Ray Finkle
Active Member
First things first, you have to have parents that care. You can throw all the tax money at a public school that you want, shrink the class sizes, and create a positive learning environment for 8 hours. After that, you have no control. Parents who care about their kids' behavior and academic success is crucial--be it a private or public school.
Asian Americans are the wealthiest group in this country. It's because culturally, they view academics as crucial to their future. The parents who immigrate here may not speak or read much English but the parents will sit and watch their kids do their homework.
Next piece--some of these private schools work the dog piss out of their students and overload them with work. No parent wants to pay $20K/year and have their child not coming home without homework. Be careful here. Kids get burned-out. High school doesn't mean anything in the game of life. College is where it counts. One of the smartest people in my graduating class--Duke Talent Identification Program, etc. is a curator at an art museum. She worked her butt off from elementary school on and literally got burned-out in college when it came to academics.
A well-rounded kid is what we need. They need to play sports, do theater (if that's their thing), or have a part-time job. If your kid is a super genius--you'll know from testing by the schools--and their goal is an Ivy, support their decision to pursue academics. However for most normal people, make sure your kid can read and write and overcome the challenges of math (challenged me in high school). They need to learn time management and they get this from extracurricular activities. That's what they need for college. We had a National Merit Scholar in my fraternity shoot buckshot his first semester. He withdrew before the 0.0 posted. Kid was smart but couldn't manage his time.
Good luck on your search!
Asian Americans are the wealthiest group in this country. It's because culturally, they view academics as crucial to their future. The parents who immigrate here may not speak or read much English but the parents will sit and watch their kids do their homework.
Next piece--some of these private schools work the dog piss out of their students and overload them with work. No parent wants to pay $20K/year and have their child not coming home without homework. Be careful here. Kids get burned-out. High school doesn't mean anything in the game of life. College is where it counts. One of the smartest people in my graduating class--Duke Talent Identification Program, etc. is a curator at an art museum. She worked her butt off from elementary school on and literally got burned-out in college when it came to academics.
A well-rounded kid is what we need. They need to play sports, do theater (if that's their thing), or have a part-time job. If your kid is a super genius--you'll know from testing by the schools--and their goal is an Ivy, support their decision to pursue academics. However for most normal people, make sure your kid can read and write and overcome the challenges of math (challenged me in high school). They need to learn time management and they get this from extracurricular activities. That's what they need for college. We had a National Merit Scholar in my fraternity shoot buckshot his first semester. He withdrew before the 0.0 posted. Kid was smart but couldn't manage his time.
Good luck on your search!
