Did you go to private school? Was it worth it?

[betahat]

^The French baccalaureate is the only national diploma that awards 30-credits AP in 4 years institutions around the world as the baccalaureat already includes university-level philosophy, calculus etc, it tells something about the quality of the education.



Yes, they make the Bacc notoriously hard. 13% failure rate is pretty high (and that's already a selected group) and getting a perfect 20 is next to impossible (of course, the grading is subjective). They give a `low' score out of 20, so that getting 16 or better is only the top 1 or 2%. Compare that to the SATs, where 0.02% to 0.07% of students get perfect scores year after year. Of course you can't really compare them anyway - SATs are more of an aptitude test while the Bacc tests how much knowledge you've accumulated, more like the A levels or IB.

My private high school had an IB program, but I don't think taking a (somewhat) standardized exam at the end necessarily contributed to the quantity of stuff I learned. While there's something to be said about cramming people's heads full of knowledge in high school and using a big test to motivate that, the really smart people in all countries - with ones with high aptitudes - tend to pick up all this stuff anyway. The real question is whether average students who end up taking the Bacc really learn (and retain) more than the average students who don't have a big comprehensive final to study for (or motivate their teachers), and maybe how it compares to people who do A-levels, the IB, or take a bunch of AP classes. I don't think we know the answer to those questions.

[Ganbare!]

I concur, there is no scientific study about knowledge retention rates that being said at an individual level, concepts I have not used for 4 years are still fresh in my mind. I never had an economics class nor read anything consistent dealing with the discipline beyond high school but never had the feeling the essential macroeconomic debates necessarily referred to in my int'l relations, political theory or sociology personal reading slipped past me. Outside of organizational bs to make money I have not learned anything useful in undergrad therefore a significant amount of knowledge I have discussed here concerning social sciences until last September originated in my secondary education.

Come to think of it at 17, I knew the borders of the 1947 Israel UN Partition Plan, was introduced to counter-insurrectional wars in America's backyard, less inward that some would want us to believe, now I get the French's proliferation in world organizations and diplomacy..

[Ganbare!]

I'm sure not all of you were model pupils. Me and a buddy were feared trouble-makers for years. We tried every possible bs, setting off fire alarms, stealing school property, playing ball in classrooms, throwing furniture through the fifth floor windows, drinking contests, blasting g-funk from the schoolyard, spray painting graffitis, getting into fights with boxing club members. I remember exploding the schoolbus' windshield with a slingshot, unfortunately some kids reported me, I was asked 700$ for repairs, never paid those suckers back, good times. I've become such a respectful guy in comparison, such is adult life I guess...

Any fond memories from school to share?

[quiapo]

I went to an elite private school, but sent my kids to public school. Academically I cant detect any significant differences. Socially, advantages of a public school have been a wide range of social exposure compared to the limited male milieu of the private school. Our grandson is going to go to a public school.

[Ganbare!]

Most Asian-based international school alumnis living around the world with expats parents I have met are party people but unlike them sadly achieve little professionally.

[nealtse]

^ When mommy and daddy's money runs out?

What am I saying...of course it won't.

[milkman's baby]

I went to public schools all my life and while I'd like to blame them for my deficiency in mathematics and sciences, the truth is, they were great public schools. I was just lazy. My younger years were at DoD (military base schools) and my high school was in a McMansion suburb that pumped so much unnecessary money into the school, it was a Democrat's dream. The only things that really sucked were the bureacracy that's expected with any public school, and the poor kids from the dumps who rode the bus from their own districts to our school every morning. I don't know if it's because they got expelled from their own crummy schools or if it was the No Child Left Behind Act, but they were definitely the reason our school fell a couple notches in state ratings and why the school has to spend more money on security.

The whole difference between public and private schools isn't as big as it was maybe 20 years or more ago. These days bureaucracy has benefitted middle class suburban school districts to the point it's sickening. I would only think about sending my kid to a private school if I lived in the inner city or the South, where the schools are generally crap.

[sim]

Yes, I was always in paid education.

Was it worth it? If my family had lived in the UK, most definitely. Basically, in the UK you need to live in a good area to access a good state (public) school (and therefore be wealthy enough to buy a house/rent in that area) or send your kid to a private school if you want them having a decent education. It's much harder to be a good student if everyone around you is not. One of my ex-colleagues was saying how she was told by her daughter's teacher to not teach her to read anything more than simple simple text until she was 7 or else she'd be way ahead of her peers.

I was really appalled; I was taught how to read basic text at 3 or 4. If anyone knows about puddle lane books, I could read the easy side when I was 4 and the hard side about a year or so later.

That said, my family was based in HK and my dad went OTT and sent us to a private boarding school in the UK (one of the great 'public schools' in the UK- same par as Eton, Harrow, etc). While you definitely get what you pay for, I think I would have done better, and preferred to have stayed at the international school I was at in HK. My school was so WHITE and ENGLISH and your 'class' was everything. I felt really out of place but I got the chance to do a lot of things I would not have done or would never have been given the support or encouragement to have done back here. It did also make me part of who I am today I guess.

I know he did it for our own good as for him education was the one thing he made sure to provide the best in....give us a good head start in life and all that. My sister is a doctor, my brother is a soon-to-be banker and I'm the black sheep who never really was even sure they wanted to go to University, so he kind of succeeded in 2 out of 3 of us.

[helloagain]

It is unfortunate that schools are so different, and some are exposed to better educational opportunities. But I know people that have been exclusively educated in private school and have squandered the opportunity, they are no brighter than someone who graduated from public school. It is about applying yourself.

[rob]

I attended private school for high school.

My parents registered me there because our local high-school was overrun with drugs/druggies (all my old buddies incidentally), teen pregnancies etc and this was supposedly my escape hatch. Not your average private school though.... it was basically a military college focused on discipline and athletics. Academics were a complete joke and the bar was set so low so that the athletes (who were recruited across the country) could pass.

Not worth it at all in my case. I could have taken IB/AP or something in the regular high school and I'm not at all influenced by others/friends behaviour so I think the regular school would have been just fine.

I'm appreciate of the opportunity though and do believe that on balance, private schools are generally better.

[pelle]

Education is what you make of it I think. I went to private schools, I wouldn't say I'm any better off than my partner, who didn't. Didn't go to a military academy, I think that would be interesting. ;D

[Tay tay]

I've had the oppurtunity to try all the different types of schools in my area. Public for five years, religious for six years and private for one. Public was silly they didn't give me any work! Religious was the best, met lifelong friends also the religious part was not enforced. Now private, it's not worth it, currently I'm on a scholarship making a $20,000 per year education into a five thousand. Do I believe it's worth 5-odd times more than the religious education? No! But that could just be because it's an all boys school and really I get better on with girls, theyre not so stupid as the boys I know really! They'll talk about poetry etc. anyway that's my personal experience.