[Rick Lee]

I think my prep school was around $13k a year when I graduated in 1989. It's well north of $30k a year now. But it was worth every penny. That's where I really learned critical thinking, how to read and write and, not necessarily do math, but how to figure things out deductively. I got through the AP calculus course my senior year, so I didn't have to sit in an auditorium and do it in college. Our max class size was 17, but I usually had around 10 at most. Every teacher knows every kid's name. As it's a boarding school, the teachers are avail. 24/7 and have "house duty" in the dorms every night, sort of like college professors' office hours, but no appt. necessary. I finished college in 3.5 yrs. and with my junior year abroad, which I totally credit my prep school with making possible. Where I am now, I could have easily skipped college and gotten here. But I fear where I'd be, had I gone to public high school, which was still a pretty good one in my home town.