This is the first of three articles addressing the advantages of sending your child to private school. Private schools offer several advantages specific to students, of which you, as a parent, need to be aware. Here are three of them.
1. Your child will build a network of friends that she will have for life.
Some may wonder why I would put this benefit for students at the top of my list. That's because I sincerely believe networking is the key to success in almost everything. Because most private schools are relatively small communities - the typical private high school is about 350 students - your child will have a perfect chance of getting to know almost everybody in the school community, especially her classmates. While your child may come from an entirely different background, perhaps even country, from her classmates, she will get to know everybody in the classroom, on the playing field, and on the stage. With social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, and LinkedIn providing instantaneous communications, it is relatively easy to keep that high school network of friends going after she graduates.
This close-knit network of friends from school will help open doors for years after she graduates. The bonds of friendship developed in private school are an essential advantage for a private school student as she begins her career.
Private schools can build team spirit and school pride because everybody is on the same page. Remember: you chose the school, and the school chose you. Both parties mutually agreed to this partnership. There's no passive acceptance factor here. You didn't have to send your child to a school simply because you lived within school district boundaries. You wanted your child to attend that specific private school. That school wanted her to attend.
Implicit in that acceptance is that you bought into the school's aims and objectives, philosophy, and the general way things are done. Without constant distractions from parents with other agendas, it is possible to build community spirit and a sense of purpose within a school. That, in turn, creates strong bonds among the students as they progress through their high school years and then finally head off to college and their careers. A vital constant - an anchor, if you will - is that network of friends she built during her years at private school. It is a distinct advantage of attending private school.
This video offers a lock at the University of Chicago Lab Schools.
2. The demands of rigorous academic studies, compulsory athletics, and required extracurricular activities will stretch her.
The amount of work involved and the intensity of private school academics are game-changers for most young people. They begin to ask themselves, "Is it my best?" versus "I can get away with that." The rigorous academics in most private schools expect greatness. Your child's personal best. The teaching and the coursework are designed with that goal in mind. Children will rise to those expectations, too. Perhaps that is something a helicopter parent can't understand. If everybody in her class is working hard and doing their best, so will she. Peer pressure works in a classroom, too.
I remember asking my eldest daughter how her English classes were going when she went to Kent School. "Dad! I love it. We are studying three Shakespeare plays in the first semester. At my old high school, I would have been lucky to get through one play in a year." (Her old high school was a super public school, too. But it just didn't have the resources to offer the level of academics our daughter needed to stretch her mind and intellect.)
Private schools typically set aside a weekday afternoon for sports. Everybody participates in something. Private schools believe in educating the whole child. Consequently, physical activity is part of the regular program. More importantly, participation in sports teaches your child how important exercise is for her well-being. Teaching her the value of regular exercise while she is young will foster a routine and rhythm to her daily and weekly activities, enhancing the quality of her adult life. If your child attends a bordering school, she will also have part of her Saturday devoted to recreational and competitive sports.
Extracurricular activities are not 'extra' in most private schools. Nor is participation optional. Once again, everybody participates in some club or group. Your daughter may not be the next Renee Fleming, but she will never forget the thrill of the school's glee club performing in some famous venue when they all went on a club trip. Teaching students that what they thought was impossible is, in fact, possible with some hard work and effort is an invaluable lesson. That's what schools and teachers do.
Academics, sports, and extracurricular activities comprise the three parts of the 'stretching' process, which will impact your child. All of these benefit her as a young person and later in life. They embody the school's mission to educate the whole child. She isn't attending school to learn physics and math. She's there to exercise her body and learn how to work with her teammates to win the game. She's there to sing in the glee club or play trumpet in the band. These three activities will produce a child who is well-rounded and ready for anything. All you have to do is offer your constant encouragement and approval.
This video offers a student's perspective on The Rectory School.
3. She will build confidence in her abilities as she accomplishes things she probably didn't realize she could achieve.
A skilled teacher's ability to see each of her student's potential is just part of the DNA we teachers are born with. Your daughter may have no clue what the Fermat theorem is. She may even hate math. But watch the transformation that occurs as one day, that "Eureka!" moment happens. She will 'get it' and suddenly realize how it works and that she can do it. Then, on to the next challenge. Teaching children how to cope with challenges, think critically, synthesize information, and solve problems is another tangible benefit of a private school education for your child.
Small class sizes make real teaching possible. Your child will not simply be a number. She will be one of a dozen or so students seated around a table with her teacher. Analysis, discussion, debate, opinion, research, and presentation skills are all part of her learning experience. The advantage here is that a private school education can be a solid preparation for college work.
With all the negativity in the world today, building confidence and a 'can do' attitude in our children is critically important. Private schools set personal growth as a goal for each student. Yes, it happens at different rates of speed. However, three or four years after she enters the school, she will be a much more confident young person who can handle just about anything life throws at her due to all her experiences at her private school.
A final word to you as a parent: your child will probably not appreciate how these three benefits work together to produce the results you know are possible and very much want. Don't dwell on that. She will look back in a few years and realize what a wonderful thing you did for her. Do I sound manipulative? Of course! But for the right reasons.
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