Why Private School

Gossip Girl, NYC Prep, and Private Schools: What Still Rings True in 2026

Two television series about private schools have received a certain amount of buzz recently. Gossip Girl aired on CW. NYC Prep is on Bravo.

While both shows originally aired more than a decade ago, they continue to shape public perception of private school life. In 2026, that influence persists through streaming platforms and social media, where clips and themes from both series regularly resurface. For families beginning their school search, it is worth separating entertainment from reality.

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is based on the novels of Cecily von Ziegesar. Ms. von Ziegsar herself is a graduate of The Nightingale-Bamford School, a Manhattan girls' school. The Gossip Girl series made it to the best-seller lists in 2002. It chronicles the lives and exploits of the wealthy teens attending The Constance Billard School for Girls. Gossip Girl premiered on CW in 2007 and has since seen renewed cultural relevance through streaming platforms and the HBO Max reboot released in 2021.

What's to Like

• The cinematography is fabulous. You will have plenty of New York City vistas, shops, and restaurants, as well as those incredible Park Avenue apartments to soak up. HDTV and modern 4K streaming make it a breathtaking experience without a doubt.

• The fact that the show really does not depict what actually goes on in a fine old Manhattan girls' school. That's a good thing. We can only imagine what those poor teachers and administrators

These titles are books that private school teachers and administrators have shared with each other on various lists and groups. One or two are quick reads. Most are pretty meaty. They all deserve a place in your collection. Parents need to read many of these books in order to understand what really goes on in the classroom.

Adios, Barbie: Young Women Write About Body Image and Identity (Live Girls)

By Ophira Edut (Editor), Rebecca Walker ISBN: 1580050166
"In more than 20 candid and humorous essays, a diverse group of women explore how they have chosen to ignore, subvert, or redefine the standard of beauty. These women break down modern culture's feminine ideal and reinvent it for themselves."

After Long Silence

By Helen Fremont. ISBN: 0385333706
"In her mid-30s Helen Fremont discovered that, although she had been raised in the Midwest as a Catholic, she was, in fact, the daughter of Polish Jews whose families had been exterminated in the Holocaust."

The Age of American Unreason

By Susan Jacoby ISBN: 9780375423741
"A scathing, witty indictment of American modern-day culture examines the current disdain for logic and evidence fostered by the mass media, religious fundamentalism, poor public education, a lack of fair-minded intellectuals, and a lazy, credulous public, condemning our addiction to infotainment, from TV to the Web, and assessing its repercussions for the country as a whole."

A Separate Peace

by John Knowles ISBN: 0743253973
"At a New England boarding school during World War II, a group of boys discovers the depths of

How about living on a working farm for a semester? Or investigating marine life in The Bahamas? Perhaps you grew up on a farm and are hankering to explore a major city like New York. A semester school offers those experiences and more.

Semester schools offer students a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in an intensive educational experience for half of an academic year. Unlike traditional schools, they often focus on specialized subjects or provide a unique learning environment. This alternative has become increasingly popular for those looking to enrich their academic journey.

When to Attend a Semester School

The ideal time to attend a semester school varies, but often these schools cater to high school students seeking a more profound educational experience. They can be beneficial for students looking to explore specific interests such as arts, sciences, or environmental studies, or those needing remediation. Typically students like to spend part of their junior year away from their home school. It's practical and doesn't interfere much with the academic sequence, testing, college applications and all the other features of your senior year.

The Cost of Semester Schools

Semester schools can range in cost, with tuition often similar to or slightly higher than traditional private schools. Financial aid and scholarships may be available for qualifying students. Careful consideration of costs, including travel and supplementary expenses, should be part of the decision-making process. The cost? From no cost to several thousands of dollars not including extras. Is there financial aid?

Progressive schools have been around since the early 1900s. Some educators think that progressives are rebels against traditional rote learning. Progressive educators like to think of themselves as reformers. The truth is somewhere in between the two points of view.

This video offers an overview of the Progressive movement.

The movement has an interesting history. Read about John Dewey (1859-1952), the modern founder of the movement in the U.S. You can only wonder what might have happened to public education had some of his ideas taken root. As it is, progressive educators and schools that employ their philosophies are confined to the private sector. A list of private schools that embrace progressive ideals, teachings, and curricula is below.

• Bank Street College of Education
• Buxton School
• The Calhoun School
• The Children's Community School
• The Children's School of Oak Park
• The City and Country School
• Dalton School
• Foundations School Community
• Friends Community School
• Greenwood Friends School
• The Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin High School
• The Little School
• The Manhattan Country School
• The Miquon School
• Oak Lane Day School
• Oakwood School
• Our Community School
• The Park School of Baltimore
• The Park School of Buffalo
• The Philadelphia School
• Presidio Hill School
• The Putney School
• San Roque School
• The School

Educating the young has been a mission of the Roman Catholic Church for as long as anybody can remember.

• While curricula and teaching methods have changed dramatically over the years, one thing is immutable: these schools do a great job educating their students.
• The proof is the very high percentage of their graduates who go on to colleges and universities nationwide and abroad.
• Most Roman Catholic schools are day schools, typically affiliated with a parish or diocese.

With many other boarding schools charging $65,000-85,000 a year for their services, these boarding schools offer good value as such things go.

• A couple of schools are single sex schools. The rest are co-educational institutions.
• Roman Catholic orders, such as the Jesuits or Salesians, who specialize in teaching, run many of these schools.

The standards are high.

• Most schools have uniform or dress codes.
• Core values are also taught, along with plenty of instruction in the Catholic faith.
• These Catholic schools produce graduates whose solid spiritual and academic foundations anchor them for advancement in later life.

The Schools

Check out the profiles of these schools. Many of them also take day students, so if you live in the area, you can have the best of both worlds.

1. Canterbury School, New Milford, CT
   Grades 9-12
   350 students
   Coed

   "The Canterbury experience is a rich one for both boarding and day students, and the community is