| So your parents sent your middle brother to private school from first grade on and simultaneously kept your oldest brother in a stink hole situation? That sounds pretty rough. Why didn't they put the oldest in private school instead? Surely by 7th grade you can see that there are problems there. Perhaps by 12 grade in the private school, he could have turned things around. Perhaps it was the mere fact that the younger brother was given such preferential treatment that the older never became successful. Perhaps it was the fact that your parents became better parents with more experience, or because they were less stressed out since they did not have the financial hardship that they had before. I am not trying to discount your story, but the problem lies in the fact that it can be compared with plenty of other similar situations as yours but having completely different results (the kids in public school fared better in life). Quality of school definitely CAN have a profound effect on a child's life. But in my experience and personal observation, this is only because of a failure on the parenting side. If a child is reared with enough love and enough wisdom, discipline and vision is imparted into them before, and during the school years - they will do fine if they are in a run down inner city school, or a middle class private school. So maybe you say that this is unfair that some parents have to raise their kids with such diligence to have them succeed, while some others don't (because of economic factors). Trust me, the kid and parents in the situation where extra attention is needed to enhance the likelihood of success in the child's life are better off and happier people than a wealthy parent that hires a nanny to raise their kids and sends them to private school. Which situation is true parenting after all? Which kid will carry on a true legacy of their parents and hold their ideals and values continuing their legacy? |
My parents didn't have the money to pay for private school. Both myself and my middle brother earned fully paid scholarships. They tried to send my oldest brother to the same private school, but due to his entrance exams, that would've required $20K a year that they didn't have.
You're right, we don't know what the cause is. Whether it's the school or the parents, my point was that you can't just look at an individual and tell them to "step it up." It's not that simple.