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

We've spent a lot of time thoroughly looking at the "top" private (and public) schools for Mr W in the area. We've met a lot of parents and know many of the kids at these schools. Most of the parents are professionals - physicians, lawyers, nurses, IT types, and small business owners. They live in modest homes and put most of their money into educating their kids. Are they wealthy? I doubt if most have a net worth over 500K.

Sure, a handful of families do have significant net worth. These are the "wealthy." They are the primary sources for the heavy endowments at the schools so that poorer kids can attend and they sit on the boards and oversee the policy changes so this can occur. Without their support many of the professionals could not send their kids either.

As part of looking at schools, I have done an analysis of their costs to try to figure out what I am paying for should Mr W and the Womb Raider attend one. And whether its really worth it given the alternatives. At its simplest, a class is one teacher and 15 kids. If the teacher makes 60K a year and the burden taken from private industry of 50% is added, then the cost of the class is around 90K. Divide by 15 and that is 6K per kid per year. Which is in line with many public school districts.

So, what is that 16K to 30K a year really buying? What are they really selling? From what we have found, parents' reasons for privates vary widely.

But, think of the private tutoring one could buy for that!! Or the month long summer trips abroad with a college prof doing real history!

Don't get me wrong. Many of the privates are phenomenal schools. But many top publics do just as well or even better if you dig down into other things like the AMC tests and science competitions. (But many parents hire tutors whose kids go to publics..)

The real draw of privates for GT kids and their parents is that the privates are much more flexible and tend to have a concentration of GT kids. And the teachers are carefully chosen. And the environment is conducive to learning. For parents who are of limited means, a top private school on a full ride is something to really consider.

I find it strange that anyone would want to ban private schools. At its root, an autodidact spending hours every day at the library is a private school. So is homeschooling. Church is a form of private school. Books are a form of private school. Two people discussing something are a private school.

So, to conclude, at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, what is a school? What am I trying to teach my kids? What is the end goal? I think that the answers to these questions, no matter your means, should then drive your choices.