Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Gifted schools - Are they only for the wealthy?

I am concerned in that I am considering a school for the gifted for my daughter. The tuition is roughly $16000/yr, not to mention the $1500 required IQ test. According to the school's literature, approximately 33% of the students at the school receive financial aid.

It seems a little odd that 2/3rds of the gifted students that attend this school are paying this tuition. What about the gifted students that cannot pay the tuition? Is this a school for gifted children or wealthy gifted children?

I don't mean to provoke but it just rubs me a little wrong. What do you think?

It's like the old Shelley Berman joke about "a doctor specializing in diseases of the rich."

DeeDee

In NYC, the private school set up for HG is 30K+.

I don't think there is anything wrong. Private schools are a business. While most are ostensibly non-profit, those providing initial funding want the school to be a sustainable business, which means that they must at a minimum cover their costs. And you certainly want the school to be able to attract highly talented teachers, and that drives up tuition costs as well. Given all that, if the school is good, I think that $16K per year is actually very reasonable.

Your other alternative is to live in a city with outstanding public schools. They certainly exist, but you will generally find that the home prices are higher as a result because of the school quality. However, your higher mortgage costs will probably still work out cheaper than private school tuition.

Private schools around here are $10k-$20k per year. Some parochial schools are less, some are not. We don't have a private school specifically for gifted kids in our area.

It doesn't rub me the wrong way - private schools have expenses that have to be met - building costs, maintenance, salaries, supplies, etc. I've served on the board of a private school and my kids have also attended two different private schools. None of the schools I've been associated with has made anything remotely resembling a profit - the $ that is paid in tuition and via fundraising goes back into the school, and there has always been "more" that the school staff and parents wished we could do if we only had more $.

Based on our experience, I think it's actually impressive that as many as 1/3 of the students are receiving financial aid - that's a good sign.

I also wonder less about the students who can't afford to attend private gifted schools than I wonder about the students that I suspect go unidentified in our local public schools simply because of their socioeconomic situation and the school they attend.

I hope you're able to find a way to afford the IQ test.

polarbear

It's a side-effect of a social system in which people have property and some have more than others (as opposed to a naive interpretation of "property is theft"). People can then choose what to buy, and some have more choices than others. Somehow it's easy to accept that some people can buy diamond necklaces, but more difficult to accept that some people can buy better education for their children - I suppose this is because we tend to feel that the children, having no responsibility for the wealth or otherwise of their parents, shouldn't be affected by it. But it's impractical to make that so, without getting rid of a property-based social system altogether. A society could ban private schools, but then people who cared very deeply about education and could afford it and thought the public schools near them wasn't good enough would buy a house near the best public school, or homeschool with the best tutors, or move to a country with a less restricted education system, or afterschool, or enrich with expensive educational trips, or... You can't prevent parental financial resource having an effect on the opportunities available to children. (And of course, more important than money is parental attitude - there are plenty of rich people who *don't* spend their riches on optimising their children's education!)

What you can, and IMO should. do is aim to make what's provided out of taxation good enough that everybody is getting such a good education that the difference between what the richest people can provide their children with and what everyone else can is only frills, not the important stuff.

I don't think the UK is anywhere close to that ideal, and here too it's often when you look at provision for gifted children (although we don't use that term much here) that the phenomenon is most starkly obvious (to get back on topic for the board!). The government here has recently abolished the obligation for state schools to identify their most gifted students; they've never had an obligation to do much for them, though of course there are schools that do. There are no specific state gifted schools here (there are a few selective "grammar schools", a few of which are "super-selective", as a remnant of the old system of grammar and secondary modern streaming at age 11, but only in a few areas of the country). Because state spending on schools is under very severe pressure here at the moment, provision for gifted children in state schools is only going to get worse for the foreseeable future; unless your child is fortunate enough to get a fantastically dedicated and talented teacher, prospects are very bleak.

At the same time, the general economic difficulty makes it harder than it was for parents to afford to send their children to private (including "public" in our confusing UK terminology) schools, some of which provide fantastically for gifted children. Most of them are charities and have an obligation to make some provision for funding places for children whose parents can't afford fees (this has been under scrutiny lately, but let me not go there...) but inevitably this is adjustment round the edges - the bottom line is that here too, if you take two children with identical needs, one of whom has wealthy parents and one of whom doesn't, the first has a statistically better chance at a good education.

It's a live issue for us: at the next stage of education, we probably can't afford the school that would be best for DS. We'll be looking at all our options and choices and doing the best we can; we can do no more.

Little'un attends a prestigious private school (year 7) in North Liverpool - until today when we finally take him out. The same company has another school in North London.

What's the difference?

Bullying persists - and if it occurs it will be treated as much along financial as much as moral considerations. In our case when little'un was set upon by 7 boys the school makes a choice - potential loss of 1 fee paying victim against the potential loss of 7 fee paying bullies. It's as simple as that, as a lawyer who deals with education matters told me straight just yesterday.

Sure, private schools may be non-profit and they have costs, but I have come to the opinion that schools should teach business but schools should not be in business.

Your little ones may be less quirky than my son, a little less vulnerable and so the bullying issue may never arise - just think on it.

Also the finances do limit the cohort to the, how shall I say , the better off. That may not be an issue to you, and with little'uns background we weren't too bothered. We just thought the school would cater for and look after him - which it did to some extent but a good state school would have done the same.

Also be aware that the more monied, more influential or higher status the parents are the greater the child's opportunities will be. Now I know this is controversial, and some will shout foul but trust me I have seen it with my own eyes over the past 3 years that little'un has been at private school.

is there a school locally that has a reasonable cohort with good academic results, pastoral support and teaching. If so, save your money and use it to take them on good holidays to interesting places, and do other fun enriching activities - that is what I plan to do with the precious few remaining years of little'uns childhood we have left. God knows the education system of both colours have taken enough off us and out of us- as you can readily see from my many many posts on this wonderful forum over the years

I am looking at switching to private schools for grade 5, including a grade skip with the switch. DD would be in grade 1, with the private school provision of 9/1 birthdate deadline for K. Yet, will consider her for a skip after a few grades.

I wouldn't get the skip in public school. It is an expense but I have known people who got into the private school and then ended up with financial aid. So you may want to see if it is a good fit and then try to get them to help finance you after the first year. I find strategy is a big part in getting our kids the education they need.

there IS another option...homeschool. I don't know if that is truly viable for your situation, but I just wanted to be the voice of "hey, other options exist"

I have a friend (on this board)...I chose to pull Butter and place her in our "home study" school. We also have a second child in paid school (so I could get her in kinder at 4.5) and only one income worth mentioning. Our friend has only one child, chose a private school and may have to take a part time job to help pay for it.

I would rather do what I can now to help my child and save the money for later, college, camps, enrichment, etc...I don't think the cost of the school usually guarantees anything other than a pricey bill lol!