICE DO I HAVE BUT TO SEND MY KID TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL?

New York Post ^ | 2/14/04 | ANDREA PEYSER

[kattracks]

February 14, 2004 -- MY little family has taken to waiting by the mailbox each day, our hearts filled with equal parts anticipation - and dread.

Anticipation that the acceptance letter will arrive, inviting my 5-year-old daughter into private kindergarten. A school that offers clean hallways, small classes, motivated teachers, a choice of arts and languages, plus a good chance my kid will make it into Harvard - or, at least, make it home each afternoon in one piece.

[Fishrrman]

Fledermaus writes:
The real fight isn't the alternatives, it's purging the NEA and government out of OUR public school systems.

I predict conservatives are going to have _exactly_ as much luck in "purging" the NEA from the public schools, as they are having in purging the nation of illegal aliens.

And they're going to enjoy as much support from the Bush administration for doing the former, as they received for the latter!

Cheers!
- John

[ibheath]

That's why I'm the Dad

Many men need to learn the true responsibility this phrase represents.

[Theodore R.]

Also, remember that private schools want the tuition and fees that you will pay. They may tell you what you want to hear about your child's progress ("giving grades") to make sure that you remain a paying customer. The public schools want the taxation; the private schools, the tuition. Many parents won't accept "bad report cards" from private schools; they will go elsewhere. So the private schools also pressure students to "give grades" that please the parents. The result is massive grade inflation in nearly all schools.

[onyx]

I love your statements. :)

Really, it's quite simple. Send your children to a school compatible with your religion, so that the mention of God is not followed by "dammit."

[tahiti]

Anticipation that the acceptance letter will arrive, inviting my 5-year-old daughter into private kindergarten. A school that offers clean hallways, small classes, motivated teachers, a choice of arts and languages, plus a good chance my kid will make it into Harvard..."

Two points.

1--Why would you spend all of that money on a private primary and secondary education and then waste it by sending your child to Harvard?

2--You did say you have a daughter. Why waste the money on a superior education for her when by the time she is 25, the biological clock will tick so loud she will never use that education in the long run.

[JimRed]

She's our baby. What choice do we have?

Relocate.

[cyborg]

Yup. I read her column and sometimes she's a but lefty but I read Post than the SLIMES.

[cyborg]

A woman that has a superior education makes for a better homeschool teacher don't you think?

[mrs tiggywinkle]

**Not everyone can or wants to homeschool.That is NOT the only answer. **

It may not be the only answer. But it is an alternative to seriously and sincerely consider. :o)

[mrs tiggywinkle]

excellent post, freebilly. :o)

[Hildy]

She's being honest. If you don't even feel a cringe that you have to pay $20,000 a year to educate your child while you're paying so much in taxes for public education then you're a liar or an idiot.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

**At any rate we seem to be in a position that we will be able to include home schooling as an alternative. I suspect in the end we will go that direction. **

I'd encourage you to begin your research of this probability *now*. Attend a few home ed conferences in your general area..you'll be encouraged, informed and blessed.

[Hildy]

time she is 25, the biological clock will tick so loud she will never use that education in the long run.

That was a joke, right?

[Dataman]

Ah, no, my friend; you're trapped in that logical thinking of yours. Liberals have no such constraints. Don't you understand? There is no continuity. If they abort it, it never was a child. Like Clark says, it isn't a child until the mother chooses. So an aborted thing never was a child, and a child never was a candidate for abortion.

Well DANG! If that tooth my dentist pulled was never there, he should never have billed me!

Let's see..
Women abort children that are not there,
When Kerry loses, he will have never run,
and secularists scurry around erasing traces of and being offended by a God who never existed.

Maybe I should reconsider pitying liberals.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

**That's why I'm the Dad
**Many men need to learn the true responsibility this phrase represents.

Amen to that. :o)

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

The deterioration of public schools started circa 1954.

[Dataman]

Also, remember that private schools want the tuition and fees that you will pay. They may tell you what you want to hear about your child's progress ("giving grades") to make sure that you remain a paying customer. The public schools want the taxation; the private schools, the tuition. Many parents won't accept "bad report cards" from private schools; they will go elsewhere. So the private schools also pressure students to "give grades" that please the parents. The result is massive grade inflation in nearly all schools.

My direct experience has been exactly opposite. For example, our government school's honor roll is posted along with the GPAs. Some of the students get as high as a 5.25 GPA when the theoretical maximum is 4.0. The local Christian schools, however, still keep the maximum GPA to around 4.1. There are other benchmarks as well: The CAT, the Iowa Basics, the SAT and ACT. Christian schools all over this country blow the doors of the pathetic proud-to-be-in-the-51st-percentile government schools using these benchmarks. That should be adequate proof that the grade inflation occurs in the government schools.

[Dataman]

She's being honest. If you don't even feel a cringe that you have to pay $20,000 a year to educate your child while you're paying so much in taxes for public education then you're a liar or an idiot.

I suggest she's a liar. Or lazy. Or an idiot. Consider the following:

Private schools can give a superior education for somewhere between one fourth and one half the cost of a government school.

The average spent per student per year by the government is between 10K and 12K. We'll say 12K because this is in NY.

Therefore the cost of a private school in NY should be between $3k and 6k a year. In the Midwest, it is slightly lower, about $4.5k for high school, about $2k for elementary.

So what kind of a school would she be considering for $20-30k? If it's a prep school for Haaaahvahhhd, then it's a leftist elitist snob school in all likelihood.

So I ask you, what kind of a journalist writes an article asking for alternatives to a snob school? Answer: One who doesn't know how to (or doesn't care to) research. And guess what? A lazy journalist isn't a journalist at all.

[YoungKentuckyConservative]

good chance my kid will make it into Harvard

You should start by assessing your opinion of Harvard. You might as well send your kid to a public school so they can enjoy the same indoctrination they are likely to get at the "once renouned" Harvard.

[Hildy]

Where do you live? Are you saying that she's lying about the cost of a private school in Manhattan?