Academic Programs and Philosophies

"How do they teach?" is a question that you need to ask as you evaluate schools on your shortlist. This question has been on your mind ever since you began considering sending your child to private school. While it certainly is relevant at almost any stage of the school selection process, it becomes critically important now that you are circling around those final few schools on your list. Be sure to have the question answered. You can do this by asking the admissions staff how the teaching is done at their school. They are accustomed to answering the question and will provide a detailed explanation for you. Furthermore, I do recommend that you ask the identical question at each school you visit. Then you will be able to compare apples to apples, having asked the same question at each school.

Whether you are looking at your options for preschool, primary school, middle school or high school, how the teachers teach is just as important as what they teach. As you review each school's curriculum, familiarize yourself with how that curriculum is taught. Make sure that everything matches your requirements and expectations.

Laying the Groundwork for an Education

Let's look at three areas of concern that we as parents have faced outside the classroom as we raised our children. From infancy, we have had control of what we are taught. We have shaped our child's thinking up to the point where she went off to preschool and kindergarten. In

Joseph Gauld is a distinguished educator who founded Hyde Schools in 1966. He very kindly agreed to answer some questions about Hyde Schools and his educational philosophy. The Editor.

1. Tell us a bit about the crisis of conscience that you had back in 1966. This is how the concept of Hyde Schools was shaped, correct?

As a director of admissions who taught calculus and coached football in 1962, I had a crisis of conscience when I realized I was part of a competitive educational system valuing certain abilities that blocked the full development of the unique potential of students.

On the other side of the spectrum, there was another student in the same class who was the classic “plugger.” Although he had considerable difficulty with the material, he embodied all of the qualities and virtues I hoped that schools would espouse: curiosity, strong work ethic, concern for others, honesty, etc. I praised his effort, yet ultimately—and reluctantly—gave him the lowest grade in the class.

This example represented what was wrong with our educational system, which values achievement, ability, and talent (so much so that it simply rewards and stops challenging students who have it) over attitude, effort, and character. I could not serve either of these students in the system I served with a traditional grading system, so I founded Hyde School in 1966, where I knew I could guide

Two television series about private schools have received a certain amount of buzz recently. Gossip Girl airs on CW. NYC Prep is on Bravo.

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is based on the novels of Cecily von Ziegesar. Ms. von Ziegsar herself is a graduate of Nightingale-Bamford, a Manhattan girls' school. The Gossip Girl series made it to the best-seller lists in 2002. It chronicles the lives and exploits of the wealthy teens attending The Constance Billard School for Girls. Gossip Girl premiered on CW in 2007.

What's to Like

The cinematography is fabulous. You will have plenty of New York City vistas, shops, and restaurants, as well as those incredible Park Avenue apartments to soak up. HDTV makes it a breathtaking experience without a doubt.

The fact that show really does not depict what actually goes on in a fine old Manhattan girls' school. That's a good thing. Because we can only imagine what those poor teachers and administrators have to deal with on a daily basis. New York is a vibrant, exciting city, but it can be terribly rough and 'in your face.' It takes a very tough teacher to face some of those parents and children in a conference room discussing little Rebecca's failing grade in calculus, that's for sure.

The clothes. No American city does clothes better than New York. And these kids know how to wear those clothes. And where to wear them. Fashionistas will find much to

These titles are books that private school teachers and administrators have shared with each other on various lists and groups. One or two are quick reads. Most are pretty meaty. They all deserve a place in your collection. Parents need to read many of these books in order to understand what really goes on in the classroom.

Adios, Barbie: Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity (Live Girls)
By Ophira Edut (Editor), Rebecca Walker ISBN: 1580050166 "In more than 20 candid and humorous essays, a diverse group of women explore how they have chosen to ignore, subvert, or redefine the standard of beauty. These women break down modern culture's feminine ideal and reinvent it for themselves."

After Long Silence
By Helen Fremont. ISBN: 0385333706 "In her mid-30s Helen Fremont discovered that, although she had been raised in the Midwest as a Catholic, she was, in fact, the daughter of Polish Jews whose families had been exterminated in the Holocaust."

The Age of American Unreason
By Susan Jacoby ISBN: 9780375423741 "A scathing, witty indictment of American modern-day culture examines the current disdain for logic and evidence fostered by the mass media, religious fundamentalism, poor public education, a lack of fair-minded intellectuals, and a lazy, credulous public, condemning our addiction to infotainment, from TV to the Web, and assessing its repercussions for the country as a whole."

A Separate Peace
by John Knowles ISBN: 0743253973
"At a New England boarding school during World War II, a group of boys discovers the depths of human

When critics inveigh against private schools, they tend to pick on issues such as the following.

Everybody's Rich

Looking at most private schools' beginnings, you will discover that their original clientele was not children from wealthy families. Many of the founders of schools back in colonial times - the Phillips family, for example - saw education as the way forward for the infant democracy in the United States. For the nation to survive, it needed a literate, educated, proficient population. European crusaders like Dr. Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner - the founder of the Waldorf Schools movement - began their work among the poor and working classes. Their teachings captured the imagination of the American middle and upper classes when their movements spread to the United States.

Over time, as the schools expanded, they became highly prized for what they accomplished, namely providing an excellent academic education combined with sports and solid core values. Market forces conspired to drive the cost of education up. Social forces conspired to make private schools the place where the elite sent their children. In the 21st century, egalitarian ideas once more have the upper hand. Private schools seek out and encourage applicants from every social and economic strata. Diversity rules. Not everybody who attends private school is rich.

This video offers an overview of Ransom Everglades School in Miami, Florida.

Compulsory Sports

What's not to like about sports?