My experiences are old by todays standards, but I think they still kinda apply to todays private schools.
My brother is 12 years older than I, and went to the local public school. He got perfect A’s, but my dad is a DVM, my mom a banker, and they knew he was learning nothing. So they went to parent teacher night, and were the ONLY ones there! They pulled him out, and got a call from the principal pleading for them not to since he was the best student in the grade. They put him in private school and he tested almost 2 years back. Granted it was a great school, but he was supposedly the best in his class! This was in the 1980’s, so I laugh when people say that schools are starting to fail, they have been for a long time.
Needless to say I was never allowed to go to public school. I have no information about public schools, however I can shed a few pieces about private schools.
1)The world is alot smaller. As Cypher said, it was clicky. People knew people through siblings and church and such, to a point it was almost sick. I had 21 kids in my 8th grade class, 69 in my HS class. I knew them backwards and forwards and they could read me like a book. On the other hand, I still talk to them, cry and laugh with them, and a number of them know that if they ever need me ill be on a plane tomorrow, no questions. Why? Cause they would do the same for me. Some people find this claustrophobic and suffocating. They long for the animity of public school. I loved it. It was like an extended family that I didnt have. I got a wedding inventation from a girl I hadnt seen or talked to in 12 years last summer. I showed up, as did alot of other people.
2)Who you are matters. I once asked a girl out, and she said she needed to check with her parents. They said NO NO NO, till she said “but MOM, it’s DR.(deleated)’s son.!” I had never met the woman in my life, and neither had my dad, but her mom’s response was “OH, ok, have fun, no curfue”. That was the only time in her 17 years she didn’t have a curfue. It isnt about money or power, I went to school with the jet set and the hamburger helper, it was who you were. People know you just as well as their kids know yours, and they do know. (ie show up to the BBQ’s and the sports games, it does matter)
3) Not everyone is ment for public schools. I was really quiet and rather personalityless when younger. I would have been crushed in a school of 2000 kids. Some of my best friends went to large public schools and loved it. Send your kids to the best school for them, not the school with the best ranking.
4) Teachers are there to teach. If they arnt, complain. The only time I ever saw my 9th grade prinipal scared was the day a dad came in to complain about a teacher. They actually do lissen, especially when your complaint is legit, and not “but he HAS to get all A’s or….”. There is no union a bad teacher can hide behind.
5) You earn your grades. I never met anyone who didnt get the grade they deserved. There was no such thing as a guarenteed C. I had one teacher stay every other lunch period (t,th) with a buddy of mine so he could pass. But he was gonna do it on his own. AP physics or not.
6)Every public school is different. Every private school is different. Hell every CLASS is different. The cool kids in my class had 4.0’s, weekend jobs, and walked the straight and narrow. The class right ahead of me, well, they explain the rise of the Felix cartel. Again, BE INVOLVED.
Personally, I think parents are always the difference. Good kids come from the worst schools. The worst kids often go to the best schools. Stop worring about what school they are going to go to in 2015 and start worring about who they are gonna be in 2015. We had 100% college attendance and I never even knew a girl who got pregnant, but that doesnt guarentee your kid will turn out right.
(ALSO, I kinda think private HS and gradeschool is harder on the girls than the guys. I cant explain it, but I just think the expectations are higher of them for some reason. This is counter balanced by guys expereiences in College, when it is just fine for girls to want to be a teacher or a writer or artest or whatever, but the guys had better be getting ready for the next round of schools (ie phD, MD, MBA) )
