Re: Character of a growing girl (middle school question)

"Kevin Karplus" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, beeswing
wrote:
> > I posted this question in the financial aid thread, but I'd really
like to
> > discuss it further. Could anyone please give me some input on this?
> >
> ><< If one can (potentially, maybe) pay for instate, public university
education
> > *OR* private school (especially at the critical middle-school
level), how da
> > heck does one decide, anyway. Either? Both, with the hope of a
windfall? What
> > makes the biggest difference to the character of a growing girl? >>
>
> I don't know about "character", but a public university education is a
> far better educational investment than a private middle school.

Here's why I asked the question I asked. Although the school we are
considering is much better academically than our public, urban middle
school, I really *am* concerned about "character" -- self-image,
self-confidence, personal integrity, and the ability to steer clear of
peer pressure (i.e., that my daughter be strong enough to own choices on
sex, drugs, and so forth). The school we're considering is much
different from the environment of our public middle school. It is an
all-girls school whose mission is to train "future world leaders" -- in
whatever way those future leaders might choose to run with it. Some of
the parents and a few of the girls spoke at the school's open house. The
parents were enthusiastic about how their daughters had grown and
changed; they also talked about how engaged the kids were in the school
and in education. The girls were poised, confident, well-spoken, and
very positive about the school.

I think of the middle school period as "formative years" -- in the best
and worst senses possible. I believe they can make or break who you turn
out to be, especially in the case of girls. College, which I also
consider essential, doesn't carry quite the same weight on a girl's
personality and esteem. The foundation for those, I believe, has largely
been formed before a girl reaches college age.

> If I remember right, you are in ..., where going to private
> schools is highly fashionable (over 1/3 of all students do), but there
> are still decent public schools available.

My daughter currently attends public school, where she is a gifted
class. I already know which junior high my daughter would be going to.
Even though it lays claim to the gifted program, it's basically in name
rather than in practice. Plus, it's very urban, with all the pluses and
minuses that entails -- and maybe I'm off base, but I perceive a lot of
minuses. With all its drawbacks, I consider the school the best the
district has to offer me. That's the scary part.

>Far better to go to a
> decent public school and have enough money to afford 4+ years of
> university than to go to a ritzy middle school and then only be able
> to afford an AA degree.

True. The issue wouldn't be that she *wouldn't* go to four years of
college, though, it's more that she might have a smaller range of
choices. And she might have to creatively finance part it herself. (An
academic scholarship would be nice, for example. Or maybe she'd have to
take a student loan for a portion of the tuition.) Either way, whether
or not her middle school is "ritzy" doesn't even weigh into the issue.

beeswing