This is Part One of a two-part package on offerings of local private and public schools. Part Two will appear in the April 20 issue of the Fauquier Weekend.

Blue-blazered students, congenial and unfailingly polite, stroll pristine paths flanked by vast, rolling green lawns and backed by white columned stone and brick buildings. The scene is impeccable, idyllic, and it is the view of independent private schools and privilege presented by movies such as "Dead Poets Society," "Scent of a Woman" and "Good Will Hunting."

Beneath the surface, is the story the same? Are private schools sheltered havens for snobbish rich kids on their way to elite colleges, or are there educational advantages to attending such schools? Who really attends them, and why?

This is cache, read story here