Illustration by Justin Renteria
One of the most difficult decisions parents must make is choosing the school that their child will attend. Dueling questions dance in their brains: Will the child be overwhelmed by the large numbers in public-school classes or the academic and social pressures of private school? Will they thrive or flounder? Will the financial investment in a private school be worth it?
Parents who have made the transition from public to private—and vice versa—all emphasize that it depends on the child, what he or she wants, how he or she learns best, and exactly what the school offers.
After attending private Rossman School from junior kindergarten, Amira Fuller decided to go to a Parkway school for middle school. She wanted a large school with plenty of potential friends, as well as a strong music program. Today, Amira is a senior with a 3.9 GPA and is active in eight choral groups. “She is flying along,” says her mother, Neathery. “I don’t think she could do much more work and still be in all these choirs—and that is what she wants to do, performance and music education.”
Susan Pang moved her daughter, Jolena, from a private, independent school to Clayton High School after eighth grade. She wanted flexibility, Chinese classes, extensive Advanced Placement courses, and to save the tuition money for college. A competitive pianist since she was 5, Jolena also loves rock-climbing. Unlike some private schools, Clayton High School doesn’t require participation in a team sport. After taking an immersion program in Chinese last summer, Jolena now speaks the language every day.
Lisa Ashpole took the opposite route. After attending Sperreng Middle School in the Lindbergh Schools, she transferred to the private Thomas Jefferson School for high school. “It came down to her learning style,” says her father, Mark. “Lisa thrives in an environment where there is a lot of interaction and discussion, and she does not do well in a lecture environment.”
Going to Thomas Jefferson School has resulted in an unexpected bonus: prowess on the playing field. With the school’s small student body, everyone needs to participate in order to field a team. Today, Lisa plays volleyball, basketball, and soccer. “That probably wouldn’t be possible at a school where it is very competitive,” Mark says. “Here, because it is so small, it’s pretty easy to participate.”
The only dilemma: Lisa missed her friends. “You have a pretty huge population of teenage girls at the public school, whereas you go into TJ and you have six or seven girls,” Mark says.
A one-time president of the Conway School Association at public Conway Elementary School, Kathy Birchfield moved her eldest child, Alice, to the private Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School starting in sixth grade. “Alice is a thinker; she is definitely an academic,” Kathy says. “We loved the complete atmosphere. Besides the size of the classes, there was so much interaction in the classes, and there was so much interest in her. I have been amazed every step of the way at how personal they make it…
“We are going to blink and she is going to be a senior,” Kathy continues. “It’s important to have a school that helps you develop into a student who is going to college—and that is going to advise you and counsel you on your choices.”
