Private school tuition

[damontucker]

Re: Private school tuition

I'm looking at an ad in the Advertiser right now. "Private School Prep, Part 1" airs on the KHNL news tonight at 10:00. I'm going to try go get home in time to catch it, but could someone tape it if I don't make it? I think it'll be interesting to see what angle the reporter takes.

Did anyone catch this last night?

I'm going to view it tonight when I get home... just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the piece?

[damontucker]

Re: Private school tuition

Looks like it's going to be part of an on going series.

Verbatim:

Howard Dashefsky and Stephanie Lum opened the segment

The start of the segment had Robert Witt from Hawaii Association of Indepentent Schools talking about the popularity of private schools.... Private school traditions began in the 1840's!

2 out of 5 Oahu Kids go to private schools!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Competition to get in is intense.....

"Every parent wants the best for their child"

"6th 7th and 8th grade very competitive...

$50.00 - 60.00 per hour for tutors...

Yes... It will be a nightly series for a few days it looks like...

I'll dvr it again tonight....

Gee that would be cool if they featured Scriveners school!

[cynsaligia]

Re: Private school tuition

in defense of my alma mater, iolani, and not in any particular order, and apologies in advance for my rambling (i'm writing this at nearly 4 ayem and i have not yet slept since waking 20 hours ago. i'll probably read this post sometime later and be aghast at the errors i'm to make):

in response to a previous post: i found iolani to be plenty spiritual. we have a chapel on campus, and every grade went to chapel once a week. ethics--an important part of spirituality--was a core part of our education. mind you, iolani is an episcopalian school. i think the ethics/sense of spirituality i gained at iolani led me to my current employer whose mission revolves around certain spiritual values.

yes, there are a LOT of asians who go to iolani, probably more proportionally than go to punahou. this might be at least partially because of the history of the schools where more caucasians went to punahou and more chinese and japanese went to iolani prior to our currently more diverse times (side note--why do okinawans get left out? if hairiness is supposed to be a tell-tale sign, had planny okinawans at iolani, too...and i'm only saying this bcs my sweetheart is part okinawan...but i digress). people send their kids where their friends/family suggest, and they may be following certain traditions/opinions/perceptions they may have. if iolani's applicants are largely asian and not so much caucasian, then it's to be expected that the enrollment will reflect that. however, i had schoolmates whose names included tufono, garcia, kaawa, kealoha, hulihee, and fontanilla.

a vast majority of my classmates went on to mainland colleges. i did not, probably because my widowed mother spent a heck of a lot of money to send me to iolani versus have me go to farrington (yep, i'm a kalihi girl). if i were her back then, given the same choice, i would have sent my child (if she could get in) to iolani versus farrington.

how did i end up faring? well, i didn't finish my BA at UH as planned. in fact, i'm now going to night school whilst working full time. the biggest reason why i didn't finish "timely" is because i got involved with the wrong kind of man for seven years. one thing they don't teach at iolani--or any other school, for that matter--is how to avoid costly heartbreak and loss of time because of foolish romantic decisions. i learned at the school of hard knocks, literally: i was choked to the point of passing out several times and i have two broken ribs because of my poor choice in men.

however...

despite my lack of a degree, i get a certain level of respect because of my intelligence (presumably). and when people find out (because it's not like i advertise) that i went to iolani, they usually react with a knowing, "ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh....makes sense." the funny thing is the next thing they often say is "i thought you were from the mainland."

my beau, on the other hand? kalani grad. and i would say he's as smart as 75% of my classmates at iolani. he's a UH grad; i'm, as i pointed out, a UH dropout.

speaking of UH, my experience there was dismal. if i had been used to the caliber of instructors typical at iolani and then went to UH and had a math professor who took ten minutes to scribble through three of four chalkboard panels writing up a proof, then stopped and said, "aw fuck...this is wrong!" can you blame me if i thought poorly of that professor, and others like him who taught a good percentage of my undergrad classes?

i was FAR from spoiled. i EARNED and KEPT my place at iolani through hard work, as did my mother, who sacrificed more than i can ever repay to send me there.

of course i agree that there are public school students who are just as smart as private school or even, in particular, iolani students. of course i agree that a private or public school education alone cannot describe the kind of student a person is or was or what kind of success someone will have. i do not have a disdain for public schools. let me point out again that i am in love with, completely adore, and thorougly respect, a product of the public schools.

but if (and people, please notice my conditional there) ... if anyone implies that i got into iolani bcs i'm asian (i'm not your typical iolani girl...i'm pinay-spanish--and NO, not all filipinos are spanish, kunfunnit) or bcs my mom had moola, or some other way than through my and my mother's blood, sweat, tears, and brains, then i would vehemently disagree. i would also vehemently disagree that my life has been "golden" because i went to iolani (cf paragraph about abusive relationship above). yes, certain career goals were made easier despite the lack of a bachelor's degree because of where i went to high school. however, i've seen people i believe not to be "as smart" as i surpass me because they had a bachelor's.

my beau's opinion? (and the beau is mostly japanese, the rest okinawan, palauan, spanish and a recently discovered drop of korean) well, if we had children, and they were smart enough to get into iolani, we'd send them there. but if money were an issue (as it would always be), we'd make sure to move into a "better" public school district (assuming we could afford that), send them to public elementary school, then iolani for their high school, and go from there...and probably NOT to UH, and most likely to a mainland college. we'd expect our children not to live and work in hawaii because we don't expect there will be enough in terms of livelihood and opportunity to keep them here--private school education or not.

that said, i gotta go sleep!!!

--cyn