My thoughts exactly. The private school I worked in was better (& expensive!) but only because the atmosphere was generally calmer, & kids less inclined to bully. (I think this is often due to generally lower levels of finance related family stress & angst, not because more privileged kids are in any way “nicer”.) Some autistic kids have higher levels of tolerance (I’m an example) but that doesn’t mean that they’re doing better than merely “coping”.
And if we start “streaming” autistic kids for their “suitability” for mainstream schools, we could end up with a distinction between “high functioning” kids who are simple better at coping & masking but not necessarily any “smarter”, & those with greater sensory needs, some of whom might thrive in smaller, quieter classes &/or with more support. @actuallyautistic
@Susan60@actuallyautistic We started our son off in a private school, and it was lovely there but he just more and more stressed. So we moved him to the public system and he is just so happy. Money does not buy your kids happiness.
Definitely not. I wonder what the issue was? I think the best schools are “good” public schools. They tend to be more innovative & consultative with both staff & students, depending on the principal (but I’m sure there’s some very good private schools too.) Some cohorts of kids can be much harder to work with, because there’s a limit to what a school can achieve, when the cohort is dealing with a lot of poverty, DV, substance abuse etc.
The biggest advantage at a private school is a more privileged cohort. Money doesn’t buy everything, & some issues such as DV, substance abuse etc also happen in wealthier families, but financial stress is sometimes at the bottom of a family’s woes. Not enough money can definitely be a problem.
I think some parents work & save very hard & sacrifice a lot of things to put their kids through private schools, when they would’ve been better off spending more time with their kids, taking them on family holidays etc. But if the local public school is very tough & buying into or renting in the zone of a “good” public school isn’t an option…
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