"Nursery University"

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

Nursery University (2008)

Set in New York City, the epicenter of a phenomenon cropping up in communities across the United States, "Nursery University" reveals the oddly competitive process of nursery school admissions. The film tells the story of five families - each with different backgrounds and economic circumstances - attempting to place their toddlers in preschool classrooms that have limited spaces and, thus, high price tags. "Nursery University" follows the families' journeys, and the school directors who must determine which "applicants" to allow through their doors.

www.imdb.com/title/tt1213832/


~~~~~~~

...did anybody see this movie?
...thoughts?

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Sounds like a hour or two of my life I'd never get back.

[Taxman10]

Jan 12, 2011 15:41:33 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Sounds like a hour or two of my life I'd never get back.

bingo!

I added it to my netflix - kill a couple hours with weekend

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Unless it has midget polygamous chocolateiers with 19 children, I am not interested.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...it has lots of children, but not from the same family... it was disturbing in some ways... especially when one parent wondered whether getting their kid into such-and-such nursery would help them get into Harvard... as if Harvard was the destination rather than part of the journey...

[thyme4change]

I didn't see this movie - but when my first baby was born I was terrified because this type of thing had gotten so much press. At the end of the day, it is either localized to places such as New York, or it is localized to social groups that I have absolutely no knowledge of. (I have a pretty decent vantage point to the wealthy - so I usually at least hear about their goings-on. Remember, I am wealth adjacent.)

Certainly there are more prestigious day care than others - but nothing like this.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I had my panic moments when I was pregnant (thank you hormones!), but in the end the kid is either Harvard material or she isn't. No amount of fancy prepatory PRE-SCHOOLS are going to make one lick shit of difference when she is 18. Either she will be college material or she won't be by that point.

I don't remember the admissions counsel looking to see what PRE-SCHOOL I went to. They looked at my HS GPA, my ACT scores and if I had fulfilled all the class criteria (2 years Spanish, 3 years math, stuff like that).

I never put much stock into all that to begin with though because I realized pretty quickly that college admissions was a numbers game that was easily played. Unless I was going for a specific scholarship a lot of what the guidance counselers tried to push down my throat didn't mean crap.

It was confirmed when I worked in the registration/admissions office and saw for myself what exactly they look at when deciding to admit you.

I will admit though it is absolutely brilliant marketing on the part of the pre-schools. Wish I had thought of this stuff. .. maybe if I had gone to one of these pre-schools. . .

[Deleted]

My nephew was born and raised in that environment in NYC by parents who could afford the best. He got into some college-prep nursery school and eventually ended up at The Buckley School, which is mentioned in "The Bonfire of the Vanities". He's a smart, intense, hard-working young man. Despite all that, at Buckley, the parents were told, "don't set your hearts on Harvard and Yale". The irony is that his Dad had turned Harvard down in favor of Ohio State, or he would have been an automatic legacy admission. he went to Middlebury.

I did it all wrong with DS- public school through middle school, then a military boarding school only because he was doing so badly in public school. Bless him, he has a BA and a good job. We're happy.

[Deleted]

There's a variation of this in the small town I used to live in, but it wasn't based on money. It was a university town that took six children in its three-year-old class, eight in its four-year-old class, and I'm not sure how many in its five-year-old class since my kids were in private school at that point.

Of the original six kids, three were boys and three were girls. One was barely three, one was middling three, and one was almost four. The teacher/student ratio was like 5:1 because the early childhood education majors all had to put in hours. It was only for like three hours two days a week at age 3 and three h ours four days a week at age 4. Age 5 was every day, but I'm not sure of for how long. It's really cool . . . lunch was sitting at a table practicing good manners. Food was served family style.

Anyway, you put your kids on the list at birth. Thirty-something years later, it is still that difficult to get in. I reminded my daughter of this when she was pregnant with her first child, and so far she has had two out of three accepted. The third was born Saturday so I need to remind her.

It wouldn't directly get you into Harvard and certainly won't substitute for child care. But it was preschool at its best.

[family legacy]

I have to say I thought the show was quite interesting. I'd love to see sequels showing the process into elementary school and into high school, just because I like seeing how other people live. It just made me appreciate, all the more, how fortunate we are to be in a fabulous public school district (no where near NYC). Talk about keeping up with the Joneses! No thanks, but interesting.

[Deleted]

This message has been deleted.

[Urban Chicago]

One local catholic school has free pre-school. It's not prestigious or anything, but you can bet paretns are campled out for a week ahead of time to sign up for admission.

[Wisconsin Beth]

There's a version of that running here too. DH and I talked about it. We want our kids to have a chance to be kids, so they're in a home dcp that lets them be kids. We're starting to talk about 4-K for DD (she's 2.5 now) since we decided not to do 3 year preschool. And there's no way in hell the kids are going to MPS.

[whoisjohngalt]

That kind of living is so outside of my world that I just watch that stuff the same way I watch most of other TV - "ooohhh, how interesting, now back to real world".

May be I am too naive or too un-educated (those type of preschools certainly didn't exist where I am from) but I can not believe for a second nurseries matter that much. Unless a child is truly some kind of genius (not just "gifted' or "smart") I don't see how you make a 3 yr old a "harvard" material by sending him to a "special" daycare

My 2.5yr old knows all his letter, numbers until 20, colors, shapes, etc. Big woop-to-do. He is just memorizing what I am telling him. Who the hell really knows what his abilities are at this point? Any monkey can memorize anything, doesn't mean it'll be great success in life.

Lena

[thyme4change]

I will say that there are so many studies that show that the quality of very early education affect (effects? - meh, blame it on my bad preschool) primary education, which influences high school, which influences college. So I can see how parents are talked into this thought process. The most recent one was talking about how much you interact and talk with your baby and toddler - and basically said that if that interaction is good, they have a strong basis, but if that interaction is poor, they have to catch up before they even start.

All I know is that I'm past the point of making these decisions and onto making other decisions. I hope my kids turn out okay.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...call me a redneck, but I would also think that sufficient nutrition in the pre-school years beats out sufficient mental stimulation...

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I've read a lot of studies though that say that by around 2nd grade it all evens out. Fancy pre-schools and Your Baby Can Read will give advantages for awhile, but after awhile the rest of the kids catch up and it pretty much evens out unless your child is a super genius.

I also think there is a huge leap between having poor interaction and these pre-schools. The pre-schools have gimmicked it so parents equate the two when there is really no evidence that a fancy pants pre-school realy makes you that much better.

I'd think it puts you into contact with other parents who in turn have connections. I would think it becomes more who you know thru your parents vs what you learn in the pre-school. Considering how high the tuition is you are probably rubbing elbows with at least a few influential people and their kids.

[Deleted]

I can definitely see my wife falling for that crap

[Deleted]

I like DS' preschool. It's definitely on the fancier end of the spectrum. I'm hoping his preschool education will help when it comes to applying for the pre-k I want him to get into - which requires letters of recommendation, parent and child interviews, applications, a day where your kid is in a classroom setting with the other applicants, and possibly test scores from psychiatrists.

The admittance rates are so low to the school past kindy that you are basically paying to hold a spot for the higher grades.

I don't think that this is going to get DS into an ivy league school - I'm just hoping that we find an academic environment that lets him grow and explore to the limits of his abilities.

Just for the opposite side of the spectrum.

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2011 15:52:53 GMT -5 @anne81 said:

which requires letters of recommendation, parent and child interviews, applications, a day where your kid is in a classroom setting with the other applicants, and possibly test scores from psychiatrists.

Seriously!

This is Pre-K we are talking about right?

[justwhoever]

I live in a small town. There are 4 pre-schools here.
1. is in the local school. It's just for kids who are impaired. It's free basically because we have a casino in our county and no one pays anything really for schools.
2. and 3. are Christian based. I sent my 2 older kids to 1 and now my in laws are paying to send the 2 younger ones to the other. It's their gift to their grandbabies. The one I sent older kids too cost $585/yr 10+ yrs ago and the other one is costing I think $750-ish per yr now.
4. is income based. Under $70k/yr gets you in...if there are spots. It's free.

None of them are better than the other. They all teach the colors, numbers, computer skills, etc. The Christian based ones teach things that are well...Christian. 3 out of the 4 that my kids were able to go to would have been just fine for me.

There aren't any "waiting lists" and if there had been well I would have just upped what I already "teach" my babies at home.

[thyme4change]

which requires letters of recommendation, parent and child interviews, applications, a day where your kid is in a classroom setting with the other applicants, and possibly test scores from psychiatrists

Seriously!

This is Pre-K we are talking about right?

Well, at least you know he is going to be surrounded by other kids who passed the same process. We had a great pre-school, but there was one kid in particular who had some serious family issues. His bad behavior rubbed off on my kid, who started turning into a jerk. We tried to make it a teachable moment, but honestly, within 2 days of that kid leaving school our kid returned to being a sweet, wonderful, helpful, obedient kid.

[Deleted]

Jan 13, 2011 16:53:08 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

which requires letters of recommendation, parent and child interviews, applications, a day where your kid is in a classroom setting with the other applicants, and possibly test scores from psychiatrists

Seriously!

This is Pre-K we are talking about right?

Well, at least you know he is going to be surrounded by other kids who passed the same process.

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"It's really cool . . . lunch was sitting at a table practicing good manners. Food was served family style.":::...

A co-worker told me about one day care where the kids were learning how to wash their own dishes and stack them neatly in a drying rack. Man, if those habits stick, that could be worth almost ANY amount of money.

Whats the movie where Angelica Houston is the austere dean of that competitive preschool where the kids are learning French?

There was also that great Modern Family episode where Cam and Mitchell find out that a same-sex couple with an Asian baby can get into any daycare they want.

[Deleted]

Whats the movie where Angelica Houston is the austere dean of that competitive preschool where the kids are learning French?

Daddy Day care with Eddie Murphy?

There was also that great Modern Family episode where Cam and Mitchell find out that a same-sex couple with an Asian baby can get into any daycare they want.

Yep I saw that episode and I can see the truth in that.
It makes the school look diversified.

But they got beat by a lesbian interacial couple (one couple was disable) with an African-American adopted child.

[thyme4change]

Whats the movie where Angelica Houston is the austere dean of that competitive preschool where the kids are learning French?

I don't know that one, but I do know that when Lisa transfered to another school and at the new school the french class laughed at her "en français"

[whoisjohngalt]

I'm hoping his preschool education will help when it comes to applying for the pre-k I want him to get into - which requires letters of recommendation, parent and child interviews, applications, a day where your kid is in a classroom setting with the other applicants, and possibly test scores from psychiatrists.

Anne, no offense at all to you, but how on Earth a 3-4 yr old kid can be interviewed???

And what kind of letter recommendation that age can get? Hmmm, he is cute and likes to play?

I completely understand parents' desire to make sure that their child is given everything possible and more, but for the life of me, I can not imagine that good, stable, loving home, attentive parents and age-appropriate activities won't accomplish that.

Lena

[Deleted]

Anne, no offense at all to you, but how on Earth a 3-4 yr old kid can be interviewed???

And what kind of letter recommendation that age can get? Hmmm, he is cute and likes to play?

Lena

LOL! Lena your comment just had me rolling and laughing so hard!
But so true!

[Deleted]

Anne, no offense at all to you, but how on Earth a 3-4 yr old kid can be interviewed???

And what kind of letter recommendation that age can get? Hmmm, he is cute and likes to play?

Read more: notmsnmoney.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=finance&action=display&thread=1475#ixzz1AyIuDfkF

No offense taken - in fact I asked that same question of someone else on the board. Apparently they'll give the kid objects and see what they do with them, how they interpret time on a clock, and stuff like that. Brain games.

I can't imagine what the letter will say. DS' preschool teacher has written a ton of them for this particular school. Maybe that he doesn't bite, likes to sit on the potty, and that he's skilled with utensils? I'm guessing it'll be something "X child is bright, inquisitive and will thrive at your school." Which is probably why they do all the other steps as well.

[stantonjane]

Okay, I didn't bother to watch the video. I am reminded of the scene in the 80s movie 'Baby Boom' with Diane Keaton, where a mom is lamenting that their kid didn't get into the right preschool, so won't get into the right elementary school, or right high school, and certainly not the right college. The mom was in tears because her child's life was over at 2 years old. It was a funny scene.