When choosing education options for their children, parents weigh many different considerations before making final decisions. ISM research shows that safety, academic rigor, and "value-added" educational opportunities to be top priorities for parents when they "go private." Still, numbers only tell you half of the story. Here are some parents describing their families' experiences in the private-independent school universe, and why they decided to "go private."
Culture Shock
Marilyn Johnson told Watchdog reporter Mary Tilotson that she couldn’t see her son thriving in her city’s public school system, and so she enrolled Marshall at St. George’s Independent School.
Marilyn says that families and friends ask how she can afford to send Marshall to a private school. Her response? “How can you afford not to? My child is my investment.”
As for why she picked St. George’s, Marilyn says that the school’s mission aligned with her personal ambitions for her son. Tilotson reports that students “aren’t allowed to cheat or steal, and they attend chapel services a few times a week.” The school’s culture is a great fit for Marshall, too. Marilyn says that she overhears her son and his friends talking with enjoyment about their school, dressing respectfully, and participating in “good plain clean fun.”
Embracing Special Needs & Diversity
Huffington Post writer Jennifer King and her husband sent their son, diagnosed with ADHD, to a private school for the “traditionally structured environment in a smaller school with more accountability for his school work, a lower student-to-teacher ratio, and a stronger emphasis on discipline” to help with his potential learning difficulties.
As for their daughter, they wanted a place “where she can stretch herself beyond her comfort zone” academically. They felt a private school was the best place for her to do so.
Perhaps surprisingly, King writes that they chose the school they did in part due to its “socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, reflecting the community and world in which we live.” King wryly adds that “[yes], the private school is more diverse than the public one.”
“Value-Added” Faith-Based Alternatives
For other parents, like Dean Bill Henk, the decision to “go private” ended up being a theological one. Initially, Henk and his wife hadn’t considered keeping their daughter Audrey in private school past her preschool days. But, Henk says, “curious and unexpected outcomes occurred” thanks to Audrey’s enrollment in a Christian-based preschool, like her stories about what she’d learned about God at school.
As Audrey grew older, the Henks kept her enrolled at Christian mission-oriented schools for the “value-added” aspect of her educational experience. Bill Henk is quick to qualify their experience, saying that “[if] the education our daughter was receiving at ANY school struck us as academically inferior, she’d be attending elsewhere.” In the end, the “value-added” of a Catholic-oriented education was the deciding factor.
Skeptic Turned Believer
U.K. journalist Janet Murray became a private school parent, despite her previous cynicism, because of her daughter Katy’s particular needs. She writes about her evolution from skeptic to believer in the private school system in her biographical article for The Guardian, “Why I Sent My Child to a Private School”.
Because Murray is a working mother, she needed a preschool program that took her professional working hours into account. The local public school program, with its two-hour daily sessions, wasn’t going to cut it. Besides, Katy had difficulty adapting to new situations, and Murray didn’t want to toss her into anything Katy couldn't handle.
Then, she found out about the local prep school that offered full working hours for its preschool program in addition to holiday care, which gave Murray pause for thought. She describes her first visit as “welcoming” and mentions the direct attention the nursery manager gave to both Murray and her daughter (“The nursery manager made me a coffee and sat and talked to me about my child—a real contrast to other schools I'd seen.”) Because of the manager’s personal attention to Murray, the preschool gained a new student.
Now that Katy is grade-school age, Murray has kept her daughter in the private school sector. Murray credits small class sizes and the private school atmosphere to Katy’s achievements, which Murray describes as “way beyond expectations for her age.”
As for private schools overall, Murray says that she’s seen many schools over the years as a reporter on education topics, and “while each [private school] has a slightly different feel, underpinning that are always strong discipline, high standards and a healthy sense of competition.”
Stop guessing why families love your school and start knowing! With help from ISM's Survey Services, you can get hard data reflecting your school's unique situation, as well as professional analysis to help you understand the results.
Additional ISM resources:
ISM Monthly Update for Trustees Vol. 12 No. 8 A Report on Why and How Parents Choose Private Schools
ISM Monthly Update for Admission Officers Vol. 8 No. 5 The Private School Teaching Difference
ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads Vol. 7 No. 7 Quality Advisory Sets Private Schools Apart
Private School News Vol. 9 No. 11 Find Out What They Think Before They Leave the School
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 30 No. 3 Focus on Your School’s Unique Family Demographics
I&P Vol. 34 No. 2 The ISM 37-School Parent Survey: Convenience Factors at Private Schools
I&P Vol. 35 No. 4 Family Satisfaction and Retention in the Current Economic Climate: 2010
