General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are Private Schools Immoral? [View all]PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,817 posts)and exist only to enforce racial segregation.
I sent my sons to a private school for very personal reasons. My older son, who was mildly autistic but VERY smart, was being bullied in the public school. Which, because this was Kansas, was pretty much lily white. The school district did k-6 elementary, 7 & 8 middle school, 9-12 high school. When the son was in 6th grade another mom, whose son was a year older, told me I could not send him to the middle school. Her son, who was not autistic, but who'd been bullied at that same elementary school, was being bullied so unmercifully that they wound up transferring him to a different middle school in that district. In the new school no one knew him and he wasn't bullied.
We were in a position to consider a private school and enrolled him to start 7th grade at an excellent secular independent school. Where the academics were amazing. While he did not get the most stellar grades there (the autism got in the way) he learned a great deal, did knowledge bowl and science bowl, helping his team from this very small school to go to Nationals two years. Right now he's in a PhD program in physics and astronomy.
What I learned most of all from the private schools experience is that public schools should be better funded. Smaller classrooms. Better support for kids who need extra support. Oh, and I have never believed I should ever be exempt from paying school taxes, whether or not I currently have a kid in a public school. We all benefit from good public schools. But there are times when a private school is the right choice for a particular child.