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.

[Dataman]

Check it out for yourself, people!
The $20k schools are not the norm!

[Ragdaltx]

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

An expensive private school is no guarantee of a good education...and are you SURE you want your daughter to go to Harvard? No one loves your daughter more than you do and you can educate her better than anyone with better results. It's not easy and it takes incredible commitment, but the positive results can be very gratifying. Colleges are actively seeking home educated kids because so many of them actually have an education, unlike so many gov't indoctrinated misfits being mass produced these days. Parental involvement is the key to every kid's success. Too many, for too long have just been all too willing to turn over their kid's education to disinterested third parties. In many instances, these poor kids are farmed out to daycare facilities while still in diapers. Kid's minds are like sponges. They learn at prodigious rates. Who do you want 'educating' them?

ragdaltx

[nopardons]

I used to read both, but only get the N.Y. Post now. :-)

[nopardons]

Not for me........my kiddo's all grown up. :-)

[SoftballMominVA]

my little sixth grade sister came home with math homework...she did half of it and stopped...I asked hr to finish it, and she says "We don't have to. We had a substitute today and she said to just go as far as we can, and don't do #25 and #26 because she doesn't understand it."

Be fair, you said it was a substitute that told her that, not the regular teacher.

[nopardons]

Right you are!

[Dataman]

Deborah Orin is PROBABLY Jewish...so private Catholic schools, which are usually a bit less expensive ..are out.

Fine. I don't disagree (except "a bit less expensive" really is about 75% less expensive). But mizz Peyser did not say she was Jewish. Her whole argument gives a false dilemma: either a $20k+ private school or public school. Even the title of the piece, WHAT CHOICE DO I HAVE BUT TO SEND MY KID TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL? gives the impression that there's only one private school. IOW, the merlot mentioned in the piece isn't the only whine in the article.

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.

If all she wants is a safe place for her kid to attend school and get a superior education, the Catholic schools should suffice and at a fourth the price of the school she chose. The preppy school may be expensive, but it is not her only choice and she is out of touch with the real world if she thinks it is. Room and board at some pretty good colleges can be had for the price of her trendy kindergarten.

BTW, if it takes $20k+ to get into a NY Jewish school, and only $4.5k to get into a Catholic school, what do you think the reason is?

[Dataman]

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.

BINGO!
A much better way of putting it!

[SoftballMominVA]

This is the tuition for a private school in Fauquier County VA--about 50 miles west of DC. Hardly a place of luxury. And not a "fancy-shmancy NAME" school

TUITION 2003-04

Pre-Kindergarten $5,550.00

Kindergarten-Grade 2 $9,900.00

Grades 3-8 $10,700.00

Grades 9-12 $12,300.00

[cyborg]

I wish the companion article was posted right above it. It's about kindergarten schools that are $28,000 per year. I have the paper right here and I'm just laughing. Any thrifty homeschooling mom could educate one kid all the way through to high school with that money.

[nopardons]

Obviously, you haven't any idea, at all, what private schools cost in N.Y.C. or any other major city. She isn't talking about parochial schools, which tend to cost somewhat less than PRIVATE SCHOOLS ( and parochial schools aren't considered " private " schools, though some uninformed call them that ), though a few of the best, cost about the same.

In the Midwest,Chicago and its environs, to be exact, JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN, which is 1/2 day, costs $15,000!When was the last times YOU priced private day school tuition ? Your figures are so out of line, that I wan t you to tell me where you got them.Oh, and I'll make it real easy for you.......go call The Latin School of Chicago, Francis Parker, North Shore Country Day and just ask them what tuition is these days.:-)

Since my daughter went to Latin, for JK through 8th grade (before she went to boarding school),I know what the costs are. And no, since my daughter is an adult, we didn't pay that much when she was in school, but it was still a LOT!

[nopardons]

It DOES go back to the '40s; you are correct.But, it really went to hell in a handbasket in the mid '60s.

[nopardons]

Andrea's Jewish.

[nopardons]

That's parochial school. That's NOT a PRIVATE SCHOOL !

[nopardons]

I have the paper right here too and NO, honeschooling is NOT the panacea that the homeschoolers here claim it is. There is just NO way that any homeschooled kid gets what the children at a good boarding school gets.

[cyborg]

Homeschooling is not for everyone. What do you think of vouchers?

[jwalsh07]

That's OK, her daughters still welcome. :-}

[tgslTakoma]

There is just NO way that any homeschooled kid gets what the children at a good boarding school gets.

For instance... the homeschooled child sees (a) parent/s every night - in their own home.

Sorry np, but your comment sounded a little bit condescending to folks who homeschool.

And no, I don't homeschool. Unfortunately it's not an option for my situation.

[Hildy]

No, I don't think you get it.

[wtc911]

She can move 14 miles East to NW Nassau County, get a house with a backyard for @ $650K, pay @ $7k/yr in taxes and send her darling to the schools in Great Neck which are tated #4 in the country by US News and World Report.

Now, I know those numbers sound obscene but her place in Brooklyn would like sell for more than that even if it were just a two bedroom co-op.