Wallblog

This is not an easy question. But one easy part is - don't worry about whether it looks bad, it's your kid - do what you think is best.

For me, I'm not so sure it's a matter of whether an LPS school or a Catholic school is "better" in some generic sense. It depends more on what your daughter needs. The problem is, sometimes it's awfully hard to tell what a child needs at five or six years old, and how that matches up with a particular school that - for most people - they only get a surface view of.

I think LPS probably has some pretty good schools. And I'm hopeful about what some of the changes I'm currently seeing will mean for all of our schools in the future. And - in general - the research seems to be pretty clear that a relatively high performing district like LPS is "better" in an academic sense than most Catholic schools.

But the problem with that is - first of all - that's "in general". Second, what's best for your kid. And third, it's not all about academics (in my not so humble opinion).

So, I'll go back to what I originally said. It depends on what your daughter needs, as well as what your family's "core values" are in regards to education. If the desire to go to Catholic school is due to the belief that it is better academically, then I think you need to investigate that some more. But if the desire to go to Catholic school is because it matches up better with what your daughter needs and your core values, then it might be a good choice.

My question specifically for you, Adam, is, which school system matches up better with your philosophy of education? We've talked a lot in 21c about what we believe, I think maybe you need to investigate some schools and see which ones match up best with what you believe (whether that be LPS, Douglas County, Catholic or other private school, or something else). And have you had that possibly hard conversation with your wife about her philosophy of education? I'm not trying to cause problems here - seriously, this is touchy territory - but I think this is an important thing to talk about in any family to try to come to the best decision for your kid(s).
 

I think that this will be something my family has to deal with as well. I attended Denver Christian K-12, headed off to Calvin College (another private institution) for college, and student taught at Grand Rapids Christian High. My first actual teaching job was in Cherry Creek Public Schools. From there I came here, so I really feel like I've been fully exposed to both private and public education.

I think that Karl really hits home when he says it will depend on the kid.

Wes has said repeatedly that he would never have survived if he hadn't transferred to Denver Christian in high school. Not for the academics, but because he needed the structure, the discipline, etc. We were also both able to compete year round in athletics. There is certainly a different philosophy about that here at Arapahoe...

On the other hand...the resources, technology, and academic opportunities available here are irreplaceable. Not to mention the incredible amount of quality teachers, students, and families that make this place function. Oh, and we don't have to pay tuition? Certainly gives you something to think about.

I think that the hardest part is having to make these decisions so early. It's easy to say we'll go to School A K-8 and then switch to school B for high school, but that certainly wouldn't be an easy transition for the student. I guess that just reinforces the importance of really knowing your child and what works for them (hopefully!)
 

The good thing about many of the private schools around here is that a good number of students from each end up in the public high schools, so your child probably wouldn't be the only one who was transitioning, if that is what your family ultimately decided to do.

Putting in my own two cents, I grew up in LPS and then attended a Catholic college with many other public school and Catholic school kids. I will say that the private school kids seemed to have an even narrower range of experience than kids like me - and I would say that my worldview was pretty narrow when I graduated from a public high school in Littleton, Colorado! Being a Social Studies teacher, I have to say that I highly value public education - it's very American in theory. Yes, we have de facto segregation, but even a school like Arapahoe has a huge variety of kids with many different skills, outlooks, etc. And regarding Cara's comment about the year-round variety of sports, that used to be valued here too. I think that the community has caved in to the specialization craze in the past decade. Too many parents and kids seem to think scholarships are the end goal. What about being life-long lovers of athletic activity?!