Schooling megathread - private or public?

[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]

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....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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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

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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]

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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.