Would you go into debt for your childs secondary education?

[Turkish Delight]

Baths. Well said hun.

Would you/do also send your other kids to private schools to?

I am having this dilemma atm.

[murraysmum]

i will be letting my son decide me and dp have been talking bout ag college thats if he wants too we would fork out the 34 thou a year for him to attend but if he wanted to study music i would do the same thing it depends on what they want and need same with uni we would help with some of it not all of it as they need to learn what its like to stand on ones own feet without struggling so much they see no light at the end of the tunnel

scolloships are great as they set you up to thrive

[Bathsheba]

Ta TD I felt a bit nervous about the reaction I was going to get... being so "pro" the private system.

Our 5yo DS is attending a local public primary school for two reasons: It has an exceptionally good reputation and also because he is a very shy child we wanted him to go to a school where he knows as many other kids as possible. All the kids in our street go to this particular school. DH wants to transfer him to a private school (that goes from prep to year 12) in grade 5. Most of the families with boys in our street end up sending their older boys to this school too for highschool.... and all the families are exceptionally happy with this school. This school also has a pre-school and we are thinking of putting our youngest (currently 3yo) there too... so he might go right through like our DD did... from primary to highschool. Expensive yes, but at least we'll get sibling discount! I'm also hoping to teach eventually and might apply to this school. I worked at my DD's school when she was in grades prep - year 3 and so I received a 25% staff discount. Well, that's the plan anyhow.

ETA: we most likely won't be helping our children financially if they go onto uni. When I was at uni I had a casual job and paid my own way. DH also feels that our $$$ responsibility ends in year 12. We also won't be helping them buy cars or houses.

[sunnyday21]

Bathsheba - completly agree with what you have said. I to am a believer in that you only get 1 opportunity especially with education. I would spend the money on my children too. Well said.

[Bathsheba]

Thanks Sunnyday and welcome to BellyBelly!

Just to add another dimension to it all: I believe in the public system and if I thought that my children could get the best possible education in the public system I would use it. Unfortunantly it's just not the case at this time. I am a Socialist at heart and there are other aspects of my life that I feel more strongly about: like using public transport. We, as a family, use the public transport system daily. The idea of going into debt to have our own private vehicle doesn't sit well with us at all. I know that we are lucky in that we have busses and trains within a blocks walk. I know that some people have no choice but to go into debt by about $20,000 to have a car. But lucky we don't. I often think that if I drove and we were a 2 car family then we then wouldn't be able to afford private education. I guess you can't have it all. For US as a family we believe that money is better spent on education than transport... but that's just us... I don't expect everyone to agree

[widdly]

wow Bath, I love you and your DH's views on life and where you put the importance on things. I have never actually thought about education quite like that. Everything you said about you and DH as kids being very bright and just having to sit there doing nothing while the rest of the class caught up, thatshow my education was and I gave up in the end and really bombed out in year 12 cause there just wasnt enough time to have one on one with a teacher to work out where I wanted my studies to take me. You have really made me think more about DS schooling, thanks heaps

[Lulu]

Hmmmm, I suppose as long as you don't "buy" into the fact that a public education is less than a private one.

I have been educated at both public and private secondary and whilst I do agree the pastoral care was better private at the end of the day it comes down to the school itself. One public secondary I went to, although at it's strength back when I went there had sadly degenerated but the time I sent my daughter. However I do blame stupid Jeff Kennett with his 'merge all the schools' attitude because it certainly didn't work with this one, they ended up going back to the original plan but it never recovered.

I ended up leaving private for public because the public sports program crapped on the private. But that was just that school in a pool of many.

I had all intentions (and investments!) sorted for DD to have a private education but over the years I gained a much better 'feel' for the private schools around the area and quite frankly I didn't like what I saw.

I'm very glad we have an excellent public school close enough to send DD, the feel, the morale the attitude to the students and teachers alike really rocked my boat.

At the end of the day I want the best education for my (rotten, ungrateful) DD and if I had to pay for it I would - just thanking my lucky stars that good public is available because she also needs thousands of $$ for orthodontic work

[Bathsheba]

Yes! Phew! My DD won't need orthodontic work thankfully! You are lucky to have a good public highschool in your area Lulu... we just don't. It's really wrong that in the public system you often have no choice We moved across Melbourne for our DD to go to the private school she is at only because it would have taken too long to drive everyday if we had stayed where we were... but if we had to use the public system I would move out of this area immediately.

[mrsmac]

I find it very disheartening as a public school teacher that my job is so devalued by some people in this thread. Obviously if you don't pay for your education its no good and obviously I mustn't care about my class cause its the public system.
Also I obviously don't care about my oldest DD either because I have shown her no care at all and spent nothing sending her to the local public high school instead of going into massive debt to send her to some snooty private school where she can feel completely out of place cause we aren't rich but where she could be spoon fed to keep up their HSC results in order to charge huge fees.

All of the "i care enough about my children to spend heaps of money getting them an education" has made my blood boil. I deeply care about my chilren's education but as a firm believer in the public system I feel that it can be achieved within that system too. So many of these pro private posts have been very ANTI public schools.
I am not anti private schools just the people who seem to think that only those who care about their children's education use them.

[fionas]

Ask me in 10 years!

Look, in theory I'm against private education because my biggest core belief is about equality of opportunity. At a very simplistic level, I think it's unfair that people can buy a better education for their kids than those that can't. And I say this as someone who will be able to afford it so it's not sour grapes from that respect.

However, we also live in the real world and obviously I will want the best for DD. I imagine my leftie principles will go out the window if I see her struggling in a public school. But I still find it very hard to come to terms with the fact that my money means that DD may squeeze into uni with the best education that money can buy ahead of some really bright kid who's recently arrived as a refugee living in a housing commission flat doing their homework whilst sharing a bedroom with two other siblings. An extreme example I know.

As I said, ask me in 10 years.

[Bathsheba]

Originally Posted by Nicambhar View Post
"Really interesting reading all of the replies.. My crap situation aside, I often wonder why people feel the need to plunge into such a huge commitment."

Ok. Now I think that this was actually a rhetorical question... obviously not one to be answered honestly... apologies everyone.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

I went to a public school because that was the only school that we had in our small town. I wasn't disadvantaged in anyway and was dux of the school in both primary and high school. My parents considered sending me to boarding school in high school but after our discussions I decided to stay with my family. I intend to send my DD to a public school but that will depend on where we are living at the time and what schooling options are available to us. Just sharing my background

Thanks Sunnyday and welcome to BellyBelly!

Just to add another dimension to it all: I believe in the public system and if I thought that my children could get the best possible education in the public system I would use it. Unfortunantly it's just not the case at this time. I am a Socialist at heart and there are other aspects of my life that I feel more strongly about: like using public transport. We, as a family, use the public transport system daily. The idea of going into debt to have our own private vehicle doesn't sit well with us at all. I know that we are lucky in that we have busses and trains within a blocks walk. I know that some people have no choice but to go into debt by about $20,000 to have a car. But lucky we don't. I often think that if I drove and we were a 2 car family then we then wouldn't be able to afford private education. I guess you can't have it all. For US as a family we believe that money is better spent on education than transport... but that's just us... I don't expect everyone to agree

I'm not sure how any of Baths posts could be construed as putting down the public system or saying that private is better considering the above post and that she has stated in another post that her other child attends a public school. It depends on the individual school and also the individual child.

[Muppity]

ETA: we most likely won't be helping our children financially if they go onto uni. When I was at uni I had a casual job and paid my own way. DH also feels that our $$$ responsibility ends in year 12. We also won't be helping them buy cars or houses.

This was how I was brought up as well Bath. My parents always told us that they would buy us the very best education that they could afford but it was up to us to do what we wanted with it. If we went to uni or wanted to buy things then use our brains (and brawn) and get on with it ourselves. I turned out just fine! And you know what - its how I plan to bring up my kids too.

[Bathsheba]

I agree Muppity I don't get the need for parents to give deposits for homes especially. DH and I have resigned to not being able to afford a home until all the kids have left home.... and that's ok. Then we won't have to downsize. I know my parents are proud of having bought my sister and I so much stuff... but all I really wanted was butchers paper to draw on LOL I think they were a product of their own childhood... they were children of poor farmers... they must have always wanted stuff so focussed on giving that to us. Still... i dunno... I think a good education is the best of ALL investments.

ETA: Ta widdly