re: How much is private school in your area?

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I agree with pretty much everything that you stated. I didn't go to private school, and my wife didn't either (and we turned out alright), but we can definitely see the advantages of it. When we have a kid, he/she is going to private school. It's one of the reasons that I only want one child, I want to be able to send it to the best schools possible.

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I didn't, nor did my SO. I went to a public school which was considered one of the better schools in the state at the time (suburban). She went to a public school in a different major city (actually in the city).

My school was probably higher ranked than hers, and had a low minority enrollment. Mostly upper middle class families, but a lot of small business owners and first generation money. Almost all kids went to college, but a lot went to mediocre schools and more than expected didn't finish.

Her school was about 55% white, and a lot of the minority students weren't well off. However, the large majority of the white students went to better colleges, and the vast majority finished. Seeing her group of friends and the dynamics really hit home that there can be major differences even among highly regarded public schools. The students from her school tended to be less douchey than the ones from mine, went to better colleges, and were fed into better greek orgs and the like.

Anyway, I say all that to say that even if i live somewhere where the publics aren't bad, I'm going to assess the private school situation. Sometimes, as in her case, the public school is the right choice. For me, public school worked out fine, but expectations were different, and it could have made a pretty big difference.