It's a trend seen nationwide. Eighteen of those are in Metro Detroit. The growing interest has bounced enrollment up as much as 25 percent in Metro Detroit private schools during the past five years and created admission logjams at many schools. Nationwide among private schools enrollment has risen more than 12 percent during the past decade. The obvious explanation, experts say, is that parents are fed up with bad public schools and unfulfilled promises from politicians for fixing them.
People are just so dissatisfied with public schools.
One of the biggest gripes about the quality is that public schools often expect only mediocre work from students. So Ari, her gifted son, didn't get challenging assignments and the individual contact he needed, she said. He got turned off by the education process because he'd get bored. But we wanted something more. Other reasons parents are turning to private education include the booming economy that allows moms and dads to invest more in their children's futures.