We all had to take some sort of test to get into Penn State, whether it be the SAT or the ACT or any other form of test given. I’m sure we all come from different backgrounds, some of us went to public high schools or private high schools. Some of us were home schooled, and some of us even came from boarding schools around the country or world. My question is, does it make a difference in the test scores for the SATs if you went to a private or public high school. Tuition bills for private schools can be a lot, but do they help with raising test scores? Do parents pay for more educated teachers to teach their children, eventually getting a better test score on the SAT? I decided that I wanted to see if students from private schools did better on the SATs than students who went to public school. In 2012, an experiment was conducted with 13 private schools and their public counterparts in Ohio. They found the average ACT and SAT scores for the private and public schools and compared them. The average ACT score for the private schools was 23.6 while the public schools average was 21.7. The average SAT score for the private schools was 1,172 for critical reading and mathematics. On the other side, the average SAT score for critical reading and mathematics for the public schools was 1,186. So while many people judge high schools on the average scores on these tests, I think that they should reevaluate what they are judging. Value of education is based the individual student and how much they want to achieve. Private or public, I don’t think it matters, if the students want to succeed, they will.
Works Cited: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/local-education/private-schools-top-public-in-average-act-sat-scor/nTtCq/
This is a very interesting post to me because I went to both public school and private school. Most of my family and family friends went to public school and always argued that going to either or does not make you smarter. Which I agree with. I also believe it depends on the individual. But what does factor in sometimes with private school kids is environment. In this study, a study of schools across Miami Valley found that private school kids did better than public school kids. However, I do not believe that it has to do entirely with how smart these students are. In most cases, private schools are filled with students who have more money. Generally they have families who are putting pressure on the students to graduate and go to a prestigious college (NOT to say that many public school students are not pressured or wealthy). Also, according to the U.S. Department of Education, “Private high schools typically have more demanding graduation requirements than do public high schools.” This could factor into many students having to work harder and achieve higher grades than public school students. Regardless, it is still factual that the school does not make the individual.
Also I forgot to mention in my earlier comment another advantage of going to a private school is you tend to be more open minded on your view of history. The curriculum of a public school is decided by the government of the day. As the government changes so does they way it wants the curriculum to be changed. That does not really help a child in getting an objective view of history and there is also no uniformity so thats another area where private schools score over public
I will actually have to disagree with you over here. One thing where I would like to point private schools are better is the facilities. Now it is very true that individuals themselves can decide if they want to excel in life but i also believe that if an individual is given better means and facilities he would probably do better in school. There are some terrific public schools with great facilities but most of these schools would be in the richer districts with high property taxes therefore more funding for the public schools, so these schools can be pretty much counted in the private school category. That leaves the schools in poorer districts which is exactly where the problem lies. The way public schools are currently funded is leaves the richer people being able to not only afford private schools but also having the best of public schools at their disposals. So once we change that disparity and change the flaw with funding than it would be fare to compare private schools and public schools.
Good blog post! I went to a private school, but I still agree with your argument: it depends on the individual, not the school. If someone wants to apply themselves to doing well on the SATs, they will regardless of whether they go to a private or public school.