Moving to Calgary... about education for kids

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale

You're married!!??

Sorry dude. I'm taken! hehe

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

Putting that money towards a better university would be a better move. Better universities give you better connections and we all know this world runs on who you know.

Well right now i'm paying over $6k for pre-school, which i don't mind since it's pretty much like paying for a day care. but $12k/year for 12 years is crazy!

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Well right now i'm paying over $6k for pre-school, which i don't mind since it's pretty much like paying for a day care. but $12k/year for 12 years is crazy!

CP is the 1%.

[JohnnyB]

The prices for private school in Calgary are actually cheap compared to what you would pay here in Shanghai or in Hong Kong. You could be paying $20,000 for pre-school and north of $30,000 per year by high school.

[Allos]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

While you may be concerned about easing them in the truth is that one of the biggest risks they face will be moving from an intensive and competitive study environment to one that is much freer and puts far fewer demands on their time. The result is likely to be the student starting to take on a much slacker attitude towards their own studies and feeling a lack of structure in their life. I have seen this happen again and again, sometimes resulting in simply reduced academic performance and attitude towards learning and education, sometimes in adopting more destructive behaviour or simply filling their time with online games. If they are entered in a public school I would still advise finding a good assortment of after school activities for them to do which will fill their evenings and free time. These activities can be things that they enjoy and allow them to develop as more rounded people as well as providing continuity of the structure they're used to.

Thanks JohnnyB. Very solid advice.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Rathji

CP is the 1%.

Umm you should see how much daycare is...

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Umm you should see how much daycare is...

My son's preschool is about $115 a month, but is only 2 mornings a week.

I guess if your kid was there all day that would obviously be different, and wasn't what I was thinking of when you said $6k a year. From the daycare/dayhome prices I have seen, that is pretty much on par.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

The prices for private school in Calgary are actually cheap compared to what you would pay here in Shanghai or in Hong Kong. You could be paying $20,000 for pre-school and north of $30,000 per year by high school.

Private school is definitely cheaper in Calgary than in some other places. However, the difference in quality between private and public schools is also much lower in Calgary.

I attended both private and public school in Calgary, and by far the best years of my education were the ones I spent at Western Canada High School, which is a public school. Motivated asian kids who plan on doing well in university would fit right in there...

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Rathji

CP is the 1%.

What's 6k when we are all raking in at least 6 figures?

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Umm you should see how much daycare is...

How much is it running these days?

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

I'm copying and pasting this to my wife RIGHT NOW! hehe No way do i want to pay $8-$10k/year for private school for my kids. Especially in Calgary.

The kicker is that Weber was literally begging her to stay, even so much as to offer her tuition and she still left (she had other reasons for leaving). There is advantages academically (as Rerun said) such as smaller classes, study periods and SOMETIMES better teachers but not necessarily. But if someone is a good student they will do well in high school and beyond regardless.

In the same vein though, the academic advantages could potentially be offset by the social side of things. These school are growing but are still small. So as a student you end up with the same 20 people all the way through. Which some of you small town people would probably claim it was the same but its not. Its not just the same 20 kids, its the same 20 kids that are the most spoiled, snobbyest rich kids in city. And I'm from Springbank...

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by chemgear

What's 6k when we are all raking in at least 6 figures?



How much is it running these days?

Around $6k a month....

The crappy thing is my son was born on March 7 and the cut off for kindergarten is Feb. 28! A whole extra year of pre-school!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by MattyC

The kicker is that Weber was literally begging her to stay, even so much as to offer her tuition and she still left

They do that to try and improve their scores on the diploma exams, which is one of the things people look at when choosing a school.

I actually think the best measure of school quality would be test scores divided by average family income.

[Coach]

^^ This is under the assumption that a person going to ACAD has made a poor choice? I'm not saying its the best place to go, but not everyone wants finance degrees. Im sure there are plenty of people coming from Tweedsmuir or Weber or Rundle that pursue art degrees just like anywhere else.

[J epworth]

Originally Posted by fotze

I think private school will not aid the future 'good student' but it will protect against the downside of a future 'poor academic student'. You are not increasing the kids upside, you are limiting their downside. There is no way you are going to become a ACAD student if you go to Tweedsmuir, but you may become one going to Western. You essentially eliminate all potential poor influence ont he kid.

This right here. Going to STS definitely gave me a big leg up in first year university, as it seems to take a lot of students about a year to realize how to study for university while STS really prepared me well for that style of work. After people figure it out everyone is on the same level when it comes to studying.

Biggest thing though is in my graduating class, I think maybe 3 people went into a program like Emily Carr or apprenticeship program, everyone else went onto Canadian and American universities. I guarantee if some of those people in my class were in public school they never would have gotten the chance to go to university or any post secondary education.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by MattyC

The kicker is that Weber was literally begging her to stay, even so much as to offer her tuition and she still left (she had other reasons for leaving). There is advantages academically (as Rerun said) such as smaller classes, study periods and SOMETIMES better teachers but not necessarily. But if someone is a good student they will do well in high school and beyond regardless.

In the same vein though, the academic advantages could potentially be offset by the social side of things. These school are growing but are still small. So as a student you end up with the same 20 people all the way through. Which some of you small town people would probably claim it was the same but its not. Its not just the same 20 kids, its the same 20 kids that are the most spoiled, snobbyest rich kids in city. And I'm from Springbank...

hmmm so i talked with my wife last nite and i guess my father in law is going to pay for all this... didn't know that. I'm fine with private schools then! haha

Course i rather him give me the $150k so i can buy more comics! I've only had one close friend who went to a private school and she used to tell me they would blow up cars and crap during their parties in springbank. I hope they don't still do that now.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by J epworth kendal

This right here. Going to STS definitely gave me a big leg up in first year university, as it seems to take a lot of students about a year to realize how to study for university while STS really prepared me well for that style of work. After people figure it out everyone is on the same level when it comes to studying.

Biggest thing though is in my graduating class, I think maybe 3 people went into a program like Emily Carr or apprenticeship program, everyone else went onto Canadian and American universities. I guarantee if some of those people in my class were in public school they never would have gotten the chance to go to university or any post secondary education.

Hahaha. I went to Father Lacombe and out of our graduating class of 90 students only like 15 of us went to post secondary.... hehe

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

I've only had one close friend who went to a private school and she used to tell me they would blow up cars and crap during their parties in springbank. I hope they don't still do that now.

Any high school party in Springbank that has kids from "the City" show up instantly turns into a mess. Obviously I'm a few years removed (and I've honestly heard the system there has gone to crap, all the good admins and teachers left), but yeah we would generally avoid parties that had city kids coming.

[AMG_G]

Originally Posted by Rathji

CP is the 1%.

You don't understand Chinese people they would choose to not eat if it can get their kids into a special ed school...hahaha.

$6k/year sounds like a Montessori program. We went to one of their orientations and found the fluff is not work more than double of regular preschool. Playing with sand, pouring water, painting, drawing ...$550 per month great deal..... I also did not like the fact that the more effluent kids tend to go to Montessori so it does not let my son see a real cross section of society. Seeing BMWs, Range Rovers, MB and the like all lined up outside to pick up the kids really like douchbag central. And it's not even the mom's that come to the door it's their nanny...

[Rathji]

$6k at Montessori only gets you half day. Full day is almost $9k.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

You don't understand Chinese people they would choose to not eat if it can get their kids into a special ed school...hahaha.

$6k/year sounds like a Montessori program. We went to one of their orientations and found the fluff is not work more than double of regular preschool. Playing with sand, pouring water, painting, drawing ...$550 per month great deal..... I also did not like the fact that the more effluent kids tend to go to Montessori so it does not let my son see a real cross section of society. Seeing BMWs, Range Rovers, MB and the like all lined up outside to pick up the kids really like douchbag central. And it's not even the mom's that come to the door it's their nanny...

Yay you just called my wife a dbag! haha

I think the Montesorri is a great program. You just have to choose the right one. There are a few where its all profit driven and poorly runned. We switched him out after the first year. The one he is at now in Killarney is great.

I'd like to know which one you went too. If the vehicles aren't 50% honda odyssey's, its not a real school.