Question on Private K-12 in Atlanta (Mount Vernon: house, school tuition, floor)
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Thank you for this real-world insight into the families. It is very helpful.
Also, it is so interesting that you should mention the >20K/child in private school. I think there is some conception amongst people that you have to be rich to send your kid to private school. I am not saying that you have this idea, just that it seems to be a general idea in society. Well, one day, my husband and I started doing the math and said ok, 20K is 1600 per month.
Given what we are already paying in preschool, if we don't buy a million dollar home, for example, we can totally pay it. And we're not rich. We are just budgeting for it.
Some people put their money into their million dollar or half million dollar homes in different areas of town and hope the school district holds up. We have just gone in a different direction of finding a foreclosure in town at a good price, paying off student loans before he starts, and sending our kid to school with the savings. Just a different approach but totally doable for so many in our general population!
Quote:
Originally Posted by deacongirl
All of the students I know who attended Westminster (several are sending their own kids there now) come from very conservative families, and are conservative themselves now. And anecdotally, I am also surprised to hear lawyers described in general as left-leaning. That has been the opposite of my experience, particularly among the population of lawyers who can afford >20k/child in private school.
I had to LOL at East Cobb schools being liberal. Overall, I think the teachers try hard to keep their bias out, but for example last year in 7th grade social studies my daughter's teacher said the civil war was not fought over slavery but states' rights. This was a relatively young teacher, too, under 40. They were not studying the civil war last year, so it was a passing comment, but still shocking to my daughter. I will be curious to see what happens at Walton next year. I think that the student population actually influences the environment more than the teachers--and the students tend to come from pretty solidly Christian, conservative, Republican, with a strong dose of anti-science thrown in even among the college educated. However, because the student population is large, there are plenty of kids from families who don't fall into all of those categories and my daughter has had no trouble finding friends.
Re: tuition, I think lots of things are doable with only one kid. Additional kids make it much more difficult. Our 3 kids were previously in a private Montessori and it was unsustainable financially for our family, and we are certainly not living in a million (or even half-million dollar home). I also greatly underestimated the cost of things like music/art/athletics when our first was still in pre-school.
We are happy with East Cobb schools, however, if we could afford a half million dollar home and tuition we would be happily ITP and sending the kids to Paidaia.
LovelySummer, having put two kids through what is considered a top-tier Atlanta private school (and successfully through their respective universities and launched into the world of full employment!), may I offer just a word of advice?
Kids get their political leanings from their parents, not their school. You and your husband will be the primary influence on their political views, through your actions, the causes that are important to you and through your dinner-time discussions on why you feel various candidates are better choices, etc. Given this, if I were you, I would not place too much emphasis on the perceived liberal vs. conservative atmosphere of a school. No matter where you go, there's going to be a mix -- and invariably, your child will choose the child of the most conservative family in the school as their BFF. :-)
Choosing a school is nerve-wracking -- I get it. Been there, done that. MOST kids are "visual" learners at a very young age -- tactile and vision are their major learning channels until they begin to assimilate information in organized fashion. I would be a little careful about declaring that he learns best as "teacher led," especially if that is all he has been exposed to. So just keep an open mind on their "learning style" this early in the game.
i can tell you are a very organized parent committed to providing the best possible educational experience for your child. Your child will tend to do well no matter where he goes, because he has that kind of support from you. So please don't feel like your choice of kindergarten is a make-or-break decision. Things change, kids change, interests change -- you may find down the road that a change in educational venue is needed to support his changing interests. That's not a failure to choose wisely from the get-go -- it's a recognition that "life is what happens while you're making other plans."
I don't know why you think my attitude has been vitriolic. You are psychic if you can read into email in that way, especially since my attitude has actually been very lighthearted and inquisitive. You also tend to make blanket statements that tend to mischaracterize what I am writing. I think this could be the cause for your misconception regarding my attitude.
For example, below, you write that you "would be very surprised to learn that any private attracts only liberal-leaning parents." Who said anything about any private attracting only liberal leaning parents, CMM? Maybe I missed that post because it was not me. I simply asked where the attorneys are sending their kids. This is a different question and stance altogether from the one that you presented above. These type of sweeping comments are really just a waste of time to which to respond because it posits something that is completely outside of anything that I said or implied and just results in the thread going off into a direction that is of little value towards the initial goal of the post.
As another example, in the previous post, you write "I don't think there is any secret enclave anywhere." Who said anything about a secret enclave or even the notion that there is a place that is majority attorney parents? I said neither. I simply asked where attorneys were sending their kids. This does not lead to the result that there is a place that is majority attorney parents (because that would depend on the relative amount of total parents to attorney parents, which none of us have any way of knowing).
You see, I am not vitriolic or snarky. I simply am super busy and cannot spend time disputing things that I didn't say in the first place. This is a waste of everyone's time. I'm just trying to actually get information and numerous posters have provided very great insight. For that, I am truly thankful. Have a nice day.
Lovely,
I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. Maybe you're not aware of the tone in which the following could have been interpreted: "I will leave you with your obvious expertise in law and politics so as to not get distracted from the point of the initial posting. I am only an attorney who has been working in the field for a number of years with other attorneys, going to conventions full of attorneys, etc."
Seemed pretty sarcastic/patronizing to me, but YMMV. I don't know you or whether you're joking, etc... I came in this thread with some really good advice for you (the first poster on your thread). Others have helped you equally and apparently not offended you. I'll just leave it at that and move on.
I'm really trying to get a sense for these intangibles. Is there a reason that you would expect Westminster parents to be heavily on the conservative side? Is it any moreso than say, Woodward, or any of what has been referred to as the "Buckhead elites"?
We're attorneys. Ok, where are most of the attorneys in town sending their kids (from your experience)? I think attorneys tend to be a pretty liberal group overall. Please advise.
Thanks
Hi, Lovely. Quite a sizable portion of Westminster's student body hail from the Buckhead area and, from my now 17 years of having children there, relatively wealthy families. Generally, at least in my experience, these folks are rather conservative (however, most are very lovely folks - not disparaging conservatives!). Having known way too many attorneys in my life (I'm one...), a lot of attorneys do send their children to Westminster, Lovett, Pace, Woodward, AIS, etc. I'm not sure about "most" attorneys - just the ones I've known.
Further, Westminster does have a religious affiliation and considers itself to be a Christian-based school - this tends to lead to a predominantly conservative environment as well.
Don't get me wrong - please. Westminster is a fabulous school if the student is a right for it, and not all are, regardless if they have high abilities. But, the same could be said for any school, I believe.
I also wanted to add that the people I know who graduated from or sent their children to Westminster believe the school provides an excellent education and were/are happy with the experience.
Thanks very much Oh Wise One! Great advice. I need to remember this through the K-12 journey.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dblackga
LovelySummer, having put two kids through what is considered a top-tier Atlanta private school (and successfully through their respective universities and launched into the world of full employment!), may I offer just a word of advice?
Kids get their political leanings from their parents, not their school. You and your husband will be the primary influence on their political views, through your actions, the causes that are important to you and through your dinner-time discussions on why you feel various candidates are better choices, etc. Given this, if I were you, I would not place too much emphasis on the perceived liberal vs. conservative atmosphere of a school. No matter where you go, there's going to be a mix -- and invariably, your child will choose the child of the most conservative family in the school as their BFF. :-)
Choosing a school is nerve-wracking -- I get it. Been there, done that. MOST kids are "visual" learners at a very young age -- tactile and vision are their major learning channels until they begin to assimilate information in organized fashion. I would be a little careful about declaring that he learns best as "teacher led," especially if that is all he has been exposed to. So just keep an open mind on their "learning style" this early in the game.
i can tell you are a very organized parent committed to providing the best possible educational experience for your child. Your child will tend to do well no matter where he goes, because he has that kind of support from you. So please don't feel like your choice of kindergarten is a make-or-break decision. Things change, kids change, interests change -- you may find down the road that a change in educational venue is needed to support his changing interests. That's not a failure to choose wisely from the get-go -- it's a recognition that "life is what happens while you're making other plans."
Thank you. I now get it. The kids in a school tend to come from the surrounding areas. There seems to be a trend in which the Buckhead schools may be drawing many children and ideologies from Buckhead (hence more conservative in nature), Paideia is over by Druid Hills/closer to Emory and Woodward is on the Southside (hence, both would tend to draw more liberal kids/viewpoints who tend to live in those areas). Got it and thanks.
Yes, I thought I remembered you indicating that you are an attorney. That's why I wrote "We're attorneys." I was talking about me and you.
Thanks for those insights.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnsleyPark
Hi, Lovely. Quite a sizable portion of Westminster's student body hail from the Buckhead area and, from my now 17 years of having children there, relatively wealthy families. Generally, at least in my experience, these folks are rather conservative (however, most are very lovely folks - not disparaging conservatives!). Having known way too many attorneys in my life (I'm one...), a lot of attorneys do send their children to Westminster, Lovett, Pace, Woodward, AIS, etc. I'm not sure about "most" attorneys - just the ones I've known.
Further, Westminster does have a religious affiliation and considers itself to be a Christian-based school - this tends to lead to a predominantly conservative environment as well.
Don't get me wrong - please. Westminster is a fabulous school if the student is a right for it, and not all are, regardless if they have high abilities. But, the same could be said for any school, I believe.
Yes, Deacongirl, I was quite surprised to hear East Cobb schools characterized as liberal also.
Your slavery/state's rights example made me smile. It is interesting. I guess I've never heard of the Civil War characterized in terms of state's rights (and by implication, an issue associated with federalism). I honestly don't even see how the issues could realistically center around this dichotomy but another discussion for another day.
Yes, I agree that lots of things are doable with one child. It is a common point of discussion in our household things days as we decide whether to have more children. I don't believe in driving this decision based on finances but finances are real!
What do you mean that you underestimated the cost of music/arts/sports when your first child was in preschool? What did you learn/find?
Quote:
Originally Posted by deacongirl
I had to LOL at East Cobb schools being liberal. Overall, I think the teachers try hard to keep their bias out, but for example last year in 7th grade social studies my daughter's teacher said the civil war was not fought over slavery but states' rights. This was a relatively young teacher, too, under 40. They were not studying the civil war last year, so it was a passing comment, but still shocking to my daughter. I will be curious to see what happens at Walton next year. I think that the student population actually influences the environment more than the teachers--and the students tend to come from pretty solidly Christian, conservative, Republican, with a strong dose of anti-science thrown in even among the college educated. However, because the student population is large, there are plenty of kids from families who don't fall into all of those categories and my daughter has had no trouble finding friends.
Re: tuition, I think lots of things are doable with only one kid. Additional kids make it much more difficult. Our 3 kids were previously in a private Montessori and it was unsustainable financially for our family, and we are certainly not living in a million (or even half-million dollar home). I also greatly underestimated the cost of things like music/art/athletics when our first was still in pre-school.
We are happy with East Cobb schools, however, if we could afford a half million dollar home and tuition we would be happily ITP and sending the kids to Paidaia.
Thank you. I now get it. The kids in a school tend to come from the surrounding areas. There seems to be a trend in which the Buckhead schools may be drawing many children and ideologies from Buckhead (hence more conservative in nature), Paideia is over by Druid Hills/closer to Emory and Woodward is on the Southside (hence, both would tend to draw more liberal kids/viewpoints who tend to live in those areas). Got it and thanks.
Yes, I thought I remembered you indicating that you are an attorney. That's why I wrote "We're attorneys." I was talking about me and you.
Thanks for those insights.
Yep - Westminster is like the GOP Convention and Paideia is like the DNC Convention! Hey, bottom line is that they are both excellent schools. Westminster et al are more conventional (sit in your desk and pay attention to the teacher) while Paideia is more unconventional (sit on the floor and be very interactive). I loved the Paideia model, but, alas, my kids' mom more appreciated the Westminster model. If you are up in the air, go visit a class in action. I recall that Paideia, at least, welcomed that.
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