News and Politics Forum

zukiphile wrote:

Did you attend public or private for:

Grammar school Public
Middle school Public
High school Public
College Public

Do you have any regrets about the course you took?

I grew up in Fairfield County, CT, and as Ray will attest, it's one of the wealthiest, blue-bloodiest counties in the country. Public schools ranked way up there on a national level (according to my parents), so as far as public schools are concerned, I'm sure I didn't tax their ultimate capabilities.

Based on SATs, sports and other things, I applied to and got accepted by 2 Ivy League schools and two state schools. Poorly timed family financial issues cancelled out the two Ivy League schools, and since I was offered a partial baseball scholarship to one of the state schools, that choice became a no-brainer. I do regret not going to a better and smaller college because at that point in my life I really needed the extra challenges they would have provided and I very much believe I would have achieved a much better education. The flip side is that the school I did attend provided for me some very useful, though decidedly less academic, skills, such as quarters, beer pong, hydroponics, etc.

Do you have servicable public schools?  Would you use them for your children?

That's an issue very, um, close to home. FL public schools suck. Luckily, those in Sarasota are rated at the top for the state, but that's like saying Mark has a looser wallet than Matt, i.e. each is still a skinflint. Luckily, both my wife and I are VERY active in our children's academic lives and the fact that my wife is Japanese means that no one gets cut any slack when it comes to schoolwork. So far we've been blessed with a few exceptional teachers (every school has them and it's a parent's job to know who they are ahead of time and bribe anyone and everyone that can facilitate your child's placement in their classes), and my kids have responded well. We are concerned about high school and will consider private schools if necessary.

My wife and I are lucky in that we took an early strategy toward securing our children's college opportunities, but as of now those opportunities are at the state level. The plan is that if they show initiative, we'll move heaven and earth to get them into the school of their choice. But that part's really up to them. It's one thing to coast through 4 (or 5) years at UConn; it's quite another to do the same at Dartmouth.

2.FOH. wrote:

And AC, why spend good money on a wallet when rubber bands are so cheap?

Cheap?

IB4T Zuk tells Mark where to find free rubber bands.

Did you attend public or private for:

Grammar school - Public
Middle school - Public
High school - Public
College - Public


Do you have any regrets about the course you took?

Not really. I'm sure I could have had a "better" education had I gone to a private school, but I'm happy with the experiences and life lessons learned through my public schooling. I'm a big proponent of self-education and I always hated "school" and traditional education and measurements of good and bad so I'm not sure if that would be different had I gone to private school.

Do you have servicable public schools?  Would you use them for your children?

A lot of the schools around here are very new so I think that's why they tend to seem like bad schools. I was the 5th graduating class from my HS.

I'm torn between exposing my kid to the realities of stupid people and dealing with the type of shit you deal with in public school and giving them a "better" education by sending them to private school. I lean towards private school, but wonder what impact that will have on them when they get into the real world.

Did you attend public or private for:

Grammar school -- public (a one-room school no less -- with the same teacher for 3 years)
Middle school -- public
High school -- public
College -- public and private (5 different schools - gradutate degree)


Do you have any regrets about the course you took?   

Not at the time I took them...  Though by the time I finished high school, I started to realize that I had been cheated by a REALLY poor school system. 

Best of the bunch was the private college and graduate school.

Do you have servicable public schools?  Would you use them for your children?

Unfortunately, I had to send both of my kids to public schools, which ran from OK to REALLY BAD once we moved from Wisconsin to Kentucky.  My youngest was both enrolled in private (Christian) school and home schooled, but it was way too late to undo all of the horrid stuff done to him in the Louisville schools.

All public. Had a great education all the way through. Wouldn't even consider sending my future kids to private school - public schools do the job very well and deserve support.

I went to public school until I got sent to a private military school in the 9th grade because I was a discipline problem.

I was then kicked out of military school in the 11th grade because I was a discipline problem.

I went to a private college in New Hampshire after High School, but was kicked out after one semester when the local Law Enforcement agency objected to the methodology I used to "right"  a "wrong" done to a friend of mine.

After that I worked for an Old Fashioned Family Enterprise in the NY Metro area, and that was an education in itself.

In late 1985, sensing that I might not do well with some changes that were coming in upper management; I joined the Army. That too, was an education in itself. The most important lesson that I learned there was that when someone tells you that they work for the State Department and have something interesting that you might be interested in; that they might not actually work for who they claimed to.

After the Army I finished up my education at a couple of State Schools, on my own dime.


The sum total of my life lessons informs the second part of my answer:

1) Provided that the local public school system is not actually DANGEROUS or otherwise incapable of providing a solid basic education; I would send my children there. And frankly, if it were that bad I would probably not want to live in the neighborhood anyway.
The important point here is that when you go to a public school, it's easier to outshine the other kids. The competition bar is lower.

2) If there was a wise reason to do so, I would send my children to a College Prep High School; but that would be largely dependent on them. If they were on the sort of education/career track where it would be in their long term best interests, then it would be worthwhile.

3) I would encourage my children to attend a local community college in order to:
- a) Pump up their GPA to the maximum possible levels, and;
- b) Save money on their "basic curriculum".
The money saved could be invested by transferring to a better school for the "Major Curriculum", which would also put a better name on the Diploma.

Did you attend public or private for:

Grammar school - Private
Middle school - Public
High school - Public
College - Both private and public


Do you have any regrets about the course you took?

When I was leaving middle school, my parents (via my grandparents) floated the idea of sending me to a private high school. At the time, I didn't think it was worth the money. I had also been in public school long enough that I was afraid of becoming one of the "snobby rich kids" associated with private school.

Of course once I got older I realized that while the "snobby rich kids" did exist at private schools, there were also a lot of students there who weren't like that.

I don't regret my public education, but often wonder how things might have been different if I'd gone to the prep school. I think there were a few areas of my academics at that age that would've been enhanced by the increased level of resources available at a private school.

At the university level, I found that the private schools I attended were of a much higher quality overall than the public schools, and I don't regret them a bit. But I also realize this is really dependent on the institution in question. Some public universities are a lot better than others.

Do you have servicable public schools?  Would you use them for your children?

None of the places where I've lived recently have a public school system that I think would be worth sending children to. Not that I have any children.