【公私立學校的利弊(補充和結束語)】zt

【公私立學校的利弊(補充和結束語)】 2008-02-23 23:00:57

寫上一篇的時候，忘了兩點私校的好處，先補上，然後要認真頌揚一下公校。 AP 課程和GPA 成績 對私校我其實沒有很全麵的知識，知道的也就是兒子這一所，這隻後才開始稍稍留 意些。所以說的很片麵，但對同樣對私校不甚了解的父母們，可以通過我兒子的例 子對他們的孩子的學校選擇有所借鑒 兒子學校的AP課程很多，據學校自己說，質量上乘。比如按被大學承認排名，AP化 學和數學(AP calculus) 名列世界第一。老師鼓勵學生盡早選AP，兒子高中二年級 就選了三門，二年級就自作主張去考了三門單科SAP。 高中GPA 對申請大學的重要性自不待言，我個人感覺，這所學校給成績比公校寬鬆 許多。比如學生作業晚交，都不會扣分，考試不理想可以重考等等。相比之下公立打 分給成績好像嚴格不少 這種寬鬆很容易理解。私校是按生意模式運作，學生都是顧客，這些滿意的顧客帶 來的是更多的顧客。好成績=升學率=銀子。 私校並不一定比公校好 我列了不少私校好處，說老實話，很有些SELF-SERVING 。因為錢已經花了一大筆， 為了自己心裏舒服點，不免要多找私立的好處，這樣才顯得花的值，要不我不成冤 大頭了。 事實上，公立好處多多，如果我們沒有住在灣區一個房子最貴，亞裔學生競爭最強 的學區，我或許不會選擇讓兒子上私立。 經濟上，象我們這類第一代到美國創業的中國人，如果不是有上市公司發了大財的， 一個小孩尚可支持，如果有兩三個小孩，私立學校會是很大的負擔，所以基本不可 行。 矽穀的情況和別處不同，這裏好的公校學區房子異常昂貴，稍微像樣點的房子就得 $700K-$1M。在差些學區買房子省的錢來交私校的學費似乎是個很邏輯的選擇。另外 象百版文章裏說的，我們存的錢將來還是要留給孩子，不如現在就投資在孩子的前 途上。 從小孩個性培育上，公立更加接近真實社會。隻要不是在最差的地區，有吸毒，暴 力一類的危險，公立學校可以使小孩在他們正式踏入社會時得到更好的鍛煉，適應 性會更強。 再有一點是根據小孩個人性格而定 - 牛頭/牛尾/雞頭/雞尾理論 - 如果小孩在好的公校已經是牛頭了，那多好，上私校花那冤枉錢幹嘛 - 如果是一般公校的牛頭，要具體分析，這類情況可能比好的公校的雞尾好 - 好公校的牛身可能在私校當牛頭 - 如果在哪裏都是雞尾，經濟許可的話私立的雞尾應該比公立的雞尾好些 去公校還是去私校關鍵之一應該是對孩子自信心有無好處，他們會不會快樂，別的 應該是為了這個目的服務的。隻要他們年齡足夠大，可以自己作決定，這個決定應 該和他們討論，讓他們自己做。 至於他們將來的事業成功，我們是無法預測的。這些遙遠的成功，和孩子的幸福快 樂、擁有一個正常的童年比起來，或許沒有那麽重要。雖然我自己仍然不能免俗地 關心我兒子的學習為他操心。但對他將來的期望，我平時和他說的最多的就是： “做個正常快樂有愛心的人，上個DECENT 大學，將來能養活你自己，娶個和你 相愛的好媳婦。逢年過節來帶你小孩子來看看我們就行了。" 做父母的能做的是 給他們很多幸福，別指望讓他們去實現為我們的夢想。 ======================================== 去年年底，華爾街時報以八所大學做BENCH MARK 對全世界高中申請美國大學做了一 個統計，這裏的高中有公立有私立也有其他國家的高中, 這八所大學是： Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams, Pomona, Swarthmore, the University of Chicago Johns Hopkins 下麵是這些中學的RANK 和 一些統計數字： 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. ==========================================================