When Picking Schools, You Can’t Have Your Cake AND Eat It!

This is the advice I give friends who have the privilege of choosing between schools

Vector art from the author

The advice I give to friends who are struggling to choose between schools for their kids is:

…you can’t have your cake AND eat it too!

There are so many good schools to choose from, but parents can still find themselves paralyzed, unable to make a choice.

A friend of mine was recently in this position. He had narrowed it down to three before being unable to decide. It wasn’t because any of them wouldn’t be good for their children. They were all (to my mind) good choices. The problem was that choosing one school meant they might miss out on the other two (#FOMO).

It turns out that choosing the right school had turned into a dance with regret.

Here’s the thing: you will not find a curriculum that’s perfect for every child AND meets the academic requirements for every possible university AND prepares young people for every possible career.

Likewise, schools can’t operate at low cost where they only have the very best teachers AND offer best-in-class facilities. Nor can schools have the world’s highest exam averages AND be highly inclusive.