June 24th, 2008[原创]【我送儿子去私校-兼谈公私立学校的利 弊(下)】
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。
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。
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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 ba<x>sed 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
(http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-COLLEGE0711-sort.html).
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 ba<x>sed 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.
下边数字表请看连接:
(http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-COLLEGE0711-sort.html).
===============================
High School City State 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%
Univ. 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 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.
WJ: How to get to Harvard: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119638146482608732.html
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百科论私校( by britannica)
几年前至少在网上中国人中间,基本是一边倒反对私校的。短短几年,私校就已经有半壁江山了。为什么?我觉得还是钱的问题。有钱的人越来越多,如果钱不是个问题,至少不是个大问题,下一个问题就是why not?
很多人经过多年努力,已经挣得相当好,但又不习惯在自己身上花钱(我不是没劝过),这点钱与其将来留做遗产,不如现在就投资教育。
值不值这种问题都设计到钱有多少。以前几乎人人觉得不值,现在至少有相当一部分人认为值得。
私校好吗?当然有好处。但如果供着吃力,还是多想想投入产出。如果不吃力,自己愿意就好。
公校也有公校的好处,有些性格的人就适合人多处振臂一呼,私校可能就太拘谨了,少了很多的FUN。
社交圈的问题。如果不上私校名校,名私校,遇到贵人的可能是万分之一的话,进名私校可能机会会大一百倍。很厉害是吗?但那也只是百分之一的可能性。这种小比例,跟自身条件性格等等基本没关系,基本只跟运气有关系。
但接触名人富人有权势的人,可以长见识。我倒觉得这个才是更实质的好处,如果运用得当的话。但凡事没有白吃的午餐,长见识的同时,一定会有点自卑的。当然,运气的话,自卑会变成自强,努力去追求成功,父母就想挡也挡不住,当然多数父母也不想挡,开心还来不及。但成功的人很多时候对自己和周围的人要求容易过高。
我在说什么?无非就是塞翁失马的私校版:)
做父母的往往是叶公好龙。就像国内的父母,孩子年轻时要推孩子出国,自己年纪大了又想拉孩子回国。真正想要的一直都在变。孩子没出息的时候希望孩子多出息,有出息了又希望孩子多陪他。现在年轻父母都信誓旦旦将来不拖累孩子,那是因为他们还没老。等老了想法十有八九会变。
人生实际在和自己斗,在和自己不停改变的计划斗。