[jyl]

To clarify, I'm not anti public school.

Where I lived in the SF Bay Area, the local lower (K-5) public school was excellent. Some of the middle schools were very good, you had to live in the right place or get your kid into the right school. And a couple of the high schools were very good. Here in Portland, many of the public schools are said to be good to very good, and at least one of the high schools is excellent - gives up nothing to the private high schools. It really depends on the city, its demographics and economics, and how much the people are willing to fund the public schools and to demand results from them.

I sent my kids to private school for language reasons. They'll exit the 8th grade fluent in English and French and with a good start in written/spoken Chinese. They'll also know most of pre-calculus, but I hadn't planned for that.

Whether this is worth over $250,000 of tuition that I will have paid to get two kids through 8th grade - we'll see. I know its been a considerable financial burden.