【公私立学校的利弊(补充和结束语)】zt

【公私立学校的利弊(补充和结束语)】 2008-02-23 23:00:57

写上一篇的时候，忘了两点私校的好处，先补上，然后要认真颂扬一下公校。 AP 课程和GPA 成绩 对私校我其实没有很全面的知识，知道的也就是儿子这一所，这只后才开始稍稍留 意些。所以说的很片面，但对同样对私校不甚了解的父母们，可以通过我儿子的例 子对他们的孩子的学校选择有所借鉴 儿子学校的AP课程很多，据学校自己说，质量上乘。比如按被大学承认排名，AP化 学和数学(AP calculus) 名列世界第一。老师鼓励学生尽早选AP，儿子高中二年级 就选了三门，二年级就自作主张去考了三门单科SAP。 高中GPA 对申请大学的重要性自不待言，我个人感觉，这所学校给成绩比公校宽松 许多。比如学生作业晚交，都不会扣分，考试不理想可以重考等等。相比之下公立打 分给成绩好像严格不少 这种宽松很容易理解。私校是按生意模式运作，学生都是顾客，这些满意的顾客带 来的是更多的顾客。好成绩=升学率=银子。 私校并不一定比公校好 我列了不少私校好处，说老实话，很有些SELF-SERVING 。因为钱已经花了一大笔， 为了自己心里舒服点，不免要多找私立的好处，这样才显得花的值，要不我不成冤 大头了。 事实上，公立好处多多，如果我们没有住在湾区一个房子最贵，亚裔学生竞争最强 的学区，我或许不会选择让儿子上私立。 经济上，象我们这类第一代到美国创业的中国人，如果不是有上市公司发了大财的， 一个小孩尚可支持，如果有两三个小孩，私立学校会是很大的负担，所以基本不可 行。 硅谷的情况和别处不同，这里好的公校学区房子异常昂贵，稍微像样点的房子就得 $700K-$1M。在差些学区买房子省的钱来交私校的学费似乎是个很逻辑的选择。另外 象百版文章里说的，我们存的钱将来还是要留给孩子，不如现在就投资在孩子的前 途上。 从小孩个性培育上，公立更加接近真实社会。只要不是在最差的地区，有吸毒，暴 力一类的危险，公立学校可以使小孩在他们正式踏入社会时得到更好的锻炼，适应 性会更强。 再有一点是根据小孩个人性格而定 - 牛头/牛尾/鸡头/鸡尾理论 - 如果小孩在好的公校已经是牛头了，那多好，上私校花那冤枉钱干嘛 - 如果是一般公校的牛头，要具体分析，这类情况可能比好的公校的鸡尾好 - 好公校的牛身可能在私校当牛头 - 如果在哪里都是鸡尾，经济许可的话私立的鸡尾应该比公立的鸡尾好些 去公校还是去私校关键之一应该是对孩子自信心有无好处，他们会不会快乐，别的 应该是为了这个目的服务的。只要他们年龄足够大，可以自己作决定，这个决定应 该和他们讨论，让他们自己做。 至于他们将来的事业成功，我们是无法预测的。这些遥远的成功，和孩子的幸福快 乐、拥有一个正常的童年比起来，或许没有那么重要。虽然我自己仍然不能免俗地 关心我儿子的学习为他操心。但对他将来的期望，我平时和他说的最多的就是： “做个正常快乐有爱心的人，上个DECENT 大学，将来能养活你自己，娶个和你 相爱的好媳妇。逢年过节来带你小孩子来看看我们就行了。" 做父母的能做的是 给他们很多幸福，别指望让他们去实现为我们的梦想。 ======================================== 去年年底，华尔街时报以八所大学做BENCH MARK 对全世界高中申请美国大学做了一 个统计，这里的高中有公立有私立也有其他国家的高中, 这八所大学是： Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago Johns Hopkins 下面是这些中学的RANK 和 一些统计数字： High Schools How the Schools Stack Up 12/28/07 Weekend Journal looked at the freshman classes at eight top colleges -- Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins -- and compiled a list of the students' high-school alma maters. The survey ranked the high schools based on the number of students sent to those eight colleges, divided by the high school's number of graduates in 2007, limiting the scope to schools that had senior classes of at least 50 (see below). The "success rate" column represents the percentage of students in each high-school's graduating class that attended one of our chosen colleges. (See related story.) —Compiled by Ellen Gamerman, Juliet Chung, SungHa Park and Candace Jackson Correction The Nov. 30 chart “How the Schools Stack Up” that ranked high schools with the best record of graduates attending eight top universities incorrectly omitted 20 high schools. The methodology called for determining the high schools attended by the current freshman classes at eight top colleges and then ranking the schools based on the percentage of their senior classes that attended those colleges. However, data from some of the colleges’ freshman facebooks and admissions offices were incomplete, and the Journal didn’t confirm the data with enough high schools. The rankings have been re-calculated after broadening the number of high schools. Some omissions remain possible. High School    City    State/ Country    Class Size    Students Sent in 2007    Success Rate  ↑ Collegiate School   New York  N.Y.  50  13  26.0%  Brearley School  New York  N.Y.  51  12  23.5%  Chapin School  New York  N.Y.  58  13  22.4%  University of Chicago Lab Schools  Chicago  Ill.  113  22  19.5%  Polytechnic School  Pasadena  Calif.  87  17  19.5%  College Preparatory School   Oakland  Calif.  86  15  17.4%  Trinity School   New York  N.Y.  116  20  17.2%  Phillips Academy  Andover  Mass.  327  52  15.9%  Delbarton School  Morristown  N.J.  116  18  15.5%  Phillips Exeter Academy  Exeter  N.H.  317  47  14.8%  Milton Academy  Milton  Mass.  184  27  14.7%  Groton School  Groton  Mass.  83  12  14.5%  Winsor School  Boston  Mass.  57  8  14.0%  Lawrenceville School  Lawrenceville  N.J.  239  33  13.8%  Crystal Springs Uplands School  Hillsborough  Calif.  59  8  13.6%  Hunter College High School  New York  N.Y.  177  24  13.6%  Kent Place School  Summit  N.J.  59  8  13.6%  Rivers School  Weston  Mass.  74  10  13.5%  Saint Ann's School  Brooklyn  N.Y.  76  10  13.2%  United World College-USA  Montezuma  N.M.  99  13  13.1%  San Francisco University High School  San Francisco  Calif.  92  12  13.0%  Menlo School  Atherton  Calif.  139  18  12.9%  St. Paul's School   Concord  N.H.  150  19  12.7%  Tower Hill School  Wilmington  Del.  58  7  12.1%  Harker School  San Jose  Calif.  167  20  12.0%  University Laboratory High School  Urbana  Ill.  59  7  11.9%  John Burroughs School  St. Louis  Mo.  97  11  11.3%  Webb Schools  Claremont  Calif.  90  10  11.1%  Rye Country Day   Rye  N.Y.  92  10  10.9%  St. Andrews School  Middletown  Del.  65  7  10.8%  Holton-Arms School  Bethesda  Md.  74  8  10.8%  Korean Minjok Leadership Academy  South Korea  South Korea  133  14  10.5%  Princeton High School  Princeton  N.J.  299  31  10.4%  Buckingham Browne & Nichols   Cambridge  Mass.  115  12  10.4%  Ramaz Upper School  New York  N.Y.  100  10  10.0%  Head-Royce School  Oakland  Calif.  81  8  9.9%  Pingry School  Martinsville  N.J.  121  12  9.9%  Stuyvesant High School  New York  N.Y.  674  67  9.9%  Regis High School  New York  N.Y.  125  12  9.6%  Illinois Math and Science Academy  Aurora  Ill.  203  19  9.4%  Blake School  Hopkins  Minn.  127  12  9.4%  Hotchkiss School  Lakeville  Conn.  172  16  9.3%  Branson School  Ross  Calif.  75  7  9.3%  Bishop's School  La Jolla  Calif.  120  11  9.2%  St. Mark's School of Texas  Dallas  Texas  87  8  9.2%  Lakeside School  Seattle  Wash.  132  12  9.1%  Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology  Alexandria  Va.  428  39  9.1%  Park School  Baltimore  Md.  78  7  9.0%  St. John's School   Houston  Texas  122  11  9.0%  Deerfield Academy  Deerfield  Mass.  188  17  9.0%  Castilleja School  Palo Alto  Calif.  57  5  8.8%  Boston Latin School  Boston  Mass.  381  33  8.7%  Tabor Academy  Marion  Mass.  105  9  8.6%  Episcopal Academy  Merion  Pa.  105  9  8.6%  Sidwell Friends School  Washington  D.C.  118  10  8.5%  Choate Rosemary Hall  Wallingford  Conn.  230  19  8.3%  Li Po Chun United World College  Hong Kong  Hong Kong  121  10  8.3%  Francis Parker School  San Diego  Calif.  108  9  8.3%  University School of Nashville  Nashville  Tenn.  88  7  8.0%  Princeton Day School  Princeton  N.J.  88  7  8.0%  Sewickley Academy  Sewickley  Pa.  75  6  8.0%  Dalton School  New York  N.Y.  112  9  8.0%  National Cathedral School  Washington  D.C.  76  6  7.9%  Horace Mann School  Riverdale  N.Y.  177  14  7.9%  Bard High School Early College  New York  N.Y.  128  10  7.8%  Behind the Numbers: Our survey looked at enrolled students, not the number of students accepted. In some cases, college admissions offices shared the list of high schools for their freshman classes. In others, we looked at the printed "facebooks" distributed by colleges, which were either loaned to us or purchased on our behalf by students or alumni. We worked with high schools and colleges to verify our numbers, which sometimes differed when students had been accepted to college but deferred enrollment for a year or when college facebooks offered incomplete information. In cases where the high school and college's numbers diverged, we worked with both to try to resolve the discrepancy. We relied only on official school information, not outside sources such as Facebook.com. We omitted some universities that otherwise would have met our criteria because they either didn't print facebooks or those facebooks didn't list high-school alma maters, and the colleges wouldn't supply the data on their students independently. Of course, college placement is only one measure of a high school's success, and varies from year to year. Many high schools emphasized to us that they strive to find the right match for each student, not the college with the most cachet. ==========================================================