Sending American Children to Private School in the Dominican Republic

GinzaGringo

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Sep 29, 2010
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My wife, who is Dominican, and I, have two brand new twin babies (boy and girl). Even though they very young still, we are already saving money for their college educations, which will cost a small fortune seventeen years from now. In the meantime, we will have to get them through primary school. The public school system where we live in the northeast of the US is good but private education is generally always better than public. There are private primary schools near where we live but twelve years of private primary school tuition, times two, will cost as much as, if not more than, the aforementioned small fortune college tuitions.

So, I have been kicking around an idea. We could send the twins to a private school in the DR for a year, or two, or three, or four. Doing so could give the kids exposure to their mother?s homeland and a closeness with that side of the family. Of course, when the kids reach school age, I may not want them to live away from me for that long. But I am just kicking the tires on this idea for now.

Could the twins get a first class education, commensurate with the kind of education they would get at a private primary school in the northeast of the US? Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? A big concern I have is the transition, from one country to another, from one educational style to another. Would a Dominican private school prepare/prime them for the academic rigor of a competitive American college?
 

Omar_NYC

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Mar 22, 2013
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I personally haven't heard of DR-taught alumni excelling at anything in the US beyond what the baseball farm can do for potential candidates. Not to say it's impossible.

Consider a public school system in the Northeast that isn't entrenched with the UFT union and issues academic reports every year. Charter schools are competitively leading from this front.
 
Aug 6, 2006
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By the time your twins are old enough to enter the first grade, it should be possible to determine the academic ranking of public schools in your area. I sent my daughter to private schools here in Miami because I wanted her to know Spanish as well as English. She did fine with this, but she never got a decent education in math. Private schools are better in some ways and worse in others. As a college professor at a small college for 40 years, I can say that teachers in private schools have lower salaries, miserable benefits and dicattorial administrators. They are superior because they can boot out discipline problems. They are generally inferior at teaching sciences and math, because, well, mathematicians and scientists are very good at math, and less touchy-feely, artsy-craftsy and idealistic about education. Why teach at Country Day for $35K when you can get $55K in a magnet public school?

The right wing hates unions and thinks all teachers who belong to unions are bad teachers and care more about money than education. The reality is they hate teachers because teachers are good at organizing voters for Democratic candidates. As someone who taught in public schools both in a union and a non union and in a college that had no unions, I consider this to be a myth, that at most applied at one time to NYC Public schools a decade or more ago.

The current movement is to rate public schools. Private schools generally are not rated with the same tests, and they tend to use rather a lot of puffery to retain students. I have taught in both public and private schools here in Miami on a part-time/ summer job permanent sub, and neither were vary efficient or delivered what they claimed to deliver. The public schools had a horrible bureaucracy that made little sense. The private school paid poorly and the overpaid administrator was overbearing and had a bunch of pet theories, some of which were valid and others that truly sucked.

I cannot address schools in the DR at all. I tend to think that sending kids away to another country for their education for more than a year, rather than staying with their parents would be in most cases not such a great idea. I did send my daughter for a semester in Israel for her junior year of HS, though neither my ex nor I are Jewish, and it was a great experience for her. She came back knowing how to study and far less jaded.
 
They could always go and find out about their other roots when they are out of High School or on Vacays?

I agree sending them that young without parents would be not a healthy situation. Unless the DR has the best schools possible and I Don't think that is the case.
What do i really know, i don't have kids....
 

expatsooner

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Aug 7, 2004
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I personally haven't heard of DR-taught alumni excelling at anything in the US beyond what the baseball farm can do for potential candidates. Not to say it's impossible.

Listed below are some of the winners of the distinguished Alumni Awards for Carol Morgan School. I taught the children of some of these ladies and gentlemen and they are gracious and lovely families that offer the world far more than baseball talent. Although as the parent of a Dominican born aspiring major league player there is nothing wrong with baseball talent believe you me. :laugh:

2003 Simon Suarez ? Class of 1968
President of the Caribbean Hotels Association and Executive Vice President of Coral Hotels. First Alumni to become Board President of Carol Morgan School.

2004 Juan Batlle ? Class of 1972
Doctor in Ophtalmology, President National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness, Dominican Society of Ophtalmology (SDO) (President 1987-1988).

2005 Manuel Grullon ? Class of 1970
CEO Grupo Popular

2006 Julio Santos Munn? ? Class of 1984
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and a B.S. in Mathematics/Computer Science from the University of Notre Dame, and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University. Had a major role in the mechanical design of the entire Cobotics product line Inventor of image guided surgical and interventional systems.

2007 Ligia Bonetti ? Class of 1986
Vicepresident Business Development, Kimberly Clak products for Mercasid, S.A. Vicepresident Consejo Nacional de la Empresa Privada, Recipient of several awards as a distinguished female leader in Dominican Republic.

2008 Todd J. Martinez ? Class of 1985
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Professor at Stanford University, Ph. D., Recipient of several awards as researcher.

2009 Mary Fernandez ? Class of 1974
Partner and Founder of Headrick Rizik Alvarez & Fern?ndez. Head of the Legal Commettee of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic (AMCHAMDR) and the Board of Directors of the Asociaci?n Dominicana de Propiedad Intelectual, Inc. (ADOPI).

2010 Jose Rafael Yunen ? Class of 1990
MD, Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease Fellow, Surgical Critical Care Fellow, Critical Care Medicine Attending Montefiore Medical Center, Moses Division Cardiothoracic and Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Liver Transplant Team Assistant Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York (2008-Present). Director of Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Director of Intermediate Care Unit, Co-Director of Infectious Diseases & Microbiology at CEDIMAT, Plaza de la Salud, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2008-Present).

2011 Gregory Castleman ? Class of 1972
Bachelor of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture. Has developed new designs for floating oil and gas production platforms, floating and self-elevating drilling platforms, and wind turbine maintenance vessels, as well as, designed for a variety of state-of-theart tugboats, high speed crewboats, container carriers, and tankers.

2012 Steven J. Puig - Class of 1978
Master's degree in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management of Arizona, and a degree from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,Washington, D.C. He is Vice President for the Private Sector and Non-Sovereign Guaranteed Operations at the Inter American Development Bank (IDB). Mr. Puig has been responsible for coordinating the IDB Group's private sector and non-sovereign guaranteed operations.
 

ctrob

Silver
Nov 9, 2006
5,591
781
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The right wing hates unions and thinks all teachers who belong to unions are bad teachers and care more about money than education. The reality is they hate teachers because teachers are good at organizing voters for Democratic candidates. As someone who taught in public schools both in a union and a non union and in a college that had no unions, I consider this to be a myth, that at most applied at one time to NYC Public schools a decade or more ago. .

So you taught in NYC and saw it happen there, but don't believe it happens anywhere else? I got news for you, it's a big problem and getting bigger. The left is huge on indoctrinating kids. Doesn't matter though, home schooling is on the rise, and public schools will continue to go downhill.

But, the op isn't really concerned about lib union teachers in the US.
 

JohnnyBoy

Bronze
Jun 17, 2012
1,448
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I would not send my child to a school in the DR if I had any choice in the matter at all.
Aside from the votes the UFT is out of control. They teach socialism, athiesm, forbid the pledge of allegience, it really is sickening what is going on in some of our schools. They sing songs about the cult of Obama

Figure out your local schools and hire a tutor for your kids in any area where they may be lacking. I would imaging science and math because those are the hardest subjects that somehow dont get taught anymore.
 
Jun 18, 2007
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www.rentalmetrocountry.com
Listed below are some of the winners of the distinguished Alumni Awards for Carol Morgan School. I taught the children of some of these ladies and gentlemen and they are gracious and lovely families that offer the world far more than baseball talent. Although as the parent of a Dominican born aspiring major league player there is nothing wrong with baseball talent believe you me. :laugh:

2003 Simon Suarez – Class of 1968
President of the Caribbean Hotels Association and Executive Vice President of Coral Hotels. First Alumni to become Board President of Carol Morgan School.

2004 Juan Batlle – Class of 1972
Doctor in Ophtalmology, President National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness, Dominican Society of Ophtalmology (SDO) (President 1987-1988).

2005 Manuel Grullon – Class of 1970
CEO Grupo Popular

2006 Julio Santos Munn? – Class of 1984
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and a B.S. in Mathematics/Computer Science from the University of Notre Dame, and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University. Had a major role in the mechanical design of the entire Cobotics product line Inventor of image guided surgical and interventional systems.

2007 Ligia Bonetti – Class of 1986
Vicepresident Business Development, Kimberly Clak products for Mercasid, S.A. Vicepresident Consejo Nacional de la Empresa Privada, Recipient of several awards as a distinguished female leader in Dominican Republic.

2008 Todd J. Martinez – Class of 1985
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Professor at Stanford University, Ph. D., Recipient of several awards as researcher.

2009 Mary Fernandez – Class of 1974
Partner and Founder of Headrick Rizik Alvarez & Fern?ndez. Head of the Legal Commettee of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic (AMCHAMDR) and the Board of Directors of the Asociaci?n Dominicana de Propiedad Intelectual, Inc. (ADOPI).

2010 Jose Rafael Yunen – Class of 1990
MD, Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease Fellow, Surgical Critical Care Fellow, Critical Care Medicine Attending Montefiore Medical Center, Moses Division Cardiothoracic and Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Liver Transplant Team Assistant Professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine Bronx, New York (2008-Present). Director of Medical-Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Director of Intermediate Care Unit, Co-Director of Infectious Diseases & Microbiology at CEDIMAT, Plaza de la Salud, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2008-Present).

2011 Gregory Castleman – Class of 1972
Bachelor of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture. Has developed new designs for floating oil and gas production platforms, floating and self-elevating drilling platforms, and wind turbine maintenance vessels, as well as, designed for a variety of state-of-theart tugboats, high speed crewboats, container carriers, and tankers.

2012 Steven J. Puig - Class of 1978
Master's degree in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management of Arizona, and a degree from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,Washington, D.C. He is Vice President for the Private Sector and Non-Sovereign Guaranteed Operations at the Inter American Development Bank (IDB). Mr. Puig has been responsible for coordinating the IDB Group's private sector and non-sovereign guaranteed operations.

Carol Morgan from what I've heard is an excellent school but then again one pays for that through the nose. How much are school fees?
 

SKY

Gold
Apr 11, 2004
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My step daughter spent two years at the International School is Sosua before going to the US for College. She is an Architect in NY now and speaks 3 languages fluently.
 

brlatm

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Apr 26, 2012
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My step daughter spent two years at the International School is Sosua before going to the US for College. She is an Architect in NY now and speaks 3 languages fluently.

Shhhh don't let cold hard facts get in the way of all the pessimistic stories and spin to bring politics into the discussion.

I have 2 kids in ISS at the present time and the education they are getting now is phenomenally better than the education that they were receiving in the US.
 

Bigocean

New member
Nov 25, 2010
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Shhhh don't let cold hard facts get in the way of all the pessimistic stories and spin to bring politics into the discussion.

I have 2 kids in ISS at the present time and the education they are getting now is phenomenally better than the education that they were receiving in the US.

My wife's best friend's daughter graduated from the International School of Sosua last year and just completed her first year at Harvard as an honors student.
 

GinzaGringo

Member
Sep 29, 2010
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For those of you who know about some of the private schools, can you speak to the tuition and costs, if you are willing?
 
Aug 6, 2006
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I did not teach in NYC, I have visited there only once, but I do read, and the entire "rubber room" scenario there is a thing of the past.

It is NOT a big problem in the rest of the country, and it is NOT getting bigger. And no one is going to improve education by doing battle with the teachers and depriving them of their rights.

Home schooling is just fine for the tiny minority of parents who have the skills and time to do it.

The country with the highest rated schools in the world is Finland, and every public schoolteacher there belongs to a union. As I said, I taught for over 40 years and belonged to the NEA for 3? years.

I agree that this is not a concern of the original poster. I did not bring it up. I am just sick and tired of morons who know nothing about education attacking some of the most dedicated and underpaid professionals in the US. The right wing attacks teachers unions because teachers are dedicated, intelligent and good at organizing people, and generally do so for the Democratic Party, and for free. The Republicans have to pay to hire their organizers, and the Kochs and others would prefer to keep their money.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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I have 4 kids in school here in SD.
From university, to 4th. & 5th. grades.
They can get a good education here, but only in a private school.
My kids have always gone the Catholic schools.
My daughters go to "Colegio Arroyo Hondo".
Costs me $125 US a month each.
Not much by US standards.
The education here in no way compares to many public schools in the USA.
And in NO WAY to first class private schools in the USA.
There are a few exceptions here among private schools, most are bi-lengual, or all English.
Carol Morgan, St George's, and a few others here in SD are equal to, or better than US private schools.
Problem is, Carol Morgan is over $1,000 US a month.
Being a father, I can tell you from my experiences, the best education your children will EVER receive, is in the home.
Keep them with YOU!
They will NEVER get the support from relatives here, that they will get in a loving,nurturing,supportive, natural mother & father.
Teaching the value of an education,good moral values,self esteem, and personal/communal responsibilities,are not strong points in the average Dominican family.
If you and your wife will teach your children "All The Above", the answer to your question is a "No Brainer"!
Cris CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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I did not teach in NYC, I have visited there only once, but I do read, and the entire "rubber room" scenario there is a thing of the past.

It is NOT a big problem in the rest of the country, and it is NOT getting bigger. And no one is going to improve education by doing battle with the teachers and depriving them of their rights.

Home schooling is just fine for the tiny minority of parents who have the skills and time to do it.

The country with the highest rated schools in the world is Finland, and every public schoolteacher there belongs to a union. As I said, I taught for over 40 years and belonged to the NEA for 3? years.

I agree that this is not a concern of the original poster. I did not bring it up. I am just sick and tired of morons who know nothing about education attacking some of the most dedicated and underpaid professionals in the US. The right wing attacks teachers unions because teachers are dedicated, intelligent and good at organizing people, and generally do so for the Democratic Party, and for free. The Republicans have to pay to hire their organizers, and the Kochs and others would prefer to keep their money.

Perhaps if you just stick to the teaching aspect and leave the politics out. The OP has a question that had nothing to do with politics. Teachers unions get attacked by far more than right-wing Republicans. Sometimes the criticism is warranted; Exclusive: Ed Asner's bizarre response to role in propaganda cartoon | Interviews | Hannity
There are some dedicated teachers, and some not so dedicated.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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I wholeheartedly agree with CC. The quality of the school is only secondary to the input the children get AT HOME.

The books you read to them and encourage them to read, the TV programmes and DVDs you encourage them to watch, the knowledge and love for learning that you impart. The places you take them, the activities you do with them.