Is it better send your kids to a private school?

Question

I am going back to work so that I can send my sons to private school. But is the money better spent trying to buy a house (with a gher mortgage) close to a good state school or supplementing their education with extra cirricular activities?

Answer 1

It can be. If you can get your kid into an area that has a good public school system, I'd do that and help them do the extra currics.

I was lucky enough to have parents who felt it important enough to try me and my sister out in all sorts of schools, even if it meant they couldn't buy as much stuff for themselves.

I've tried public and private. They could have kept me in private, but we thought it was better to send me to the local public school which left money for me to pursue extra currics if I wished. We moved when I was 5 to an area with a great school system. I think it was totally worth it. I ended up at the local magnet school which happened to be #1 academically in the state. My sister went to the regular high school which was still highly ranked in the state. We both got great educations without paying for it. I didn't need it, but it meant my parents could use money that otherwise would have gone to tuition to help further my sister's passion in figure skating.

Unless there are absolutely no good public schools you can reasonably move to, I wouldn't spend the money on private. I'm ok with some of those super prestigious boarding schools if you can afford it, but if you've got access to a good local public school, it definitely beats nearly all private schools. I just have to look at my wife and her family. She went to a local public school that's also usually ranked in the top 5 in the state. Her brother went off to Exeter. They ended up the same (I think my wife ended up better off actually).

Answer 2

If you're talking K-12, I would personally recommend against private schools and recommend being actively involved in the public school your sons attend instead. I went to public school where my mom was in the PTO and Music Boosters (I was in choir) and am now a freshman education major at the University of Evansville. I had good experiences in elementary, middle, and high school. I'm not an expert on private schools, but the main reason I would recommend against private schools is what I've heard from people who went to and taught in private schools, which is that the pressure on the teachers from most of the parents to give their kids good grades is very high, as is the pressure to not discipline the students as they should, and since the parents are the ones paying the bills, the schools sometimes succumb to that pressure, resulting in grade inflation and students who can get away with quite a lot. In an interview with Dr. David Walsh, who wrote a book on disciplining children (No: Why Kids- Of All Ages- Need To Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It), said he talked to a teacher at one of the best private schools in the Midwest who didn't give out grades lower than a B anymore, because she was sick of fighting about it. I know that I would hate teaching at a school like that and I wouldn't want to be a student there either, because how much learning actually goes on in a classroom where you're guaranteed a B no matter what your performance in the class actually merits? Granted, this is, I'm sure, in no way true of all private schools. Still, I went to an average public school and came out with a decent education and a full tuition scholarship to an excellent university, so I don't see the need to spend a bunch of money one private school from kindergarten through high school when a public shool can get a student just as far.

Answer 3

well if you send them at an early age then probably yes but DON'T send them there when are around middle school age,enspecially when they just came from a public school...if they really didn't like the idea in the first place and when they came there they still didn't they'll grades will suffer and might get in trouble more often than they used to...and enspecially if there a shy person,they might become depressed because they can't make friends and social stuff...enspecially if its a small populated school,if its a large populated school then they'll probably do ok.so if your kids are still at a young age or a very open-minded,and makes friends easily and isn't shy it would probably be a good idea if if your not then don't...
trust me,im currently stuck in a private school for a year and im the shy kind of person and i went from an A+ to a D+ and im always depressed,turned into an atheist,and did other weird stuff...
but anyways my whole point is that if they came from a public school,DON'T send them there,if there at a young age then send them

Answer 4

That really depends on the state of public education in the area you live in. As a public school teacher myself - I think we are trying to do good things in my district, but if I had kids of my own I would not send them to the schools here (I am sad to say). The nature of most of the social-economic issues my students deal with leave their attitude toward education severely low. However, the town I grew up in which isn't far from where I teach, has a public school system where the kids on all the testing they do score much higher than any of the other school systems (public or private) in the state. I thank my parents for choosing where they lived carefully because they wanted to give my sister, brother, and I a great public school education as well as a comfortable living growing up.

Good Luck!!!

Answer 5

First of all, I've been to a private school, K-5. From my experience, private schools are relatively safer, and has more supervision from adults. I loved all the extra activities and fun we had, but our school was pretty dang small. In 5th grade, we had about 10 people in our class. Sure, the education was great, but what about friends? I had about 25 friends in 5th grade. No kidding. When I moved to 6th grade, public school, I loved it. More friends, extra activities if you are willing to get involved. Education won't be a problem, use the money you saved from going to a public school to get a tutor! :D (That's how I got smart D:)

I haven't answered your question, but heck, there's my experience, and I hope you can use this to make a decision!

Answer 6

My sister went to private school and did very well she has her child in private school her alumni. I have thought about sending my soon to private school and may do it however she went to and her son is going to a christian private school.

I went to public school and have a 4yr college degree she did not continue on to college. The bottom line is if you are just worried about the basic education and not wanting to instill any christian moral values then I think that any child can excel in either setting, with parental help and if you don't have time then a tutor can help. Christian school is great for instilling strong moral values ( however you can do that at church) Lastly unless you have a very motivated child the $900.00 per month(that what it is in TX) might be better spent...they have plenty of sites on line that rate public schools check them out

Answer 7

It really does depend on how the public schools are around you. I'm a high school junior and I have been in Catholic, private schools my whole life. I wouldn't change that for the world. The public schools around me just desirable at all. I've had great teachers, great programs, great activities, etc. I feel that I will truly be prepared for college.
However, you have to weigh the differenece between you leaving the home to work and the benefits of private school. Are they going to need to be in after school care? It may really be better for them to have you around. Unless you are going to work from home.

Answer 8

In my opinion, private schools are better education wise, but public schools can be just as good. Just research the schools and the people around your neighborhood. Its always good to keep kids busy, just don't put too much pressure onto them. Extra-curricular activities are a good idea.

Answer 9

human beings interior the field of education are undoubtably more effective in all probability than the conventional individual to exhibit screen that the universal public college gadget has intense issues. i imagine that the actual shown reality that there are major issues is something tremendously a lot each individual can agree on, although shall we disagree as to what precisely those issues are or the thanks to restoration them. ... concerning the advice that this suggests that public college instructors are overpaid: i might want to have a tendency to imagine that if that were the case, the share who deliver their childrens to personal colleges might want to be a lot higher. It does take 2 mothers and fathers to have a newborn, and its turning out to be an increasing type of straightforward for both mothers and fathers to artwork. i do not understand the position my intense college biology instructor despatched her childrens to school, yet I do keep in mind her declaring that her husband became a chemical engineer, so i'm having a chance that they could have afforded a private college in the experience that they wanted to.

Answer 10

Certain states (Florida) have very undesirable school systems, if you live in one of them by all means find your children a private school. Where I live, the private school graduates almost a 100 percent and 90 percent of those kids go to college. Public High schools are doing less than half as good as that.