Becoming a Snob

When you talk to a lot of parents, its amazing how many consider the public school system to be the only option for getting a quality education for their children. It seems that this limited view of education would have fallen by the wayside by now with so many options for getting your kids through school. But that is how effective the government sponsored public schools have been at maintaining the myth that they are the only way to go and that public school is the end all and be all of education for kids like yours and mine.

When it comes to private school, there is another myth or misconception that we would do well with dumping. And that is the image of private school being only for the super rich and that they are full of snooty prep school girls and boys who are dropped off by chauffeurs and spend their summers in the south of France. This concept that to move your child to a private school somehow makes you a snob is worth discarding so that all of us can have options to consider rather than being trapped into the tyranny of enduring whatever the public school system tell us we must endure.

All you have to do to overcome this conception you might have that you have to be a snob to take advantage of private schools is take a day and visit a handful of schools in your area. You will find that the variety and diversity of schools is truly amazing. But more importantly, you will see that the kids in private schools are just like your kids, that the cars their moms and dads drive are the same kind you drive and that ordinary people just like you and I take advantage of the higher quality education and the better educational experience that is available for kids in private school.

Whether or not you keep your kids in public school or send them to private school should not be a matter of economic status or whether you fit in any particular social circle. While there are many good things about public school, the fact is that public school is not for every child and not a good fit to the educational goals of every family. And if you did take some time to visit several popular private schools in your area, you may find that there are kids of families you know using those facilities and kids who would provide a good peer group for your child if you did move her to a private facility for the next phase of her education.

We tend to view private schools as being the enemy of public school but that is also to some extent a myth. In a lot of way private schools are an excellent supplement to provide high quality educational options for certain niche students that the public schools cannot serve as well. Public school is, after all, an institution set up to serve the entire community of school age children. This is a big challenge so the school administration has to put the majority of their resources and energies into managing the education of for that large group of average students.

But many students benefit from the smaller environment and from specialized skills and focus areas that private schools can afford to take care of. This includes children with special needs such as educational or physical challenges. But it also includes children who are high achievers in certain areas such as the sciences, mathematics or the performing arts. Private schools can also provide an isolated environment for families who want an education built around faith based curriculum which is just not possible in a public school setting.

So there is no reason to shy away from considering private school along with all of your other educational options for your child. If you do consider private school and then decide to take advantage of the services they offer, you are joining thousands of other families who are benefiting from the diversity of educational options we have at our disposal today. And in doing so, you are in no way becoming a snob. You are just being a good parent by giving your child the best education possible. And nobody would fault you for that noble desire.

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