Talking with a parent whose kids went to preschool with ours and found her kids are moving out of a high-quality Catholic school to one of the premier private schools: she urged me to get ours assessed with the ISEE exam. Her oldest says he is being challenged for the first time, after spending elementary school in a well-regarded Montessori program and then Catholic school for middle school. Hmmm.Â
If they did well on the assessment, would we abandon public school? Assuming we could afford it, with financial aid etc., would we do it?Â
The advantages:
- High academic rigor
- High expectations (college prep, professional careers)
- Contacts. Steve Ballmer didn’t get to run MSFT based on his personal charm or good looks
The negatives:
- Expensive
- Insular: private school goes against a lot of what I believe in. I don’t want my kids exposed to a country club atmosphere or hanging with kids who feel entitled
- Am I wrong to be more concerned about the social dynamics of a rich school than a good middle class public school? Popular fiction notwithstanding, I’d have to think about it.Â
I think the assessment might be as far as this goes. Though I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the scores are shared with the schools and if they’re good, that we hear from them. Oh, well, better to be asked than ignored.Â