Public vs. Private

After yesterday's blog my husband called to say he liked it. He went to public schools, too, feels like it is a huge part of who he is, and is committed to improving public schools and letting our children have that experience. It is a view we share strongly.

At least it was until yesterday. After his morning's compliments, he came home and as we brushed our teeth he blurted out: I think we may need to think about sending our children to private school for high school. In today's world those who truly succeed go to private high school.

I was so insulted--it was the exact opposite of my point in my blog, and yet I, my life, and my thoughts, had convinced him that private school for high school is the way to go.

Look, he pointed out, the most amazing people in today's society went to private schools. We analyzed friends and famous people. And we know some really amazing people. But from the Obama administration on down, he insisted that those who have really done spectacular things--from creative to cultural to political--all went to private school. His argument is that private schools teach you to shoot for the stars. To believe you are entitled and brilliant. To think in high school (not when you graduate from college, like us) that you could change the world and what IS it that you want to be? A president? A Pulitzer Prize winner? A Hedge Fund manager? A playwright?

I do agree with this--no one at my high school paid much attention to the smart kids. We did our thing. The teachers were good. The guidance counselors would say things like: You are fine. You will get in wherever you want to go. I have other students I really need to worry about. Session over.

But I also think the compassion and view of the world gave me an outlook that gave me more passion and direction than those who attended elite private high schools. But maybe I just need to tell myself that to justify my life. I don't say that about my elite private college...

Barack Obama, Timothy Geithner, Sonia Sotomayor--all of them went to private school he argues. His argument is that after the Clinton generation things changed. I don't know. I have brilliant friends from both private and public high schools. Can it really have such a profound influence on your life? Is that the kind of society we have become?

What do you think? Do elite private high schools give you a better shot at success in life? Why?