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makes one a race car driver.
I say this as someone who taught for 10 years, and as a parent.
We are given but one chance in this life... one go around with no second chances. At that young age, impressions shape outlooks.
Drastic? I think not. My Daughter, who will someday be my Son, went to a private school. A Christian school. It wasn't really a hard decision to make. Given where we lived and the quality of the schools in the district, we simply gave her her own choice... go from the daycare facility she had attended since she was two years old (which was a church five doors from where we lived) to a public school, or stay there and go to school with children she grew up with. She chose to stay. The money we spent on her daycare was simply used to pay for her tuition at the school. It wasn't like it was a new expense. After middle school, she wanted to go to a public high school. We said no problem.
Being a gay teenager, she hated public school from DAY ONE. She gutted it out though, and graduated with honors. At the Nazarene school, she was accepted for who she was. At the public high school, not so much. To this day she goes to youth meetings at the Nazarene Church every Wednesday night and supports the kids struggling with their place in the world.
She's 20 years old now, and inspires me to no end. I credit her teachers and advisors at the Nazarene school for the person she is today and so does she. She was treated with love and care whereas public school kids are classified, cliqued, and divided.
Public school isn't the be-all and end-all where education is concerned. Calling oneself a teacher doesn't necessarily make it so.
Kudos to your neighbors for making the sacrifice of spending out of pocket money to ensure their child has a good educational experience. Like I said, there is only one chance. It's not possible to return to a younger age and try over.
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