
1 Billion Dollar High School - vlad
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/business/26prep.html?_r=1&ex=1359003600&en=0fd0874e75738926&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
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JayNeely
I graduated from a private high school in 2004, The McCallie School, in
Chattanooga, TN. I was able to go because I had attended the academic camp(I
know, I know. But hey, my mother wanted to keep me busy, and it was better
than Bible camp) they hosted over the summer; from spending that time with
them, they apparently were interested enough to offer my mom a financial aid
deal for me to attend high school there.

Before McCallie, I had always gone to public school in a tiny Georgia
town(Hiawassee), so switching to McCallie was a big deal, and a big change.
There were definitely some of the things the NYTimes article describes: lots
of money went toward athletics and athletic facilities(the US women Olympics
crew team trained there), there were children from families of the
ridiculously wealthy(most of whom were very nice, polite, and never snobbish),
and by the time I was graduating there was a huge new dining hall/conference
facility that had been finished, and plans for a state-of-the-art dorm
building underway.

But I don't think McCallie misspent their money on those things, at least not
in relation to how they spent on other things. Athletics never over-shadowed
academics. Most of the teachers I had at McCallie were better than most I've
had in college, and I don't know of any public school where I would have been
able to receive 5 semesters worth of credit for English classes my senior
year. McCallie had a great music program, and didn't skimp on funding for art
classes either.

While I was a student, I never thought about the size of McCallie's endowment
or how it was used, possibly because I never saw any indication it was being
misspent. Now, Wikipedia tells me McCallie's endowment is ~$60 million, and
that 85.7% of their expenditures in 2007 went toward program expenses. That
sounds pretty good to me.

More importantly, the stats on McCallie's own site confirm what I saw among
the student body: <http://mccallie.org/Internet/Default.aspx?pid=336> Almost
20% of students receive financial aid, and there are 55 students receiving
merit scholarships this year. At a school where the total enrollment is just
over 900, that's a lot of kids who would find their abilities wasted in public
schools being given great opportunities.

Sure, "never let schooling get in the way of your education," and other Mark
Twain wisdom. But not all prep schools are just comfy surroundings and a well-
known name for rich kids to pad their college applications with. Some of them
are really great tools that give, and encourage seeking out, a great
education.

~~~
emmett
The disturbing part here is that prep schools actually are _good_. If they
were extravagant wastes of money, they would be irrelevant.

The reason we have public education is that we're trying to give everyone an
equal footing to start out in life. This goal is unachievable, but anything
that further stretches the distance between the children of the poor and the
children of the rich raises alarm bells for me.

I wish I had a good suggestion as to what to do about it.

~~~
mynameishere
_children of the rich_

I think it's clear that these schools are using their endowments to pick up
smart, but (relatively) poor kids. To a lot of people, that's no comfort, as a
cognitive aristocracy is no better than a financial aristocracy. The strategy
at the ivies has been to filter for both the very smart and the very rich.
This gives _aptitude_ access to _capital_.

If this article was about a high-end public school that got its budget from
seized money (eg property taxes), then rest assured that the private-school-
educated NYTs editors would have suggested some forceful "fixes" for the
"problem".

~~~
bokonist
I went to Exeter and Yale and found it the opposite. Yale was smarter and the
students weren't quite as well off.

~~~
mynameishere
What is "it"? What is "it" the opposite of? You're getting a lot of upmods for
a very badly constructed sentence.

(EDIT: I guess I sound like a jerk. I'm just wondering actually...)

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kxhoopshooter
The problem I see with my public school is that it glorifies the
accomplishments that happen in some academic areas while it de-emphasizes
other ares. If there are a lot of Intel semifinalists or high SAT scores, its
all over the news, but if nothing big happens, they don't say a word.

It's understandable of course, a school's a business too and it needs money.
But the problem is that the school didn't even do anything, it was all the
students or their parents.

This is the main difference I see between public and private schooling. Yeah
private schools weed out the really smart and really rich but most importantly
they gather the kids that actually want to go to that school specifically
while public schools just gather the kids that happen to be in the area.

I want to form a startup but my school is offering no help whatsoever on
creating a business or in any other way. They probably don't believe I have
the ability to make news headlines and promote the school so whatever
potential I have is being wasted. One the other side, if I do make news
headlines for some reason, they will probably be all over me saying how they
helped support me the whole way. Sad isn't it?

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bokonist
Exeter's actually worse than the article says. Shortly after I graduated in
2002 they tore up up perfectly functional squash courts and replaced them with
new ones. The old courts weren't as big as the new prep school official size,
so they spent millions of dollars just to add another foot to the court. The
money for the project was donated by the father of a girl on the squash team.
He wanted the money to go to bigger squash courts and nothing else. It's his
money, so he can do what he wants with it. But I can make a long, long list of
more worthy causes, and it's a shame that bigger squash courts is the best he
could do. Prep schools and colleges manage to own a portion of your identity,
and they are incredibly effective at getting alums to donate money back to
them.

~~~
andres
I actually think the article did a great job of accurately showing the two
sides of exeter. Dwelling on how much money they spend on squash courts or
football stadiums gives the wrong impression and just perpetuates the common
criticism that exeter is elitist. The reality is far from the truth and the
article was pretty accurate in demonstrating that.

~~~
bokonist
My point was not about elitism ( your right, Exeter is much less elitist than
some people think ). My point was that from my experience, the vast majority
of Exeter's recent spending has had no impact on the quality of the education.
The old student center, science building, and squash courts were more than
adequate. The $100+ million spent on the new ones is just over the top. It's a
shame that donors couldn't find a better use of their money.

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jl
I went to Andover (a frighteningly long time ago). They've recently announced
a commitment to go to a "need-blind" admissions policy this year-- meaning
that every qualified student will be admitted without consideration of his or
her family's financial situation.

~~~
jsnx
They may be admitted, but they won't actually go :) They'll get a package with
a punishing amount of loans.

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vlad
I don't think students need great art programs, excellent music programs, or
anything else. Smart kids need a way to live together and away from their
parents, without having to stress about how they will feed themselves, dress
themselves, or stay employed at a crappy job trying to get some sort of decent
clothing and food (or support their parents--not just with money, by the way,
but maybe translating things all the time or other tasks). And not be around
students who aren't quite there yet... otherwise, these students, the
educators, and the students still trying to get to a balance on life all start
wasting their own time.

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dawnerd
I wish all schools were this good. There is no reason public schools couldn't
be like this.

I mean come on, if anyone has seen what a public school looks like recently,
it's sickening. But I guess the schools in other countries are in more need of
the tax money than our own.

~~~
wallflower
I went to a public school that was on par with some private schools. It was
funded by real-estate taxes (wealthy area). I had a long discussion about
whether wealthy parents make the difference in making their children's
education a priority - and we concluded that it is the parent's involvement in
their children's education that is important (over money)

