I didn’t know about Stanford Online High School. It’s ranked #10 on the national list. Tuition is relatively cheap at $20K a year. And it’s online! How come I didn’t know until now? Interesting…
Uh, because you don’t do anything online except this???
(Yes, the USPS is extremely happy that you Sir are singlehandedly propping up the postage stamp market…)
You just reminded me it’s the top of the month again. Time to mail out another 20 letters. Maybe time to stop by my good 'o postal office to pick another roll of stamps… 
Just like that fictional bar, I am sure everyone at that post office knows your name…
Wow…just wow
Over a million dollars??? Come on!!!
Teachers made $6k/ year in 1971 at Lick…Public school teachers made $8k…Times have changed…these headmasters are grossly overpaid…
You telling me!!! I get it they have to fund raise and essentially run the show but earn more than the President of The United States??? Please…
Their salaries are counter productive. .I won’t donate to support these salaries. …Of course these wealthy parents in these schools probably think $500k/ year is peanuts…
Come on, I have to think they even would be somewhat surprised (if not pissed) about the amount…very enlightening…
Is the private school worth it?
To answer this question, I searched the famous alumni from the best private high schools such as Harker, Crystal Springs, Menlo, the result is disappointing. None of these school produced any alumni with impressive achievements. For the record, these elite private high schools are much more inferior to SFSU and SJSU in terms of alumni achievement.
No billionaires, no university president, no big CEO, no senators. Nothing worth mentioning.
Is this true nationally?
Compare using absolute numbers or %? Where is the cutoff? Remember a population would produce the whole spectrum whereas a sample mean and std dev can be very different from the population. Because population is a much larger number than a sample, you would find more (in quantity) than a sample in higher position. For example, you may not find any CEOs in private schools because the sample is small 
relative to the population. The population say produces only 5 and is 100 times the size of the sample, you shouldn’t expect even 1
It’s zero. So in terms of absolute number and percentage, private high school is inferior to Homestead High School (Steve Jobs), San Mateo High school (Peter Thiel), Gunn high (YouTube ceo, 23&me founder, marrying google cofounder Sergio)
Harker? A federal judge, a golfer whose dad is famous, a no name singer, a no name fashion designer. The best is a teacher who married Zuckerberg, but she was never a student.
Easy coast private school is better. Philips Academy produced 2 US presidents.
This could also reveal the weakness of Bay Area’s elite families. Their influence is weak and their children have very little privilege and achieved very little.
Yes. Private schools tend to produce graduates who enter higher educated professions–lawyers/judges/doctors/etc (especially the East Coast schools). If you guys aren’t finding more wealthy/successful alumni, I’m guessing you’re not trying very hard.
As for whether it’s worth it, it depends on where you live and your kid. There are certain cities/states where private schools offer a clear head-and-shoulders education over all of the public schools. Obviously some of the top public schools will rival many of the privates, BUT even in the Bay Area, there are certain kids that need a top-notch private schools to stay engaged and challenged. For example, there are only a handful schools that will handle kids who end up finishing Calculus as a middle schooler. Not sure even Gunn has classes for these kids. Many families of gifted children put them into private school because the schools are more willing to accommodate their needs.
In the Bay Area, some of the best public schools will rival private high schools, but you’re paying through the nose for rent. You can get financial aid to go to a private high school, but no one gives rent assistance so that you can live in Palo Alto. So graduating from Gunn means your parents most likely had the money to pay for a house or rent. It’s about the same thing as having the money for a private education. Hardly a real comparison, nor something relevant to much of the US.
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Bill gates went to an elite private high school in Seattle. Zuckerberg went to Exeter. I’d say private schools produce many rich people, simply because their parents are rich to begin with. Did Trump go to a public school?
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The “notable alumni” list on schools’ wiki page is terribly incomplete. You don’t get mentioned simply for being rich. The younger son of HK’s richest man went to Menlo, but you wont see his name on the alumni list. That guy is worth more than 10B.
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Zuckerberg went to Exeter? Wow! That should tell us all something. (And then he got into Harvard. Now, that becomes less surprising)
No one mentions their high school on their resume after college. It’s hard to know where people went unless the high school is putting it on their page. Every school will eventually produce someone famous (and probably someone infamous too), but the privates will produce more per 100 students.
That said, whether it’s worth the money I think really depends on the kid. I suspect for some kids it’s their perfect school, for others it’s the kick in the butt they need to succeed, and for others, it’s a waste of money.
When money is not a concern, is it better to send kids to private high schools? Is there any downside?
My friend’s family business products are in Costco’s, Walgreen’s, Safeway’s, you name it. Was honored as Small Businessman of the Year the year I got hitched. Where did he send his kids? Public schools. Oh, and if you are wondering how they turned out, one kid is a doctor.
Private schools are not going to magically turn any kids to something they are not on their own already…
People send their kids to private schools for safety from bad kids. Menlo Atherton HS used to have an assault every week. Berkeley HS was extremely dangerous when I was a kid. Main reason I went to Livk Wilmerding.
Private schools are vey small so their alumni pool has little chance to compete with big public schools. We do have an Olympic swimmer alum. No pool either
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