Might be moving from JC Advice please!

[W2MC 1,699]

Am I the only one who has the opinion that private schools are worse than public schools? 

 

I grew up in the hood, and it always seemed like the rich kids were into a lot more bad stuff than we were. Catholic high schools were the worst.

 

From what I have observed in the outer-rings of NJ suburbia - the public schools are very happy to provide a good education for those students that are willing to buckle down, do the work, and apply themselves.  The public schools will also let the students skate-thru on bare minimums...if that is what the student & parents want (or allow to happen).  

 

The Private schools, on the other hand, will push the student to buckle down, do the work, and apply themselves...because they are pressured by (1) the teachers, who remind the students that if they want to skate-thru on bare minimums they should be in that 'public system', and (2), mom and dad, who keep the pressure on the student to buckle down, do the work, and apply themselves because they're paying good money for this education and they aren't going to skate thru on bare minimums...

 

I have also found that picking and choosing school districts on the public side (what town you live in) DOES make a big difference, and I have also observed that the northern NJ school districts tend to be 'better' than the southern NJ school districts.

[tommy3rd 132]

to add to the above comment, if your child has special needs (like adhd) the public school systems takes better care of them...more services.

[Tallday 10]

From what I have observed in the outer-rings of NJ suburbia - the public schools are very happy to provide a good education for those students that are willing to buckle down, do the work, and apply themselves.  The public schools will also let the students skate-thru on bare minimums...if that is what the student & parents want (or allow to happen).  

 

The Private schools, on the other hand, will push the student to buckle down, do the work, and apply themselves...because they are pressured by (1) the teachers, who remind the students that if they want to skate-thru on bare minimums they should be in that 'public system', and (2), mom and dad, who keep the pressure on the student to buckle down, do the work, and apply themselves because they're paying good money for this education and they aren't going to skate thru on bare minimums...

 

I have also found that picking and choosing school districts on the public side (what town you live in) DOES make a big difference, and I have also observed that the northern NJ school districts tend to be 'better' than the southern NJ school districts.

I am a product of the Jersey city Public school system and I can tell you you are right any child will get what they can out of it and the very bright ones will do well anyplace.. The wife and I agreed that we would give our kid the best chance at life. If that means finding the perfect school for her and paying my entire pay check  so be it.  she is at this point just an average 7 year old girl just a bit sweeter then most in my opinion..  Both of my sisters are educators in public schools and in the last few years have put the kids in other schools. The Issue I have with them are misuse of funds, not enough teachers and classrooms, to much admin staff not affected by budget cuts. The children are more like a second thought after the system gets its money.  in JC the cost per student of tax money set aside was 23,000 or so and they have no language programs the sciences suffer poor reading and math its just sad in my opinion.  With the new testing rules the children are learning to the test so the teachers can keep jobs and at this point this program is an experiment. I don't want my child to be an experiment. Just my opinions on the new Public school system.

[HBecwithFn7 296]

Hunterdon is where I grew up. Nice place for being in jersey. You could look in the hopewell/pennington area as well the pennington school is a nice private school from what I understand. I know a few people that went there.

 

My niece graduates from Hunterdon North this June. My nephew (who you saw at the last shootout) will finish his freshman year there.

 

The only problem with Hopewell/Pennington is that it's "Mercer County," and you know what that means.... Guess where you'd have to serve "jury duty?"

[DeerSlayer 241]

anyone ever live in or near Montclair the wife seems to keep bringing that place up? and can anyone explain the drastic gap in housing prices within a block or two?

 

 

I like the idea of Old bridge but need to look into the schools.

There is Montclair (not so nice) then there is Upper Montclair (the elite live here) very beautiful old houses. There is a huge difference between the two.

 

If your a conservative we welcome you with open arms to move out here to Sussex County. If your looking to stay closer to the city and want a nice town check out Wayne its a huge town and your still within commuting distance.

[silverado427 10,682]

Do yourself a favor !!!  If your going to move, do it right and step over the state line.    

[liquidskin 3]

I close on a house in Bethlehem NJ, Hunterdon county on Thursday. I'm a NYC commuter. Hour drive to jersey city, it's really not bad. Small sacrifice for so much more.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[carl_g 568]

I dunno..Hunterdon county is a stretch for NYC. You are driving almost an hour just to get to JC. Then tack on another 30 minutes+ (depending) to get to your work.

Simple math has you at 1.5 hrs. One way.

[HBecwithFn7 296]

I dunno..Hunterdon county is a stretch for NYC. You are driving almost an hour just to get to JC. Then tack on another 30 minutes+ (depending) to get to your work.

Simple math has you at 1.5 hrs. One way.

 

I did that commute from Warren County for 8 years...  but on the trains.  You can go to several train stations (High Bridge is the fartherst in Hunterdon, westbound). But you can dirve a little closer and get other stations (Sommerville, etc.).  It's not that bad.

[magnawing 5]

I close on a house in Bethlehem NJ, Hunterdon county on Thursday. I'm a NYC commuter. Hour drive to jersey city, it's really not bad. Small sacrifice for so much more.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You'll be about 15 minutes from me and 5 minutes from Clinton WMA for the monthly??? shootouts.

[magnawing 5]

I dunno..Hunterdon county is a stretch for NYC. You are driving almost an hour just to get to JC. Then tack on another 30 minutes+ (depending) to get to your work.

Simple math has you at 1.5 hrs. One way.

I used to take the Trans-Bridge bus out of Clinton Park-n-Ride and the longest it ever took was 65 minutes to PA Bus Terminal...I didn't have to drive or contend with traffic, the buses now have WiFi, I usually got in a nap on the way in, it was cheaper than gas & tolls...for me, PA terminal is only a 10 block walk to my mid-town office so I didn't have to contend with getting downtown either...but that's what the subway is for.

[liquidskin 3]

You'll be about 15 minutes from me and 5 minutes from Clinton WMA for the monthly??? shootouts.

Yep : )

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chris327 30]

If you are definitely going with a private school check out Clifton its a prime location. If you want to go a bit further check out wayne. Im from wayne and have no complaints, schools are good and a nice community. for commuting purposes i would make sure its the valley side of wayne youll be close to the park and ride for the train or bus. I did the bus to port authority while going to school and its not that bad. would take me about 40 minutes by bus going in with traffic and about 30 coming home no traffic. rush hour might be a bit worse. but the morning they had the bus lane to bypass traffic going into the city.  dont let anyone fool you either and say wayne is a flood area. Ive lived in 2 different houses in wayne for a total of about 20 years now and never have i had my sump pump run in either one now. It all depends where you are. Any questions about wayne feel free to ask.

[boo 6]

If you are definitely going with a private school check out Clifton its a prime location. If you want to go a bit further check out wayne. Im from wayne and have no complaints, schools are good and a nice community. for commuting purposes i would make sure its the valley side of wayne youll be close to the park and ride for the train or bus. I did the bus to port authority while going to school and its not that bad. would take me about 40 minutes by bus going in with traffic and about 30 coming home no traffic. rush hour might be a bit worse. but the morning they had the bus lane to bypass traffic going into the city.  dont let anyone fool you either and say wayne is a flood area. Ive lived in 2 different houses in wayne for a total of about 20 years now and never have i had my sump pump run in either one now. It all depends where you are. Any questions about wayne feel free to ask.

 

 

Clifton...the valley section bordering little falls/montclair. 20 mins to manhattan (depending on the traffic) and has a private (blue ribbon) prep school. Taxes around 8k, Pistol permits around 30-40 days, 5 mins from gun for hire range...what more do you want? lol

 

I've refrained from recommending Clifton with the assumption that this town is an educational wasteland. What school(s) is everyone referring to? Depending on what part you're at commuting can be very convenient. I have a train, two express bus lines, and two local bus lines within about  3/4 mile radius from my place. edit: now that I think of it, Harrison and Newark Path stations are relatively short drives as well.

 

And unless something has changed recently, my experience with Clifton permits is 2+ months. Initial FID was 4 months, and probably would have been six if I hadn't gone to some extraordinary measures.

[DeerSlayer 241]

Yeah Clifton is a S*#t hole, I lived in both towns. Wayne for a while in the Preakness section (Wayne valley). My father and stepmother owned a home there for over 30 years. In my opinion probably one of the nicest towns in Passaic County. But yes the part of Wayne across Rt23 the 7th ward I believe we used to refer to as "the lost world". It really is the other side of the tracks.

 

[Lien 1]

I was in the same situation minus the private school requirement.  I ended up buying a house in North Edison on the border of Scotch Plains with NJ transit NE corridor direct train to NYC.  I have been doing this commute to midtown for the past 8 years.  Edison has 3 train stations in a row nearby with express to NYC.  At first I drove to the Metropark station for the commute, parking is about $60 a month.  Now I park at the Metuchen station with a much more relaxed commute vs Metropark.  

 

North Edison is surrounded by SO many public and private schools.  Nearly every major highway is nearby, 30 mins from the shore or beach, 40mins to NYC, 1hr to Philly, 30mins to Newark airport.... its a very convenient area that is centralized for easy access to almost anything.  

 

I recently joined OBRPC which is a 30min drive for an excellent private range.    

 

Total suburbia geared towards families raising children which has been great for my wife and daughter.  If it was up to me, I would be living back in NYC where i belong. 

[Tallday 10]

thanks for all the advice guys we now need to do some serious math and logistics..

[H.M. Murdock 0]

Am I the only one who has the opinion that private schools are worse than public schools? 

 

I grew up in the hood, and it always seemed like the rich kids were into a lot more bad stuff than we were. Catholic high schools were the worst.

 

I agree but they serve their purpose for those who have the money.  I believe that, at least in NJ, most kids sent to private school are there because their parents are worried they wouldn't graduate in public school.

 

I went to a Catholic school and would have been ineligible to graduate public school because of the amount of time I missed (f'ing around).  It's a way for the parents to get their kid into the front door of a college.  What happens once those types of kids are in college is another story.  But it does buy the kid more time to mature and many kids do wise up, study and wind up in a better station than they would have in a parallel life, dropping out of public high school.

 

There's also the other type of private school which is effectively a means of class separation from the general public (the general public being those people that travel on commercial airlines).  But those schools cost orders of magnitude more than the typical private school (plus donations under the threat of shaming)

 

OP:  The "mountainous" woodlands of northern Bergen and Passaic counties are a great place for a kid to grow up

[DeerSlayer 241]

If I have children one day they will be attending private school. I would prefer they get a real education rather than common core. Public schools have a curriculum designed to brainwash kids at their most impressionable time into complaint good little worker bee drones. Private school will teach them individual independence and gives the ability for critical thinking. Not my opinion, those are the facts. Do some research on the subject.

[HBecwithFn7 296]

I agree but they serve their purpose for those who have the money.  I believe that, at least in NJ, most kids sent to private school are there because their parents are worried they wouldn't graduate in public school.

 

Or that the public school's reputation won't be good enough to get them into the Univ. of their parent's (or the student's) choice. Or, that the social dynamic might be a bit too "unseemly" (i.e. their kids "making friends" with the *wrong* kids... hooking up... getting involved in drugs, etc. etc.)...  lots of things....

[Newtonian 453]

PA has private schools and it's not that much more of a commute...you can catch a Trans-Bridge bus in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, and a number of other locations that will drop you off at Port Authority in NYC.

...about three hours after you leave home.

[magnawing 5]

Have you actually taken a Trans-Bridge bus to commute to Manhattan on a weekday? I did it for a year and the longest it ever took was just over an hour (one time). During morning rush hour, there is a dedicated inbound bus lane (on the outbound side of the highway) to the Lincoln Tunnel.

 

 

This is my signature. There are many like it but this one is mine.

[H.M. Murdock 0]

Or that the public school's reputation won't be good enough to get them into the Univ. of their parent's (or the student's) choice. Or, that the social dynamic might be a bit too "unseemly" (i.e. their kids "making friends" with the *wrong* kids... hooking up... getting involved in drugs, etc. etc.)...  lots of things....

 

I can't even imagine the things that go on at schools these days.  The culture is unrecognizable to me now.  There's like 100 different drugs that you have to be worried about now.  All we had were weed and alcohol.  There was only a couple dope heads.

 

Reading all the stories of brilliant kids getting pigeonholed with the common core curriculum is infuriating.

 

Uniforms and structured environment are a great upside of private schools (though missing the yoga pants revolution is one of my biggest regrets in life).  And having your friends located all over the county/state was nice from my perspective, once I had my license.

 

One negative for me was the overall lack of resources.  For half of my AP classes I had to self-study the entire course which was annoying.  And it was hard for them to attract teaching talent with the meager salaries they pay private school teachers.  Half my teachers were burnouts that graduated the same school a couple decades earlier.  Maybe that last part isn't unique to private schools.

 

Crazy how much you have to go thru just to get into a university which will put you in debt for half your life and leave you in the same position that you would have been in a few decades earlier without a college degree.

[HBecwithFn7 296]

I can't even imagine the things that go on at schools these days.  The culture is unrecognizable to me now.  There's like 100 different drugs that you have to be worried about now.  All we had were weed and alcohol.  There was only a couple dope heads.

I'm actually referring to the early-mid 70's, when I was there, and all that I mentioned above was going on. And well before drugs became big, even.

 

Reading all the stories of brilliant kids getting pigeonholed with the common core curriculum is infuriating.

All the more case for private schools. There was no such thing as core curriculum when I went, but there were also fewer teachers of worth. There were some, but few and far between, in the public schools. It was starting to be about "crowd control," even back then.

 

Uniforms and structured environment are a great upside of private schools (though missing the yoga pants revolution is one of my biggest regrets in life).

I went to a coed "college prep" day school for my junior/senior years... Independent... non-parochial and, thus, no uniforms. However, there was a bit of a dress code. No denims, "painter's pants" (cargo pants these days) at any time, except for 1 day a year, and for "finals weeks." Corduroys were acceptable. Once a week, on Tues. we'd have to be in what is today called "full business dress." Girls had to ware skirts or dresses (except during the winter), and guys, dress slacks, tie & jacket, or better. I think it probably was the better approach than requiring uniforms, since it did give the students some choice, but also some responsibility. Although, I understand the concern today about "fashion competition" and the "creative financing" thereof. $200 Air Jordan's? Not a good thing.

 

They wouldn't allow yoga pants back then... Not in the classrooms. Maybe in the gym. My junior high learned that lesson quickly. This was back in the days of "Hot pants." Well, one young lady (and definitely with the anatomy for it) decided to "test the boundaries," and arrived in a set of royal purple, velveteen hot pants with a lilac ruffled chiffon linen blouse, neither of which left anything to the imagination. Remember, we're talking 7-8th grade here. She was sent home mid-day, as she was even starting to distract the faculty/staff! She came back the next day in a "catholic school girl" uniform dress/skirt, etc. Frankly, I'm not sure which was worse...

 

Point being, clothing shouldn't be *that* distracting from teaching or learning, but I'm not sure it should be "uniforms" either.

 

One negative for me was the overall lack of resources.  For half of my AP classes I had to self-study the entire course which was annoying.  And it was hard for them to attract teaching talent with the meager salaries they pay private school teachers.

Thank goodness we had the right teachers in the college prep school, and many if not most of the courses themselves were 100% AP oriented (with the "AP" designation). All their test questions were, in essence, recycled AP test questions or with that format. They made you think. We were, in some cases, exempt from taking the class final exam if we took the actual AP in that class.

 

Crazy how much you have to go thru just to get into a university which will put you in debt for half your life and leave you in the same position that you would have been in a few decades earlier without a college degree.

What they did teach me (of value), was how to think, and not just spit back memorized facts. They taught me how to "synthesize" with what I learned. That's been of more value than anything.

 

 

Dump Florio

 

 

Heh Heh Heh... :D ...  I'm reminded of a newspaper cartoon back in his day.  It's a picture of Sadam Hussein looking at a mirror saying,

 

Mirror, Mirror on the wall... Who's the most hated and feared leader of them all?

 

 

and, in the next panel, Sadam is all pissed off on the phone shouting,

 

WHO THE HELL IS JIM FLORIO??? 

 

 

[DeerSlayer 241]

Honestly I didn't mind wearing uniforms to grammar school. It was pretty easy to pick out what you were going to wear that day. And I also went to a University where uniforms were mandatory for all classes. We were lined up and inspected before class every day before we were allowed into the room. If your pants or jacket had a crease ironed in the wrong place you were sent back to the dorm. Forget about missing a spot when you shaved, you were handed a disposable razor and sent to the bathroom to dry shave or go to your dorm and loos credit for the day. And no it wasn't a military school. That's the type of thing that prepared me for the real world. Not common core.

[mipafox 438]

 

Have you actually taken a Trans-Bridge bus to commute to Manhattan on a weekday? I did it for a year and the longest it ever took was just over an hour (one time). During morning rush hour, there is a dedicated inbound bus lane (on the outbound side of the highway) to the Lincoln Tunnel.

 

An hour from Easton to Manhattan? That would be amazing. Not that I would go to Manhattan to save my life, but that is good to know.

[magnawing 5]

Clinton to Manhattan...

 

 

This signature is AWESOME!!!

[H.M. Murdock 0]

Heh Heh Heh... ...  I'm reminded of a newspaper cartoon back in his day.  It's a picture of Sadam Hussein looking at a mirror saying,

 

 

and, in the next panel, Sadam is all pissed off on the phone shouting,

 

 

 

And what a legacy that man left!  

 

In the very least I think we owe him for this bulletin board's existence