<p>cobrat, again I refer to confirmation bias. I feel like you’re unfairly picking out a few crappy private schools and saying “Look at how great they make even the mediocre public schools appear” as if it’s the general rule. You can’t ignore the numerous private counterparts that are arguably better than the publics. Nobody’s saying that you won’t be able to find able kids from crappy public schools (I consider myself one of them) or floundering private-school students. </p>
<p>The question is ultimately “What is the real price we should be willing to pay for a particular standard of education” given a selection of choices. Is it really worth sending your child to a $20,000 preschool – something that comes at nearly half the price tag of a year at an Ivy? Or should we opt for the public counterparts?</p>
<p>Ultimately it IS a function of due diligence. You just have to do your research and you have to make the best judgment call you can given the type of lifestyle you lead, the type of family you wish to have, the education you want your kids to have, the opportunities you think are important, etc. </p>
<p>Certainly, you can’t toss a lazy, unintelligent kid into a gauntlet of expensive private schools and expect him to be made a better person. That’s where good parenting comes in. But if you can afford the price tag and you find the benefits to be worth the price, why not send your kids there?</p>