Public vs Private (school)

[Dink]

2 step sons are in public. My son will be starting St. Gen next year.

Going private is important to me. Mainly because of the discipline and the wholesomeness.

[eman]

He told me he was involved in a fight last weekend @ the UL game I told my wife and he's been an A$$ since.
That could be part of the problem? He told you something in confidence and you told Mama. You have to make him understand that man and wife don't keep things from each other .more so when it involves a child. There's more to it than just trust issues. something has changed to make him not care about the 2 classes.

[simplepeddler]

Man it seems this is a tough one.
I can tell you that I only have one left and he is in public school.
If your son is having some sort of identity issue, then changing schools will only make it worse in my opinion.
You may only get him to talk in a duck blind or a one on one deal.

This is a tough time for boys that age, some are maturing quickly physically and their brains are not capable of handling the attention their hormones are getting.

and the one that are not physically maturing and intimidated by those that are.

You HAVE TO MAKE HIM TALK or at least talk to him about becoming a young man and what it means.

just the fact that you are willing to seek advice here, shows you are a dad with the stones to care enough.

Family dynamics are tough but if it was easy we would likely pay at lot less welfare and have less crack heads.

Don't give up dude, hunting season is here.......get them boys out with some quality other young guys with strong dads and watch them grow......

[RonnieF]

My daughter went to private schools in Baton Rouge and graduated from St Joseph's (all girls). She did great in school. Once she got to LSU, those auditorium classes w/500 people intimidated her, no to mention the professors not caring if you pass or fail. Lost her TOPS, had to go to BR community college, then SLCC in lafayette to get her grades up. UL wouldn't accept her with her low average, hence SLCC, which was a welcome to reality moment for her. She's gonna graduate from ULL this semester and has maintained great grades since. I cost a boat load of money to send her to the private schools, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Ronnie

[Slidellkid]

Saint,

I think it will depend on how good the public schools are in your area. Some are awesome and some not so good. Check out www.greatschools.com (or it may be greatschools.net, not sure) and you can look up the respective schools in your area and see how they have faired in national testing. The schools here in Deridder are actually pretty darn good and they are good in Kinder as well. I have been very satisfied with the teachers my kids have been involved with in the public schools. Just because a school is private doesn't make it a good school. Many private schools don't require any type of certification to teach. On the other hand, I think there are certainly a limited number of private schools that are a cut above strong public schools. These schools will invariably be very expensive.

I am a lawyer, my older brother is a physcian and my younger brother is a civil engineer and we are products of an average public school. Several of my friends went to private school and they thought their s****t didn't stink. Many of them were from wealthy families and they had no clue how to how to interact with blacks or rednecks when they graduated. Many of them had just about everything given to them growing up and they ended up being worthless as adults.

If your son in the sixth grade is having trouble where he is, maybe he is hanging with the wrong crowd. I would seriously consider a move for him, whether that be public or private, just to give him a change. Most times I think solid parenting can overcome a bad crowd, but there are times when a kid just gets wrapped up with the bad apples and there is nothing a parent can do except move him.

Best of luck.

[huntin fool]

Hey the inventor of yahoo! Went to public school..(my high school to be exact.) Look how great he turned out to be!

[Ducktrickster]

Kids with involved parents will do well no matter where they go. I see kids all the time that switch fro public to private and vice versa. Most of the time, they have the same problems they had before. On the other hand, i feel that a kid will be more successful in a place that they feel most comfortable. Good luck with your decision.

[BassAssasin]

Man this thread is really stressing me out! my oldest is 3 and i am not ready for all these big decisions.

[southern151]

Originally Posted by BassAssasin

Man this thread is really stressing me out! my oldest is 3 and i am not ready for all these big decisions.

I concur! My little boy is 4 today so, I have to strart getting this stuff on my mind!

[BassAssasin]

i Went to Westminster and it was pretty good, but still unsure if i wanna pony up the dough to send my kids there.

[Raymond]

IMO, sent son to Cathedral for three years but were not allowed into the cool club due to not living in the "Hot Neighborhood" or "Driving" the best autos. Academics in most Private schools in the Lafayette area are below par with the exception on ESA but who can afford $12,000 a year? I believe the money spent on three years of Cathedral was wasted but he came away with a better understanding of how you should treat people.
It is what you put into it, public or private. Out of zone exemptions are available for any child that is not getting an education so no reason for any child to be stuck in a low preforming school.

[Hunt Fish Nap]

Originally Posted by Raymond

IMO, sent son to Cathedral for three years but were not allowed into the cool club due to not living in the "Hot Neighborhood" or "Driving" the best autos. Academics in most Private schools in the Lafayette area are below par with the exception on ESA but who can afford $12,000 a year? I believe the money spent on three years of Cathedral was wasted but he came away with a better understanding of how you should treat people.
It is what you put into it, public or private. Out of zone exemptions are available for any child that is not getting an education so no reason for any child to be stuck in a low preforming school.

Raymond: I will have to adamantly disagree with you on the "below par" quote. If you were to compare academics between the private and public schools in Lafayette, you would find that the private school students fair much better. Now I will admit that the variety of courses offered in a private school are fewer than that of public schools but if you compare the core courses, private would win out. The gifted program at Lafayette High would come close to private schools. I have one nephew that was in the gifted program from 1st grade through his senior year and he did exceptional, but he would have done so any where he went.

As for the "cool club", I never thought you would have wanted to be in such a snotty group and you drive/drove a Z so whats not cool about that?

[CajunSaint]

Man you boys have made my decision all that much more difficult!
The wife and I decided to give him another six weeks (maybe conference tomorrow).

To all that say it's the crowed everyone of his friends are honor roll students??? Maybe he has my jeAns??? J/J he's a very intelligent kid!
He does the work but doesn't turn it in?!?!?!?
How do we help that?

You guys have helped out greatly!
Thank you!

[simplepeddler]

Originally Posted by CajunSaint

Man you boys have made my decision all that much more difficult!
The wife and I decided to give him another six weeks (maybe conference tomorrow).

To all that say it's the crowed everyone of his friends are honor roll students??? Maybe he has my jeAns??? J/J he's a very intelligent kid!
He does the work but doesn't turn it in?!?!?!?
How do we help that?

You guys have helped out greatly!
Thank you!

Was thinking about you guys earlier today.
I hope he comes around man, I can also tell you that it's likely the other parents are saying the same thing "it's the crowd" all parents blame the other kids........

for what it's worth, I think you guys are on the right track....

[Insidiator]

Public V Private. weird subject for this board, but I have experience with both. The issue, like lots of things in life, is whether extra money is worth it, and I can tell you with certainty that.........it depends. I agree with Slidellkid above.

I grew up in an area where the private school was definitely better up through 8th grade. But public high school was arguably better than the local private school. Then I had kids, moved elsewhere, and found that the public elementary school was better than the private, and the public high school HONORs curriculum beat the crap out of the private option. So that's where I sent my kids (public), and today they're both doctors, one is a M.D. the other a PhD. BUT....It doesn't matter where you send your kids if you don't teach em to learn at home, help em with homework, get them excited about math and science, take em to museums, help with science fairs, assist judge their speech competitions, volunteer as den leader, share how cool it is to be smart and tell them they're special. Gain their respect and tell them life is tough, but it's tougher if don't study hard. If you don't do that, you might as well save your money, cause they're stuck in mediocre drive and you won't need to spend money on college, cause they won't be "college material". Conversely, if you do those things, they'll be successful almost anywhere you send them, and you'll save a bundle on TOPS. JUST MHO.

[Samarai]

To the two young posters who seem to have hated being in a private school system, I would argue that the education you received may have led you to being the outstanding citizen you are now. School is for learning not to be a great big social hall. I think you are way too young to assess the education's merits. I have 3 kids who have been in the private school system ( 14, 11, and 8) and don't regret my decision one bit. I get weekly reports of there progress through the email system. I think the system has helped to shape them into great kids. Have regular meetings with their teachers who seem to care. Class sizes are small. Curriculums are top notch.

[BIRD DOG]

I didnt have time to read all the comments so bare with me.I grew up in private school and my dad was a pastor.I was extremely sheltered,so when 9th grade rolled around and there was no private school to go to for high school I was in for a rude awakening.I didnt have any idea about the things going on in the world,especially at a young age.Eventually it led to me going wild b/c I was in a sense "free".It took quite a few years for me to wake up and get back on track.My children are in public school b/c I didnt want that for them.They are able to see whats goin on in the world and know they dont want to live like that.So far its been a good thing for them.

[CajunSaint]

Update
The wife and I talked to his teachers yesterday. If he wolud turn the work THAT HE HAS DONE in he would be an honor student??????
Our solution (Sience teacher idea) If he doesn't turn in the work the teacher is going to tell him (in front of the class) his mother will come and find it for him knowing my wife she will!!!

I'll keep you guys posted...

[bmac]

Tell him if he doesn't turn it in you will take a day off of work to escort him to each class and sit next to him to help him remember. Make him pay you for the lost wages from your day off.
Wear coveralls and some delcambre reeboks.
Seriously.

[CajunSaint]

Originally Posted by bmac

Tell him if he doesn't turn it in you will take a day off of work to escort him to each class and sit next to him to help him remember. Make him pay you for the lost wages from your day off.
Wear coveralls and some delcambre reeboks.
Seriously.

It may come down to that.