Schooling megathread - private or public?

[speedog]

So schooling because it is a thing that many a beyond member is dealing with in their normal every day lives or soon will be.

Are you going to or are doing public or private? Now I am going to lump all charter schools into private because they basically are a private school within the public systems and the public systems in Calgary would be the CBE and CSSD. Personally, I consider any bilingual/immersion schools that fall outside of our two official languages to be essentially private schools as well - those are tax monies going to fund something that falls outside of our federal mandated languages.

Never the less, are you going to or are doing public or private? Or are you doing public despite wanting to do private - I realize this might be a difficult thing to admit to. Our 3 conceived kids and our Asian son by another mother all did CBE angleesh mainstream and they all currently seem to be somewhat normal functioning adults in their 20's now. Private was never a viable option for us and even it would've been we would've still done public CBE - public CSSD was never on our plate despite me being raised Catholic in my youth.

[gwill]

I did private school for my son until high school this year at which point he wanted to try a public school option to be in the same school as some of his friends that decided to change.

Its been an interesting year with completely different issues/challenges.

Our younger kids will start in private school when their old enough.

[ExtraSlow]

Philosophically, we like the idea of public school. But we have had some issues with a some teachers and administrators. The public system is really challenging to navigate and they have a system of hiding resources from parents. It's really frustrating. Both of us are university educated Canadian born english speakers, and we still find it confusing as hell. I suspect immigrants or others without our advantages just get left behind if they require anything beyond the basic classroom resources.

Have been impressed with the special ed program our one kid had for a year. That year was awesome. Second kid may be in a special ed program next year, we hope.

I don't have the cash for private school, but know what know now, I can certainly see the appeal of private education, especially for children with a learning disability.

[revelations]

Wife and I have discussed this extensively.

- straight to G1 (no kindergarten), delaying school as long as possible
- whatever school is closest/convenient to start (Catholic in our case), kid will be walking to school and be taught basic street smarts
- monitor as kid goes up the grades, some kids need more challenges (extra curricular stuff)

The first 5 years mean fuck all in terms of which school - most kids likely end up performing the same later on in life, at either public/private schools.

Until they reach HS, where more options and challenges are avail, is when we would consider something more specialized.

[Tik-Tok]

If we were a $200g+ household, we'd put ours into private school. Not that I think our public system is terrible, but from an instructional point of view, I'm willing to bet private schools overall have better teachers, and smaller class sizes.

We could probably swing it now financially, but then she'd be growing up as the "poor" kid among wealthy peers. I was that kid in high school, I didn't enjoy it a single bit.

[suntan]

Oldest goes to Westmount. She's basically a grade ahead in everything. She was quite disruptive in regular school as she'd finish everything early and then do cartwheels.

#2 goes to community school. She's happy so far. Seems to be at an okay level of challenge. Will apply again for the science school and perhaps late French immersion.

[bjstare]

Ours is still a couple years from starting, but we're likely go the private route for at least the early years. Later on, if there's other opportunities for sports or whatever at a larger public school, maybe switch over. I have zero interest in dealing with the CBE system, and we are a 5 min drive from a bunch of private schools.

The only thing that would get her in public is if we move to springbank earlier than planned, and she goes to the school(s) out there. They're kind of a happy medium between public and private IMO.

[The_Rural_Juror]

What about good CBE schools vs private schools?

[msommers]

What’s the price range for private in Calgary and area?

[speedog]

Waldorf - grade 1 appears to be $12,460 for a new student.

89190

[ExtraSlow]

The key is to have four or more kids, clearly.

[speedog]

Webber Academy grade 1 minimum $18,400

Strathcona Tweedsmuir grade 1 minimum $20,700

[kertejud2]

Private school is for people with more money than sense. Or if you know your kids don’t stand a chance unless they have somebody holding their hand (in which case you’re spending a lot to delay your kids’ failure until university).

Put that money into an account and tell your kid it’s theirs when they graduate university if you want to motivate them. Would be a better use of it regardless. If they don’t make it, spend something nice on yourself.

[mazdavirgin]

If your kids are smart doesn't really matter where they end up going, they will do fine in either public or private systems... If your kids are not then they could stand to benefit from more one on one time found in private schools.

[ExtraSlow]

If your kids are smart doesn't really matter where they end up going, they will do fine in either public or private systems... If your kids are not then they could stand to benefit from more one on one time found in private schools.

"smart" is probably the wrong word for that sentiment. But I do agree that many kids would not benefit from anything beyond public school.

[dirtsniffer]

Cheaper than what I pay for daycare right now... fuck I cant wait until my kid goes to public school. Dad needs a new shelby!

[suntan]

There's a poster on here that's the #1 proof that private school is useless.

[killramos]

I think putting up with the POS public system builds character and bolsters problem solving skills.

That’s about the only good thing I have to say about it.

[rage2]

I think putting up with the POS public system builds character and bolsters problem solving skills.

That’s about the only good thing I have to say about it.
This. I enjoyed my time through public school, navigating it and figuring out how to take advantage of it to get ahead. Taught me how to find loopholes. With that said all my kids go to private.

[phreezee]

Don't forget about all the "donations" and expensive activities on top of fees.

[adam c]

This school year we switched our daughter from Catholic to Public and it has been night and day the difference
In her catholic, they didn't do any field trips that weren't 'in class' which we still had to pay for, the availability of clubs and social activities were next to nothing other than art or french, she had an issue with Math last year to which I had to hire a tutor as the teacher wouldn't listen to my concerns

[you&me]

Our kids attend private school.

There were a number of reasons we made this decision, but without getting into the nitty-gritty, I think it comes down to a few points - accountability and communication levels that a simply not even possible in the public system. I couldn't be happier with our decision so far.

[BavarianBeast]

From my experience growing up in the public system, getting kicked out in grade 12 and attending private school for graduation - 80% of the private school kids I graduated with all turned out fucked up. Bad drug addictions, codependency problems, lack of social skills amongst other issues. Found my friends from the public system turned out a lot better than my friends from grade 12 private school. Kids need to grow up in diverse environments to function appropriately in this world imo.

[msommers]

....80% of the private school kids I graduated with all turned out fucked up. Bad drug addictions...lack of social skills...

Definitely not the first time I've heard this. Something else that seems to be reinforced to students is that everyone is your competition and you need to beat them at everything (well the select few I knew from Strathcona Tweeds and Springbank which might as well be private).

The pessimistic in me thinks that Universities know high-end private schools and the grades from them don't matter as much as from public school #conspiracycuzimpoor

[davidI]

From my experience growing up in the public system, getting kicked out in grade 12 and attending private school for graduation - 80% of the private school kids I graduated with all turned out fucked up. Bad drug addictions, codependency problems, lack of social skills amongst other issues. Found my friends from the public system turned out a lot better than my friends from grade 12 private school. Kids need to grow up in diverse environments to function appropriately in this world imo.

I didn't attend a private school but I hung out with a lot of kids from Strathcona Tweedsmuir so I use that as the basis of my comparison and rationale for preferring the public system.

Those who succeeded from Strath that I knew tended to do so because they fell into a job arranged by their parents. I didn't know many F'ups but a lack of self-esteem and social skills was often apparent at parties. I'm not aware of anyone who "made it big" on their own or did any better than kids I knew at public schools who came from a similar social-economic background or situation.

In general, I think learning Latin and other shit like that is more for the parents to brag about than for the kids to actually use in life. The most important metric is probably how much time the parents spend with their children - not where they go to school.

Given my perception of outcomes is just as good if not better at public schools, I reckon I'd save the $15-20k/year and use it to offer the kid life experiences or extracurricular learning opportunities (or take unpaid leave to spend time with my kids).

[pheoxs]

At 12-20 thousand per year what are your thoughts on public+tutor route. For 12k you could hire a tutor for 5 hours a week for the year.

[suntan]

At 12-20 thousand per year what are your thoughts on public+tutor route. For 12k you could hire a tutor for 5 hours a week for the year.

Well you might not even need tutors.

A child's success is mostly determined by their parents' socio-economic status.

[ExtraSlow]

Making sure your kids are born to two university educated Canadian citizens is the most important thing.

[suntan]

Definitely not the first time I've heard this. Something else that seems to be reinforced to students is that everyone is your competition and you need to beat them at everything (well the select few I knew from Strathcona Tweeds and Springbank which might as well be private).

The pessimistic in me thinks that Universities know high-end private schools and the grades from them don't matter as much as from public school #conspiracycuzimpoor

I do know one of the deans at the U of C and she says that students from private schools are the worst when it comes to academic preparedness.

[gwill]

Our kids attend private school.

There were a number of reasons we made this decision, but without getting into the nitty-gritty, I think it comes down to a few points - accountability and communication levels that a simply not even possible in the public system. I couldn't be happier with our decision so far.

Our decision was similar. I preferred smaller class sizes, no split grades and a better foundation in the early years. More Importantly your not dealing with all the same behavior issues that public schools get to diagnose in the early years. It's a much healthier learning environment when you eliminate 60% of the issues public schools deal with.

One month in a public high school and my son has seen a lot of drugs, gangs and weapons. It didnt take long before his school was locked down or he came across someone beaten to a pulp who needed an ambulance.

I suppose this is the part that so many think is important to experience in public school?

[suntan]

Don't kid yourself, private schools have terrible drug problems as well. Maybe even worse as the kids can afford all the fun stuff.

[BavarianBeast]

Public school drugs: weed, mushrooms and molly
Private school drugs: coke, benzos, amphetamines and opioids

Pick your poison

[gwill]

Public school drugs: weed, mushrooms and molly
Private school drugs: coke, benzos, amphetamines and opioids

Pick your poison

it's funny seeing parents compare schooling from 10/20 years ago to school today. Up until grade 9 in my sons school the worst drug they'd see was weed.

In public school its coke/meth/weed. I'm glad we did private school until grade 9 based on all that we hear about from our friends who had their kids in public school.

Schools nothing like it was when most of us were In it. I'm sure most parents are blind to what goes on with their kids these days.

[ExtraSlow]

it's funny seeing parents compare schooling from 10/20 years ago to school today. Up until grade 9 in my sons school the worst drug they'd see was weed.

In public school its coke/meth/weed. I'm glad we did private school until grade 9 based on all that we hear about from our friends who had their kids in public school.

Schools nothing like it was when most of us were In it. I'm sure most parents are blind to what goes on with their kids these days. you know, people seem to think the world has gotten much more dangerous, when all statistics point to it going the opposite direction.

[suntan]

it's funny seeing parents compare schooling from 10/20 years ago to school today. Up until grade 9 in my sons school the worst drug they'd see was weed.

In public school its coke/meth/weed. I'm glad we did private school until grade 9 based on all that we hear about from our friends who had their kids in public school.

Schools nothing like it was when most of us were In it. I'm sure most parents are blind to what goes on with their kids these days.

All that stuff was around when I was in HS here. Sexting is a new thing, but kids getting pregnant, drug problems, teachers fucking students, all that stuff has been happening for decades.

[pheoxs]

All that stuff was around when I was in HS here. Sexting is a new thing, but kids getting pregnant, drug problems, teachers fucking students, all that stuff has been happening for decades.

Shits always been there. Only difference is with camera phones and social media that more people are finding out about it.

[killramos]

Jokes aside, all things considered I don’t really have strong preferences to either system. That points to public being the better option because it’s “free”.

Under a voucher system, I would not choose the public system over private if my dollars weren’t already sunk into public. Nothing about public school is worth what it costs.

[msommers]

Meth is definitely a bigger problem lol.

[sabad66]

Up until grade 9 in my sons school the worst drug they'd see was weed.


I'm sure most parents are blind to what goes on with their kids these days.

Do you think your son would be honest if he'd been around harder stuff? Maybe he would be but i bet 99% of kids aren't. I know i would have never been honest about stuff like this back in jr high/high school.

FWIW i didn't see much hard stuff in our jr high, maybe one or two guys. It was high school where it all came out.

[gwill]

All that stuff was around when I was in HS here. Sexting is a new thing, but kids getting pregnant, drug problems, teachers fucking students, all that stuff has been happening for decades.

in the context of public vs private its 1000x more rampant in grade 10 then it was in grade 9 last year with my son. But your right it was always around.

I'd say the harder drugs are significantly more scary then they were 5 to 10 years ago. And the kids are significantly worst with social media these days.

I feel bad for parents raising a young lady in today's world with all that I see happening in my sons high school.

[black_2.5RS]

Our kids go to Private and yes, it's a lot of money but the education in private is top notch, smaller class sizes and it's traditional learning....not this weird math that is done in the public system. I also believe counter to some here that the most important years of schooling are actually first 5-6 years. I feel like it sets the foundation for the education and more importantly their work ethic. The communication is really good in private school, you know FAST if your kid is shitting the bed and you can fix it early before it becomes a problem. Our oldest had some challenges last year and we knew by 3rd week of september and had it fixed generally by mid-October. I would bet it's not that fast in the public system because of the sheer class size.

There's also lots of intangibles that will help them as well, the cohort they go to school with is really important to challenging them and i've seen that first hand with my oldest. I believe that the network they build will pay off when they get older (their cohort or their cohort's parents). Obviously, there's some downsides to growing up in private school and the people they interact with daily but feel the positive outweigh the negatives.

The cost isn't that bad if you budget for it but if you compare it to the cost of daycare, it's actually the same (ours went to KidsU).

[revelations]

I feel like it sets the foundation for the education and more importantly their work ethic..

I went to 9 schools in 13 years, public and private. School has fuck all to do with work ethic - thats something kids pickup from a variety of sources - including their peers at school (but not necessarily from the school). I would not say I had ANY work ethic at age 18, but when I hit 20, things changed dramatically.

[suntan]

in the context of public vs private its 1000x more rampant in grade 10 then it was in grade 9 last year with my son. But your right it was always around.

I'd say the harder drugs are significantly more scary then they were 5 to 10 years ago. And the kids are significantly worst with social media these days.

I feel bad for parents raising a young lady in today's world with all that I see happening in my sons high school.
Absolutely, high school is a huge step change.

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Our kids go to Private and yes, it's a lot of money but the education in private is top notch, smaller class sizes and it's traditional learning....not this weird math that is done in the public system.Private schools have to follow the APOS, they teach the same marth stuff.

[gwill]

Do you think your son would be honest if he'd been around harder stuff? Maybe he would be but i bet 99% of kids aren't. I know i would have never been honest about stuff like this back in jr high/high school.

FWIW i didn't see much hard stuff in our jr high, maybe one or two guys. It was high school where it all came out.

I doubt most parents will know 100% of everything but the conversations we have had with him being in a public school this year have been interesting. We know who on the football teams on hard drugs. We know who the party kids are pushing stuff.

For us drugs have always been a focus of regular conversations through out junior high.

Most of our friends have been dealing with hard drugs/gangs etc etc as early as grade 7. IMO the private schools weed out a lot of the issues and 100 % worth it in the earlier years.

[Buster]

I doubt most parents will know 100% of everything but the conversations we have had with him being in a public school this year have been interesting. We know who on the football teams on hard drugs. We know who the party kids are pushing stuff.

For us drugs have always been a focus of regular conversations through out junior high.

Most of our friends have been dealing with hard drugs/gangs etc etc as early as grade 7. IMO the private schools weed out a lot of the issues and 100 % worth it in the earlier years.

Kids with money have the best drugs. lol

[Tik-Tok]

That's very convenient that your kids school hooks you up with names of dealers. Fuck if I can find anything asides from weed these days.

[Rocket1k78]

.not this weird math that is done in the public system.


Private schools have to follow the APOS, they teach the same marth stuff.
You got a lot of nerve trying to correct him:rofl:



Kids with money have the best drugs. lol
100%. I went to public school so i probably couldn't even pronounce half the shit the rich kids are dabbling with

[you&me]

...

- - - Updated - - -

Private schools have to follow the APOS, they teach the same marth stuff.

As far as I understand it, curriculum does not equal mandated instructional materials or methods.

[suntan]

As far as I understand it, curriculum does not equal mandated instructional materials or methods.

Typically private schools use more "progressive" methods to teach math.

[ExtraSlow]

I though everyone hated "progressive" math stuff?

[me_dennis]

our kid is signed up for TLC (traditional learning centre) kindergarten starting this fall. anyone have experience with the TLC Program?

[Tik-Tok]

our kid is signed up for TLC (traditional learning centre) kindergarten starting this fall. anyone have experience with the TLC Program?

Ours is as well (Le Roi). Her dayhome friends started last year, and their parents have given positive feedback so far. It's pretty much just the same schooling style as a 35+ year old had when we were kids

National anthem every morning, homework every night, mandatory music class in a later grade, etc.

[bjstare]

Was talking about this at dinner the other night with my parents and did a bit of poking around... does anyone know where I can find a ranking for the schools in springbank? They don't seem to show up anywhere in my googling.

[you&me]

Was talking about this at dinner the other night with my parents and did a bit of poking around... does anyone know where I can find a ranking for the schools in springbank? They don't seem to show up anywhere in my googling.

https://www.compareschoolrankings.org/

[bjstare]

https://www.compareschoolrankings.org/

Right, but if you look you'll notice none of the Springbank public schools are in there. That's why I came back to this thread to ask the wise minds of beyond haha.

[killramos]

I have heard nothing but good things about Springfield elementary the public school.

Not part of the CBE nonsense.

[you&me]

Right, but if you look you'll notice none of the Springbank public schools are in there. That's why I came back to this thread to ask the wise minds of beyond haha.

My bad... Admittedly, I didn't look closely and just presumed you could set the location to "Springbank" or "Rockyview"...

[taemo]

still a long time before our daughter goes to school but it will most likely be catholic school for her.

don't know much about the school system here in AB/Canada but oversea studies might also be an option for us (JHS/HS)

[dirtsniffer]

It's hilarious that the campus chat section has transitioned from our schooling to our kids.

[ExtraSlow]

I tried to get the mods to make a parenting sub-forum so we could keep this stuff isolated. Was overruled.

Edit, here's one post about that, 11 years ago....
https://forums.beyond.ca/threads/278520-Best-baby-gear-thread?p=3082210&highlight=Sub-forum#post3082210

[taemo]

It's hilarious that the campus chat section has transitioned from our schooling to our kids.

in 10-20 years, watch our for Best Retirement Home thread in Real Estate section?

[me_dennis]

anyone here have experience with Master's? It's supposedly a top rated school in Alberta, but with how selective they are with the admissions process, I don't know how much I trust the Fraser Institute ranking.

[bjstare]

anyone here have experience with Master's? It's supposedly a top rated school in Alberta, but with how selective they are with the admissions process, I don't know how much I trust the Fraser Institute ranking.

I know people that went there who turned out ok, and work with people currently sending their kids there. The people with kids there now have nothing but great things to say, and if you need the before/after program they tell me it is second to none. My plan is still to move to springbank and send our kids to school in Rockyview, but if we don't get that done in time, Masters will be the one we shoot for. It helps that it's a fraction of the cost of other private schools.

[Tik-Tok]

Jokes aside, all things considered I don’t really have strong preferences to either system. That points to public being the better option because it’s “free”.

Under a voucher system, I would not choose the public system over private if my dollars weren’t already sunk into public. Nothing about public school is worth what it costs.

killramos Now that you have a crotch-fruit, and need to start thinking about these things, I suggest you sign your kid up to one of the Charter schools here like FFCA. If you decide not to send him/her there when the time comes, you don't need to, but they'll never get in if you don't start applying now (and renew the application every year).

[killramos]

Yea we are pretty into foundations but not super stoked to leave it up to chance.

[you&me]

anyone here have experience with Master's? It's supposedly a top rated school in Alberta, but with how selective they are with the admissions process, I don't know how much I trust the Fraser Institute ranking.

My wife graduated from Masters. We have friends that send their kids there currently and other friends that previously sent their kids there (and now go to our school). Our kids go to a different private school.

The pricing is definitely attractive (relatively), but the friends who've changed schools found it was clear why - it seems that class sizes are not really much smaller than public schools and quite a bit larger than some of the other private schools. That's going to be an issue for some families and not a big deal to others... YMMV.

All-in-all, I don't think you can go wrong. There are a number of fundamental differences between the main private schools, which will all appeal to the different priorities of different families. I would suggest looking at several schools to assess which is the best fit for your family.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Some might say, that Catholic School is private school, that's completely publically funded.
Others might say, that between 40-60% of the students at Catholic Schools, are not Catholic.
And yet still, there are even others who might say that one could donate a shit-pile of money directly to their kid's school and receive a massive tax benefit for it (because charitable/church contribution) and end up with one's name on a plaque in a wing of such a school.
I imagine that such a person's kids still get bullied at school - but only once. And I also imagine that such a person's kids get some attention if their teachers are wandering a bit too far from the curriculum.
I'm not certain, though.

[benyl]

Yea we are pretty into foundations but not super stoked to leave it up to chance.

FFCA is great as they teach foundational knowledge (like times tables) early and drill that knowledge in. No fucking “new math” bullshit (from what I have heard).

For me, the school you choose for grades 1-5 are the most important. One on one and foundations. If your kid gets bored in grade 1-5, they have no hope in JH and HS. They will likely never learn a good work ethic unless they are challenged in 1-5. That’s the time your brain gets wired. If it easy and your lazy, that’s likely how you will end up.

Our big reason for moving out of Aspen was to be walking distance from the “private” school.

The funny thing about our school is that the nerds bully the jocks.

[killramos]

That is Westmount in your case?

Personally I think our ranking is Foundations > Masters > Public ( we live between 2 really top notch public schools walking distance which is good for elementary but I worry about the JH and HS’s in our area ). Also trying to consider where STS might fit in there.

[bjstare]

That is Westmount in your case?

Personally I think our ranking is Foundations > Masters > Public ( we live between 2 really top notch public schools walking distance which is good for elementary but I worry about the JH and HS’s in our area ). Also trying to consider where STS might fit in there.

I also know a few people who are sending/recently have sent their kids to STS and they have great things to say. One of them sent/sending all five of his kids there :eek:

Although if I was spending $100k/yr on school for my kids, I'd definitely have some confirmation bias, so take that endorsement with a grain of salt I guess.

[killramos]

Honestly seems like a better investment than the average University education these days.

[Euro_Trash]

killramos Now that you have a crotch-fruit, and need to start thinking about these things, I suggest you sign your kid up to one of the Charter schools here like FFCA. If you decide not to send him/her there when the time comes, you don't need to, but they'll never get in if you don't start applying now (and renew the application every year).

We've had our daughter on the FFCA wait list for a couple years as a coworker said the exact same thing. Biggest problem with FFCA are the locations - we just moved to an area with a Catholic school with great ratings so we are debating between that and FFCA/Masters/Clear Water. Does anyone have thoughts on Clear Water? Definitely sounds like it has a large focus on faith (not a subject to discuss in this forum) but curious on sum of parts.

[asp integra]

We've had our daughter on the FFCA wait list for a couple years as a coworker said the exact same thing. Biggest problem with FFCA are the locations - we just moved to an area with a Catholic school with great ratings so we are debating between that and FFCA/Masters/Clear Water. Does anyone have thoughts on Clear Water? Definitely sounds like it has a large focus on faith (not a subject to discuss in this forum) but curious on sum of parts.

RE: Clear Water. They just opened a brand new building for K-6 at the start of this year. It's constantly in the top ranked schools in Calgary alongside Webber and Masters.

[Tik-Tok]

Personally I think our ranking is Foundations > Masters > public

Throw a TLC school between Masters and Public. It's still public, but is a little more like FFCA than general schools.

[killramos]

Yea I am generally pretty open minded, but both me and the wife want our kid as far away from the CBE as possible if that’s in the cards.

If I could guarantee we get into FFCA then that’s probably what we could do but again I hate leaving it up the chance.

[Euro_Trash]

Yea I am generally pretty open minded, but both me and the wife want our kid as far away from the CBE as possible if that’s in the cards.

If I could guarantee we get into FFCA then that’s probably what we could do but again I hate leaving it up the chance.

It's been said but just get your kid on the FFCA list now - my kid is not even 3 and she's been on the list for 2 years so we have the option when it's time.

[you&me]

Yea I am generally pretty open minded, but both me and the wife want our kid as far away from the CBE as possible if that’s in the cards.

If I could guarantee we get into FFCA then that’s probably what we could do but again I hate leaving it up the chance.

My wife has quite a few friends in the CBE and CSSD... Before we even had kids, we knew we didn't want our kids anywhere near those organizations. :rofl:

[killramos]

Yea it’s on the to do list for the week

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My wife has quite a few friends in the CBE and CSSD... Before we even had kids, we knew we didn't want our kids anywhere near those organizations. :rofl:

My wife works for the CBE lol. Dumpster fire.

[benyl]

I'm weary of rankings. There is a lot of outside factors that aren't taken into account. Demographics plays a huge role. Many students do well when their parents have money for extra curriculars, enrichment and tutors. It isn't necessarily a reflection of the quality of the teaching. We've had some not so great teachers at our school.

Private and "Private" schools tend to attract people with the means to propel their kids to do well, even when they are typically average.

It's really about the school working for the child. Any kid can do well at any school if they have support.

We knew our kids needed more support in the realm of personal development and executive function. Academics would be the easy part. That's what really drove our choice.

[dirtsniffer]

Any value in this site?

https://www.compareschoolrankings.org/

Apparently I live close to a high performing public school. Should I still be avoiding at all costs? ~$8k for masters doesn't seem too out of reach, but still a big chunk of cash.

[Disoblige]

Others might say, that between 40-60% of the students at Catholic Schools, are not Catholic.
How does one join a catholic school without being catholic and not get caught?
Asking for SKR...

[killramos]

How does one join a catholic school without being catholic and not get caught?
Asking for SKR...

You are unfortunately going to have to let a priest do some unfortunate things to you.

That or, you know, Catholicism isn’t exactly the Glencoe club...

[benyl]

Any value in this site?

https://www.compareschoolrankings.org/

Apparently I live close to a high performing public school. Should I still be avoiding at all costs? ~$8k for masters doesn't seem too out of reach, but still a big chunk of cash.

Yes, there is value. What I am saying is that it isn't the be all and end all. Many Asians look at that list, find the highest number and beg, borrow and steal to get their kid in that school. Don't be Asian. lol

I'm not saying a school with a high number is bad, I'm stating that not all school with high rankings should be looked at equally.

Case in point: Olympic heights used to be one of the highest ranked schools in the city. Anyone in Aspen east of 85th was designated there. Roberta Bondar opened, all those family's younger siblings went to Roberta Bondar and Olympic heights dropped hard.

Did the teaching change there? Or was it the type of student?

[ExtraSlow]

Highly rated schools and private schools also self-select for a certain type of family that has historically had high performing students. the same high performing student might do just as well at any shitty local school.

[Tik-Tok]

How does one join a catholic school without being catholic and not get caught?
Asking for SKR...

You don't need to hide it, they don't deny people based on religion, but they will take a Catholic kid before a non-Catholic.

The Catholic school nearest me is well known to be the place the little shitheads have to go to after they get kicked out of the other 3 around me.

[killramos]

Highly rated schools and private schools also self-select for a certain type of family that has historically had high performing students. the same high performing student might do just as well at any shitty local school.

There is something to be said about the benefits of merely surrounding your kid with those kinds of people.

I’d rather my kid spend their waking hours around, at least speculatively, more driven people than a bunch of skids.

Amazing even the benefits that come from a school not having to accommodate lower common denominators. For example, they no longer segregate kids who can’t speak English into dedicated streams, you just have a teacher who is spending huge amounts of their time basically teaching English to a small % of students rather than actually teaching any content.

Basically any desire to want a better education for your kids comes off as hilariously elitist, but fuck it what’s best for other people’s kids isn’t my problem.

A very low % of my public school graduating class ever did anything with their lives, and frankly I doubt it did me any real good academically that I spent 8 hours of my day with that demographic as my benchmark.

[ExtraSlow]

Basically any desire to want a better education for your kids comes off as hilariously elitist, but fuck it what’s best for other people’s kids isn’t my problem. I 100% agree with this.

[bjstare]

Yes, there is value. What I am saying is that it isn't the be all and end all. Many Asians look at that list, find the highest number and beg, borrow and steal to get their kid in that school. Don't be Asian. lol

I'm not saying a school with a high number is bad, I'm stating that not all school with high rankings should be looked at equally.

Case in point: Olympic heights used to be one of the highest ranked schools in the city. Anyone in Aspen east of 85th was designated there. Roberta Bondar opened, all those family's younger siblings went to Roberta Bondar and Olympic heights dropped hard.

Did the teaching change there? Or was it the type of student?

It's probably a mixture of both, which I think makes the ranking a valuable metric. The cohort is equally important (or more?) than the teachers, IMO. :dunno:

[dirtsniffer]

Part of the reason I moved to a generally high income area, I mean it's no Aspen, but it's aight. Hopefully it results in the kiddo being surrounded by high performers. If the neighbourhood school has good grades I guess it suggests that it's true. But maybe I should get on the private school lists before it is too late. Only a couple years away.

[Disoblige]

You don't need to hide it, they don't deny people based on religion, but they will take a Catholic kid before a non-Catholic.

The Catholic school nearest me is well known to be the place the little shitheads have to go to after they get kicked out of the other 3 around me.
Good to hear :rofl:
There is a K-6 school right beside me LOL.

[ThePenIsMightier]

How does one join a catholic school without being catholic and not get caught?
Asking for SKR...

There is no "getting caught" because you're not doing anything wrong. It varies, but some literally need a numbers boost to justify their existence and they will willingly take children from non-religious families.
Some accept children if the parents can identify them as being baptized, some can afford to be more selective and others ask only that the parents indicate "I believe in God" then they ask that you don't renounce the faith to the children, because that's kind of unfair and would confuse things.

What do you get? Well, according to SKR, you get kids that stand up and sing the anthem every morning along with poper, regimented structure and some fucking ACCOUNTABILITY. While public schools are deciding how to let girls who identify as trannicorns into the staff bathrooms and what colour palette the "zero tolerance for bullying" signs are going to be, Catholic schools are actually offering discipline for shit smears who pull fire alarms and hit girls.

And, it's not a cult. As we all know more than anything we've ever known about knowing things, the last residential school closed in 1996 which was clearly the Dark Ages (even though we can clearly recall it as being an enlightened time) BUT THAT'S WRONG!!! So, we all know that every Catholic within Canada (all of them, definitely for sure) was spending all their days scooping up Indian kids from reserves and taking them to rape factories, all day every day. In 1995... As we all vividly remember...
Well, the last half of 1996 was a Eureka Moment and magically, everything changed, overnight. Without all that time spent stealing indigenous children from their utopia of opportunity on reservations so that all of them could be repeatedly raped and forced to become addicted to alcohol, the focus shifted to "how about you be nice to others and when someone needs a hand, you help them because that's the right thing to do in a functional society, not forgetting that one day, you may need a little help, yourself. Be nice. Be responsible. Be accountable." So, it's not like they're in a church with a Cardinal in a goofy costume telling them "evolution is a lie and dinosaur bones are fake", all day. It's a proper, structured education with an errMahGerrd-30min of Religion per week.

Big deal. It's free. They're not abducting children from reservations (because let's all own that that was occurring up to and including 1996). They aren't in a cult. They can't be bumped out by more devout, official Catholics. They're not marginalized by strict Catholics. And, it's an organization that thrives on monetary donations (which are tax deductible). Those donations purchase influence and power, if one chooses to follow that path.
So I've heard...

[you&me]

There is something to be said about the benefits of merely surrounding your kid with those kinds of people.

IÂ’d rather my kid spend their waking hours around, at least speculatively, more driven people than a bunch of skids.

Amazing even the benefits that come from a school not having to accommodate lower common denominators. For example, they no longer segregate kids who canÂ’t speak English into dedicated streams, you just have a teacher who is spending huge amounts of their time basically teaching English to a small % of students rather than actually teaching any content.

Basically any desire to want a better education for your kids comes off as hilariously elitist, but fuck it whatÂ’s best for other peopleÂ’s kids isnÂ’t my problem.

A very low % of my public school graduating class ever did anything with their lives, and frankly I doubt it did me any real good academically that I spent 8 hours of my day with that demographic as my benchmark.

Preach on, brotha :clap:

Something that's always stuck with me - I had a pretty modest upbringing, but always did well academically. One of my best friends in high school came from one of the 'better' areas and we often competed, comparing test scores, etc. Come grade 12, I couldn't understand why he kept pressuring me to apply at the same universities so I could join him in his career as an "investment banker"... Like hell I wanted to sit in a "bank" branch and "invest" people's money... I simply hadn't been exposed to that type of career and had no idea :rofl:

I don't recall putting much weight into the rankings before enrolling our first kid. We read the info on the websites and went to some private school expo, which gave us enough to narrow down our selection based on what we felt to be most important. We had plans to attend 3 different open house events, but the first one resonated enough that our decision was made. I'd recommend doing the same (info sessions, etc) for anyone considering a private school. It's a good way to get a feel for the things that aren't easily accounted for in the rankings.

As far as the quality of teachers - It seems clear to us that the school can be far more selective in their hiring. All of the teachers we've had have been fantastic and there's far more communication and a better feeling of accountability. Now some of that comes from the top down, where you get the feeling there's an awareness that this is a more transactional relationship. But I think more of it comes from a better overall work environment for the teachers. It's far easier to stay engaged with the students and parents when there are half as many kids and none of them require any special attention.

One other major differentiator - the students learn from day one that there are winners and losers... No gold stars for participation.

[killramos]

See I knew it was my public high school to blame for why I’m not an investment banker... :rofl:

[you&me]

See I knew it was my public high school to blame for why I’m not an investment banker... :rofl:

To be fair, I also thought all lawyers were trial lawyers like you'd see on TV and all engineers were CAD monkeys... I was so sheltered.

Now my 8yo daughter wants to practice math so she can be like so-and-so's dad... See, it's all about the environment and exposing them to good role models :)

[me_dennis]

So we're not in a terrible situation right now. Our son is currently in kindergarten at a TLC school. We had applied for him to goto Master's for Kindergarten, but he didn't get in. We put in an application at Master's for Gr. 1, and we got a call saying they'd like him to go in for an interview.
If he is successful, we are trying to decide whether to put him in Master's, or keep him in the TLC program.

[sexualbanana]

To be fair, I also thought all lawyers were trial lawyers like you'd see on TV and all engineers were CAD monkeys... I was so sheltered.


Everyone thinks that.

[Kobe]

I've learned a few things about our schooling system recently, I was speaking to my aunt about education she is a principle at a highschool in Poland, and I also spoke with a friend in Romania.

- In poland they teach you about

SWOT

Stengths
Weakness
Opportunity
Threats

I knew about it from Uni and marketing, and asked a couple others if we learned it in High School and they said they didn't know about it. (I know it's used in a lot of business's here) but it was never taught in school, atleast nobody I know was taught it?

- We didnt have any Economics courses in high school? At least I didn't, they teach it in poland, in Romania they only had some Entry base level economics courses.

- They have Agriculture Highschools in Poland and Romania, but it's not a thing here.

In Bucharest, Romania he said that there is 6 Economic Highschools, basically one for each district.

I went to a catholic HS here but in Romania Religion courses are optional. (I have to ask in Poland but i'm assuming it's mandatory)

- They teach Civic Education in Romania which i was told is "Basically how to conduct yourself in society and respect elders and shit like that"

His reasoning was "Cause most of us gipsies lack that respect" (His not a Gypsy)

- Principles teach in classes their, In Romania his Principle taught him English and Civic Ed in Poland my aunt teaches Geography and something else (I forget)

- In Poland you need 30% to pass and about 70% of students get between 30-50% (Which i'd assume is similar here and 70% of students getting between 50-69%)

I always assumed the schooling systems were very similar in most countries (Except in the USA I know their schooling system is complete garbage)

When I was in High school I took like one course of French, they all have mandatory English courses now a days, and the younger Generations speak English pretty fluently and can read and write in English.

So I finally understand why it's so important to pick a good school for children here in Canada, it blew my mind.


Also there is no such thing as "spares" in highschool, I remember in grade 12 I was going after noon since I only needed 100 credits.

[CLiVE]

My experience: Was in the catholic system until grade 9, then attended a private school. The entitlement of the kids in the private school I attended always annoyed me. Unrealistic expectations and not prepared to work for anything

We looked at the different programs and seriously considered sending our kids to private schools. My conclusion was there is nothing wrong with the curriculum of either the public or catholic systems and I would rather my daughter be exposed to a diverse background, develop some street smarts, and be allowed to excel as a top student rather than being normalized with a 'smart' population.
Also the diversity of activities like music, sports, etc. seemed greater with the public options.

Really I think it comes down to the kid, the parents (and how involved they are). Basically if the kid has good reading/writing skills, and learns how THEY learn I think they will do okay in life. In her school she's not spoon-fed anything and it is up to her to sink or swim. Prefer it that way...vs what I saw in private schools.

[killramos]

You can sink in a Canadian public school?

I thought high diplomas were a human right or something now.

[Kobe]

My experience: Was in the catholic system until grade 9, then attended a private school. The entitlement of the kids in the private school I attended always annoyed me. Unrealistic expectations and not prepared to work for anything

We looked at the different programs and seriously considered sending our kids to private schools. My conclusion was there is nothing wrong with the curriculum of either the public or catholic systems and I would rather my daughter be exposed to a diverse background, develop some street smarts, and be allowed to excel as a top student rather than being normalized with a 'smart' population.
Also the diversity of activities like music, sports, etc. seemed greater with the public options.

Really I think it comes down to the kid, the parents (and how involved they are). Basically if the kid has good reading/writing skills, and learns how THEY learn I think they will do okay in life. In her school she's not spoon-fed anything and it is up to her to sink or swim. Prefer it that way...vs what I saw in private schools.

I couldn't agree more, I was a bad student in grade 1-12. I would be happy with an A- but they were rare as hell.

I don't think it was because I was a bad student but because I just didn't try, I didn't take it seriously, I would rather play video games and a lot of the things we learned didn't interest me, I wanted to take the "easy route" I took Science 24 and Math 30 Applied in high school, I do think I got A's in Math but it's just something I seemed to understand always.

Now that I'm older I really do regret not taking science 20 and Bio and those other classes, in Uni I remember I got like 1 question wrote on my stats final and an good grades in English but I did put the effort in since I had to pay for it and didn't want to have to pay again.

My parents would always ask me "Did you finish your homework?" I'd always reply "yah" or "There was non" and that was the end of it.

I wish we learned about finances and economics and things we can apply after school, I honestly only remember the things I wanted to learn in School and the rest of it I totally forgot about.

If the kid is interested in a subject he is going to be a lot more motivated to learn about it, I'd try to make it as interactive and as exciting as possible for the children but we just didn't have that when I was going to a catholic school, I have no idea how other schools are with that though.

Also having a 4.0 GPA in Uni for most career courses (unless your like a doctor or scientist) is not the best for an employer who is hiring since the research we did in some marketing courses looking at MRU/UofC/Sait was that HR wanted someone that would make mistakes and had a social life so they could social with the others in the workplace.

I found the powerpoint, not sure where to upload it but i'm going to attach some of the sides from our research..

It was based on this

https://i.gyazo.com/a022f6be61b807f49d41bd67256189af.png


We wanted to find out

https://i.gyazo.com/c9e8adbf5a8e18dfaef4bbb919a47dab.png
Some of the slides.

https://i.gyazo.com/875ebd3daaabde0169e2fa30c8c9d79c.png
https://i.gyazo.com/8d491eeda7a608f16d80bf4dc6997369.png
https://i.gyazo.com/ec2e66743875f1fe8610e493da82cc9d.png
https://i.gyazo.com/d37561d8df37d1c521bbc7586f6d1557.png
https://i.gyazo.com/3582b4ca208634384f12ac44f5a4e82e.png

Questions we asked
Part 1
https://i.gyazo.com/79cfc6b69329239bc5cb039d955925a8.png
Part 2
https://i.gyazo.com/2e4f943d43528b6b9ffaafa5e5281aac.png

We removed everyone who responded that was using a uni e-mail to remove bias as well when they filled out the questionaire online. (prob 50%) and they were going to do it against for the next semester to get a larger sample size but I don't know how those results look like, I'm assuming they would be similar though.

We noticed that people at Sait knew what they want to do since they usually took a year or two off before attending, whereas UofC was the "smarter" students but the students were more happy with their education from MRU profs than UofC profs.

Something to consider when picking a school, it's not all about the "startest" students for employers in the future when hiring.