How to Pick a Perfect Private School (Revised) [Paperback]

Harlow Giles Unger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1998

How to Pick a Perfect Private School offers parents a complete guide to every aspect of private schools. From military academies to country day schools, the various categories of schools are covered in detail, including: the advantages private schools offer; how to finance private school education; how to determine a child's educational needs; the criteria for evaluating a school; how to determine the financial condition of a school; and what to look for during the campus visit. Also includes a new section giving parents a public-school option, describing magnet schools, high-tech schools and a handful of academic "super schools." With a fully updated appendix on "Member Schools of the National Association of Independent Schools."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This excellent guide provides a step-by-step approach to choosing a private school. The first three chapters compare private and public education, discuss the importance of defining the needs of each child, and describe the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of private schools. The author also presents eight basic standards for evaluating schools. The volume's final chapter covers the last step in the process, which entails a personal visit to the school. Appendix A contains a detailed evaluation form to be used as a broad guide for evaluating each private school. (Appendixes B and C, which will list member schools of the National Association of Independent Schools and financial aid resources, were not seen). Unger stresses the importance of the research and evaluation process in determining the right school for each child. The book should be very helpful to parents who wish to send their children to private school. Highly recommended for most public libraries.
- Barbara S. Meagher, Central Connecticut State Univ., New Britain
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Facts on File; Revised edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816038627
• ISBN-13: 978-0816038626
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,263,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Biased, but somewhat helpful, June 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Pick a Perfect Private School (Revised) (Paperback)

Despite a virulent anti-public school bias, Unger's guide to picking a private school has some helpful information and tips on choosing a private school. Frankly, however, anyone who needs this type of hand-holding to get through the private school application process, is probably not private school material. Unger's best tip is to buy the Peterson's guide to secondary schools.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More Social Support Than Information, August 17, 2001

By 

amybobamy "amybobamy" (Studio City, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Pick a Perfect Private School (Hardcover)

If you are the kind of parent who believes your children can be wonderful hood ornaments on the vehicle of your personal success, this is the book for you.

The author abhors public schools because, as he says, they have to accept EVERYBODY (ugh!). He favors and supports boarding school education for children as young as first grade (only about five years old) so that they can live in a warm, morally consistent (but unloving) environment all year long, and because he feels that the child and his parents will then share only happy memories of carefree summers and holidays, with none of that messy and mutually irritating go-clean-up-your-room-and-do-your-homework fuss and muss.

In other words, he seems to believe that children are better raised by goal-oriented institutions, who see their students as a product being readied for the marketplace, than by their parents rearing their own offspring as a gesture of love and tenderness.

As a teacher, and as aparent of private-school kids, I found the author's attitude completely offensive, and I have to say that this is the kind of material that gives private-school families a bad name. I would have given it a "1" rating -- especially because the author supports his point of view with speciously derived and manipulated statistics -- but undoubtedly there are parents who do subscribe to his point of view, and will benefit from this book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything A Parent or Student Would Want To Know..., April 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Pick a Perfect Private School (Revised) (Paperback)

The perfect mannual for any parent considering sending their child to a private school. The book will be especially useful to families with older children who are considering going to baording school. The book covers issues concerning the application process, questions parents should ask, visting the school, and different types of schools including military school, schools for the gifted, and schools for the learning disabled. There's also a short listing of schools in the back listed by state grade, whether or not their coeducational, boarding schools, schools for the disabled, military schools, etc. However, you'll need a private school directory such as Peterson's in order to find out any info. about the schools.