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.

[Theodore R.]

Good, I am glad that your private school insists on maintaining standards. I hope that your institution is the norm, and not the exception.

[freedumb2003]

Anyone remember Stan Frieburg's hilariuos send-up of Political Correctness (in the late 50's no less IIRC) called "Elderly Man River"?

[ladyjane]

Choice? Move out of New York. Homeschool.

[Theodore R.]

I was once told that the deterioration actually goes back to the 1940s!!!! Yet, we think of the 1950s as "the golden age" of both television and public schools, the calm before the 1960s storm arrived.

[jwalsh07]

Andrea can put her daughter in Catholic School if she can live with a school that doesn't believe that killing the unborn is an inalienable right at a tenth of the cost.

And then she can forget about Harvard for the next 12 years and let her daughter be a child for a while.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

1954 is the exact year if my memory is correct.

[Dataman]

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

She does give that impression, doesn't she?
Hey Hildy-- It's not real hard to verify.

Hmmm.. Elementary school $2700. High school $4500. In Manhattan. Only through a liberal's twisted thinking does $4500=$20000. Does that help?

[Dataman]

Good, I am glad that your private school insists on maintaining standards. I hope that your institution is the norm, and not the exception.

I understand there are exceptions and believe you have witnessed one. I wish the government was not so involved with parochial schools since the fear of frivolous lawsuits makes discipline between difficult and impossible.

[Dataman]

Only through a liberal's twisted thinking does $4500=$20000. Does that help?

Hildy- I reread my response after I posted and it sounds condescending. From previous experience I know that you're a decent person and I'm not intending to put you down. What I meant was does that help explain my point? Sorry.

[Dianna]

A 40+ year old TEACHER (probably a proud NEA member) did not understand this!!!

A substitute teacher does not have to have a teaching certificate, only a Bachelor Degree in any subject.

I agree that it is a shame that ANY adult cannot convert such an easy fraction.

[Hildy]

OK, I won't make you feel bad about what I'm about to say either. Deborah Orin is PROBABLY Jewish...so private Catholic schools, which are usually a bit less expensive ..are out. I did a search too. (I'm good at that). One of the most prestigious private shools in Manhattan is the Little Red School house. I went to their website....and here is the table of their tuition:

Tuition and Fees
2004-2005 (Please note that tuition is subject to change for the 2005-2006 academic year.)
 

4’s	$21,410		6th Grade	$23,575
K	$21,410		7th Grade	$23,575
1st Grade	$22,710		8th Grade	$23,575
2nd Grade	$22,710		9th Grade	$24,400
3rd Grade	$22,710		10th Grade	$24,400
4th Grade	$23,575		11th Grade	$24,400
5th Grade	$23,575		12th Grade	$24,555
Please note: These figures include all tuition and fees.

YOUR TURN.

[Hildy]

BTW, you can see for yourself what $25,000 will buy you at
www.lrei.org

[js1138]

The other answer is move to a place where the public schools are OK. Don't tell me there is no such place. Both my kids made it through public school. My daughter earned the equivalent of two years college credit with AP exams. Not only that but the average among here classmates was a year and a half.

Secondly, not all the horror stories you hear are that significant. I grew up in the golden fifties. There were fights all the time. In the eighth grade a kid was shot while waiting for the bus after school. These things did not make national newspaper headlines.

The other day my kids' middle school was all over the national news because some kid got videotaped getting beat up. I mentioned it to my son and he said nothing's changed. Except the videotape and national coverage.

Are we turning into wusses? I was bored out of my mind through most of school. The teachers were twits. Two of my first six teachers landed in mental hospitals. I survived. Life after school is not that easy. What is it we want for our children, a Montessori utopia that will not prepare them for the backbiting they will encounter later in life?

Decent academics are important, but lots of schools can provide that if the kid works to get into the best programs.

[xsmommy]

Therefore the cost of a private school in NY should be between $3k and 6k a year

you can't be serious? i live in northern VA. my kids all attend private catholic schools, NONE are that cheap as you ascribe to NYC! and i imagine it would be much more in NYC than here in surburban DC!

[Hildy]

I don't know where I got Deborah Orin from. But Andrea Peyser is probably Jewish too. But that's really not the point!

[templar]

It comes down to this: How can a middle-class couple with a big mortgage, a small car, and the selfish desire to take the occasional summer vacation be expected to shell out the price of a Toyota Camry each year so that our kid can master her ABCs?

I could buy a new car or a new truck every four years for what I spend on my daughters private (church) schooling. I choose to drive a 79 Chevy pickup and 79 diesel Rabbit. It was an easy choice and I don't regret it at all.

[templar]

Two of my first six teachers landed in mental hospitals.

Wow! You were hard on your teachers!

[js1138]

I take credit for it myself. My second grade teacher was completely unable to control a class. She had a bolo paddle that she used frequently. She was unable to detect that kids would get in line to be paddled even if they hadn't done anything. From and adult perspective it's sad. Then it was a game.

My sixth grade teacher was among the best I've ever had and one of the best people I've ever met. Sadly he suffered from depression and died after many years of shock treatments.

[LWalk18]

Only through a liberal's twisted thinking does $4500=$20000. Does that help?

Yeah, but I bet the $4500 school is not a "name" school that impresses her fellow liberal elite friends. There are plenty of options if getting a good education for her daughter- if that is the real goal, rather than acquiring another status symbol.

Besides, if one wanted to send their children to Harvard, a Manhatten prep school probably makes it harder, not easier- everyone applies, and schools like Harvard limit the number of New York prep school students they admit.

[Rose in RoseBear]

Oh, let me guess ... May 17, 1954?