Being in a good school district is paramount if you are considering public school. My wife and I grew up in places where the public school systems were excellent, but they are few and far between in Atlanta. We sent our kids to private schools for elementary and middle school. My son wanted to try a public high school, and it was a disaster. The teachers didn’t care, and they made it easy to get A’s so the kids had a better chance of getting into UGA. Girls were having fights in the hallways. He asked to go to a private school and he learned how to be a good student. He was surrounded by kids who were motivated to be successful and it drove him to work hard.
ND: Private School
- Thread starter untouchableobu
- Start date
So I went to a private Christian school, and my kids go to one now. It’s a great decision for us. Ours provides great opportunities not only in building their faith and community; but Academically, Artistically, and Athletically. They are not all that way. One thing we considered is , our kids aren’t going to be Div 1 athletes, but they like to compete and are good enough to play. As it is with a lot of larger public schools, I considered them being able to practice and stand on the sidelines for 4 years or go to a smaller school and actually play!! Opportunities mattered to us.
Had I been better educated, I would not have made that mistake. Haha
My wife and I went to public school all the way through. She taught in APS for a little while, now teaches at a private Christian school.
My daughter now goes there too and while I was nervous about the cost initially, it’s been well worth it. We get a discount for tuition now thanks to my wife and my daughter has access to several activities/classes she would not have at public school.
My sister started teaching in public school and then moved to a private school in Atlanta where both her kids now attend. They live in a really good public school district but there is something to be said about having the kids near mom/on the same campus.
My daughter now goes there too and while I was nervous about the cost initially, it’s been well worth it. We get a discount for tuition now thanks to my wife and my daughter has access to several activities/classes she would not have at public school.
My sister started teaching in public school and then moved to a private school in Atlanta where both her kids now attend. They live in a really good public school district but there is something to be said about having the kids near mom/on the same campus.
My daughter goes to Aquinas, and I graduated from there also. Way different now than when I went, but they added so much to curriculum. I wish they offered half the stuff they do now when I went.
Spent 7th through 10th grade @ The Delbarton School in Northern New Jersey. When we moved to ATL, I spent the final two years @ Dunwoody, which WAS at that time the top public school in the state, the differences in my education experience between the two was like night and day. The former akin to a small highly selective college like Williams or Bates or Bowdoin.
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Yes - there are 40-50 private schools in the country - Andover, Choate, Exeter, Taft, etc that can’t be touched by any public school. I went to an Ivy League grad school with many of those kids. I went to a public school. I outperformed most of those kids academically because I was insanely driven, intellectually curious, and read about things outside the classroom. I did go to an outstanding public high school in Charlottesville, Va with a ton of UVa professor’s kids - so, I was fortunate. I sent my kids to really good private schools because, without my personal drive and ambition, there was no way I could compete with their educational background. The only private school that comes close to those schools in Georgia is Westminster. Lovett and schools like Holy Innocents aren’t in the same universe, academically, as the schools you mentioned. I would take a kid from Walton over a Lovett or Holy Innocents every day and twice on Sunday.
My parents wanted me @ Woodward, or Lovett or Marist. I was fvcking tired of wearing a coat and tie to school and convinced them to let me go the public school route. I got to experience both sides and am grateful.
Marist is very good. Woodward and for sure, Lovett, aren’t worth the money academically based on graduates I have encountered in business. Lovett is a feeder to SMU - that’s all anyone needs to know.
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They wanted me in a conservative environment to counter my then revolutionary tendencies. I needed water yet they fed me wine. I was biting the hand that fed me daily.
All worked out though.
There are advantages and disadvantages to public schools and private schools but neither guarantee the success or failure of your child. The most important thing in my opinion is to not put yourself and your family in a bad financial position just to send your kids to private school. I feel like sometimes these decisions (I’m not suggesting this is the case with you) are more to stroke the parents’ egos rather than to give the child an advantage. We have always lived in good (but not necessarily elite) school systems and my kids attended public school. My daughter is a sophomore at UGA and my son is a freshman in high school. Your child’s success has more to do with the example and involvement of you and your wife and their close inner circle than the school they attend. I grew up middle class in a poor area and attended public schools in a poor school district. I’ve done fine in life, as well as my brother and sister, and we all attended the same school district and are all UGA grads.
Again, there is nothing wrong with sending your kid to a private Christian school, but please make sure you can really afford it before making that decision. Don’t compromise your own retirement for a decision that doesn’t guarantee your child additional success.
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I couldn’t disagree more……and as it’s stated above, nothing is absolute.
Will be interesting to see how the rise in homeschooling is going to affect kids & their education moving forward. Don’t think it’s going to be good.
I have cousins that went to Trinity Christian and loved it. And they were zoned to HPISD schools. They are very religious though.
Paid for 28 years of private school tuition and it was the best investment ever. My kids were early-accepted into UGA (daughter’s class had 13 of 46 seniors early-accepted UGA) and they created deep, lifelong friendships.
They had unfettered access to clubs, sports, and opportunities… plus, thanks to the smaller class sizes, teachers could identify areas where they struggled and custom fit a solution.
I grew up a public school kid and am fiercely proud of that. But, I have to admit that my kids had it better than I and… in the end… isn’t that what progress is about?
Thanks for the feedback! From everything I can tell, it’s a great school.
My wife went to private school K-12, and she would tell you to take that money that you’re going to invest in private school and invest it in the market. Setup your kids for wealth with the money you’re investing. Really successful people have come out of public schools.
The question OP asked was about a private Christian school, and you’re talking about the number of AP classes kids can take and other academic issues.
For some, there are reasons beyond pure academics that result in them sending their kids to private Christian schools. For example, some parents don’t want their small children being taught by a man who claims he is a “cat.” (And before you laugh, that is happening at public schools in central Florida.) Some parents don’t want their kids exposed to woke political ideologies. Some parents want their kids around kids and families that have similar values, ethics, etc.
So, if OP falls in that group, then all the academic considerations you mentioned could be a distant second to the things I mentioned.
Just a thought, @untouchableobu … Happy to discuss if you want to chat in more detail! I certainly support private Christian education for a lot of reasons.
Here in Atlanta at least, some of the most high profile private Christian schools are among the wokest.
Have to be careful and do appropriate diligence on the school and not assume or might be in for a big surprise.
Come on man. That’s an urban legend
Those people are dumbasses that watch Fox News, so who gives a damn TBH.
Couple grand a month now OR they become infected with public school indoctrination. The choice seems easy to me. I teach in public schools too! My kids will be homeschooled or in Christian school 100%!
Why teach in them if they’re so bad? Shouldn’t that raise a moral conflict for you?
Where in the hell do you teach? “Public school indoctrination” is pathetically hilarious.
As opposed to the private school indoctrination? I hate to break it to Christians, but the history isn't that great. The Crusades, English Reformation and Thirty Years War… and let’s not forget about the children.
Honest question - What do you do about college? When kids are exposed to anything and everything without sheltering from parents.. I’ve just seen so many kids raised a certain way do a 180 once they are in college and exposed to a myriad of different viewpoints and experiences.
Just trying to be salt & light in a dark world.
Political agendas aside, (you'll have some of that to some degree in any setting) I'm sending my granddaughter to a Christian private school because they protect the learning environment in the classroom. My mom retired early from the Houston Co. school system after the 3rd time she was physically assaulted by students. She has stories of mainstreaming severely ill students disrupting lessons. She said students that disrupted on a consistent basis were allowed to remain in class and disrupt. She would talk of parents that were not only unwilling to help control their child but file complaints against teachers that would try to reign the children in and on and on.
Now, I'm sure there are many districts that offer great opportunities to students and districts that have parents that insist on quality educations. As I said in an earlier post, my niece and nephew did extremely well in the system where their mom is an administrator. What I can say is in our school, the amount of involved parents is close to 100% and disrupting the learning environment is subject to near zero tolerance. The one yr my granddaughter did attend public school, she was 2 yrs ahead of the students in her classes and the school wasn't receptive to accommodating her needs. She basically spent her 6th grade yr as a teacher's assistant and left with the top GPA in her grade.
I think people need both sides to make a decision. If the Christian school is awful academically, I wouldn’t go there. I can raise my kids in a good Christian home and go to church without it being at school too. Other folks may want their kids to see other cultures and religions as well. I’d want to know the academic aspect too, especially because I can control the religious aspect at home. You bring stories of a cat. If true that is a good reason to move your kid. I know others won’t put their kid in Catholic schools because they are worried about some of the awful things that have happened there. We can pick out things everywhere. Ultimately I’d want all the information to decide, especially if it may impact college.
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Colorado, right in between Denver & Boulder. Half the teachers have pride flags in their rooms. It’s a middle school, not even HS.
I suppose you pick the indoctrination for your kids. I pick Jesus over secular humanism.
Religion is literally indoctrination. How are you a teacher?
You hope they have received a primary education that taught them how to think, not necessarily what to think, and that your guidance rubbed off on them to some degree. Of course you also accept the fact that as they mature, they aren't going to be your mini me.
Sounds like you taught in a good era. The culture is poisoned
