Growing up in a wealthy area during my High School Career, there was a lot of talk whether an individual’s parents were going to send their child to private or public school. Many families felt their child would be better off and more prepared for college if they were sent to private school. On the contrary, our public school system was awarded Blue Ribbon, and in some families opinion; just as good as an education as a private school.
Reasons a parent would choose a private school: (Cato Institute Study)
1) Better Student Discipline
2) Better Learning Environment
3) Smaller Class Sizes
4) Improved Student Safety
5) More individual attention for child
Reasons Why a Family Would Choose Public School:
1) Save a lot of money
2) Education just as good
3) Shorter and Easier Transportation
4) Faith in their public education systems
5) Wanted their taxes to be worth it
Personally, I have always grown up in the public education system. I went to middle school and high school in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. My town was known for its schooling system, with many people saying the education was just as good or better then private school. When I was in High School, my school was awarded blue ribbon. To be honest, barely any people I knew went to a private high school, and this has been a trend in Basking Ridge. It is evident why this happens to be the case. Living in a town of wealth, money is definitely not a factor of reasons to keep their child in public schooling.
To go into the Study of Education Policy, they specifically worked to challenge the years of research that tried to prove advantages on public schooling. As said by Jack Jennings, president in the democratic controlled house, “Contrary to popular belief, we can find no evidence that private school’s actually increase student’s performance”. They also explain, “Instead, it appears that private schools simply have higher percentages of students who would perform well in any environment based on their previous performance and background”. This perspective changed the view of many people, after hearing for years their child would only excel if sent to higher education.
On the other hand, one huge factor of getting into college is an individual’s SAT and ACTS scores. Many parents believe by sending their child to private schooling, This same study worked to find differences in the child’s scores. They explain that these tests are “developed abilities”. The developed abilities are defined by not inborn abilities, but honed competencies, more akin to athletic skill gained through practice rather then raw IQ. In the end, it showed that private schooling out did children in public schooling very much.
There are many other factors that go into differences in schooling. Besides the decision to choose public or private education, socioeconomic status can also make a huge difference. Other factors can be if the child’s parents went to college or had an education at all. With research, their are an unlimited amount of factors that can truly effect a chid’s education.
http://www.cato.org/blog/new-study-explains-how-why-parents-choose-private-schools
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1670063,00.html
Hi Karly! I found your post very relatable to the decisions that I faced when deciding on which high school I was going to attend. You see I grew up in the city of Philadelphia where I still live to this day, and unlike you I did not have the luxury of a blue ribbon public schooling system, so private schooling was more of a no-brainer rather than an option. The private schooling system had thrived in Philadelphia for years, my whole family attended private schools along with all of my friends and their families. However recently charter schools have begun to pop up all over the city, which now provides parents with a free alternative to the public schooling system, and an education equivalent to or as some would claim even better than that of a private school. This trend has had a great effect on the private schools in my area and has even force several schools to close their doors. Heres an article from NPR that I found that better explains the charter schooling system in Philadelphia, and how it has had such a profound effect on the city’s education system. Overall I enjoyed my private school experience and I believe that it did have its benefits which I believe ultimately landed me here at Penn State, however I would not be afraid to send my children to a public school if the system was up to par, and would even consider a charter school.
Wow, what an intriguing article. It really stood out to me because growing up, I dealt with a little percentage of my town going off into private schooling. The majority, including myself, went to public school instead. However, once I arrived to Penn State, I was hit with the reality that many PSU students had attended private schools. In fact, the majority of my floor went to either private or boarding schools. And to be honest, I even picked up on some smugness being distributed by these students towards public school kids as well. One reason you lacked to mention in your article is that most parents enroll their children in private schooling to gain good networking. Whether it be athletics or academics, students from private schools have a better chance of being recognized by high-end colleges and accepted into their student body. My friend Tommy, for example, attended a private school because he was such a successful lacrosse player and wanted to be recognized by big name schools. He also knew the faculty of the school had great connections to other colleges. I researched this reason to get further evidence and came upon the statistic: “Sixty-seven percent of private high school graduates attend four-year colleges, compared to 40 percent of public high school graduates.” More evidence backing up my theory can be found on this website…check it out! http://www.capenet.org/benefits4.html
Wow, what an intriguing article. It really stood out to me because growing up, I dealt with a little percentage of my town going off into private schooling. The majority, including myself, went to public school instead. However, once I arrived to Penn State, I was hit with the reality that many PSU students had attended private schools. In fact, the majority of my floor went to either private or boarding schools. And to be honest, I even picked up on some smugness being distributed by these students towards public school kids as well. One reason you lacked to mention in your article is that most parents enroll their children in private schooling to gain good networking. Whether it be athletics or academics, students from private schools have a better chance of being recognized by high-end colleges and accepted into their student body. My friend Tommy, for example, attended a private school because he was such a successful lacrosse player and wanted to be recognized by big name schools. He also knew the faculty of the school had great connections to other colleges. I researched this reason to get further evidence and came upon the statistic: “Sixty-seven percent of private high school graduates attend four-year colleges, compared to 40 percent of public high school graduates.” More evidence backing up my theory can be found on this website…check it out! http://www.capenet.org/benefits4.html
Wow, what an intriguing article. It really stood out to me because growing up, I dealt with a little percentage of my town going off into private schooling. The majority, including myself, went to public school instead. However, once I arrived to Penn State, I was hit with the reality that many PSU students had attended private schools. In fact, the majority of my floor went to either private or boarding schools. And to be honest, I even picked up on some smugness being distributed by these students towards public school kids as well. One reason you lacked to mention in your article is that most parents enroll their children in private schooling to gain good networking. Whether it be athletics or academics, students from private schools have a better chance of being recognized by high-end colleges and accepted into their student body. My friend Tommy, for example, attended a private school because he was such a successful lacrosse player and wanted to be recognized by big name schools. He also knew the faculty of the school had great connections to other colleges. I researched this reason to get further evidence and came upon the statistic: “Sixty-seven percent of private high school graduates attend four-year colleges, compared to 40 percent of public high school graduates.” More evidence backing up my theory can be found on this website…check it out! http://www.capenet.org/benefits4.html
Wow, what an intriguing article. It really stood out to me because growing up, I dealt with a little percentage of my town going off into private schooling. The majority, including myself, went to public school instead. However, once I arrived to Penn State, I was hit with the reality that many PSU students had attended private schools. In fact, the majority of my floor went to either private or boarding schools. And to be honest, I even picked up on some smugness being distributed by these students towards public school kids as well. One reason you lacked to mention in your article is that most parents enroll their children in private schooling to gain good networking. Whether it be athletics or academics, students from private schools have a better chance of being recognized by high-end colleges and accepted into their student body. My friend Tommy, for example, attended a private school because he was such a successful lacrosse player and wanted to be recognized by big name schools. He also knew the faculty of the school had great connections to other colleges. I researched this reason to get further evidence and came upon the statistic: “Sixty-seven percent of private high school graduates attend four-year colleges, compared to 40 percent of public high school graduates.” More evidence backing up my theory can be found on this website…check it out! http://www.capenet.org/benefits4.html
Karly, I really enjoyed reading your blog on private school vs public school. I agree that some public that are located in wealthier areas have a tendency to have better schooling. I grew up in Medford, NJ and found that we had an awesome public school environment compared to someone who lives in a poorer area such as camden. When looking at the class sizes, the Cato Institute suggested that some parents may send their students to private school because of the smaller class sizes. When you think of public schools, some public schools actually have small class sizes, however they may also have poorer education. Sticking to Camden, their high school has an enrollment of about 1647 students. This seems to be a very large number, however, they also only have a 15% student attendance. Although the school may be large, the classes are very small. Next, only 26% of the 47% that graduate, actually go to college. Therefore, the small classes cannot be that much of a help since barely anyone is even going to college. Another point that I would like to touch up on was that no mention of GPA was included. GPA and SAT/ACT have a large impact on colleges and getting there. Many private schools may seem to be “harder,” but I feel that the real challenge in getting those A’s. Usually, a public school will consider a 90 or above and A, whereas a private school usually considers a 93 or above an A. So, the difficulty isn’t behind the tests. The real strive is getting that 93. Then the student can get that A and then ultimately get a better GPA and then get into a better college. Yes, striving for that 93 may require students to study harder and longer to ultimately get smarter, but when one thinks in terms of a student he/she realizes that when a student has a final or any hard exam coming up, he/she will study as hard as they can to get the best grade that they can. Then, their intelligence will be the same as the private schoolers intelligence.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Camden-New-Jersey.html
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/finaldompierre.356/camden_high_school__nj_
Karly, love the post, I’m big on public education.; coming from Science Leadership Academy(SLA) a public school in the inner-city downtown Philadelphia I can attest that the education and educational tools I received from SLA was top-notch and more on the elite side of education. There isn’t a day that doesn’t go by that I am not grateful because SLA literally showed me “the light” (I’m speaking metaphorically of course) but I value education and I actually learned how to think deeply and also I learned how to actually apply the things I have learned through using five core values: inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection. I personally feel private schools have this “superior” alter ego which at times maybe truth but at times maybe a little misleading. I say true because most private schools have a rich history and usually when people hear names like ” Episcopal Academy, Shipley School, Friends Select School, Friends’ Central School, Agnes Irwin School, Central High School(NOT PRIVATE)” it carries major weight. However, it’s not true because some of these kids that goes to these school are not automatic success stories however there just better equipped with the necessary tools to succeed but I’m pretty sure their success rate is not at 100%( opinion, I have read any study or even heard any study that said otherwise)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Leadership_Academy
I too grew up in a public schooling system and I believe that whether you go to high school or middle school publicly or privately it ultimately does not matter. The schooling itself is similar enough but the class sizes ultimately don’t change the intelligence of its students. What does make a difference is the willingness of a student to learn. It is very difficult to compare public and private schools efficiency of education and looking at SAT scores or ACT scores are a good method. Ultimately there are way too many variables to take into account to compare the learning abilities of public and private school students. The extra money spent on private schooling may not be worth it in the end.
This is a very interesting topic because I had to opportunity to go to a private elementary school and a public middle and high school. Although elementary school is not as tough as the higher schools, it was a very different experience than public school. My private school was very small and there were only 16 kids in my 6th grade class. Although, my private school was very personal and one on one, the transition into a 300 class public school was a huge change. For me, it was hard to adapt to that big of a change and I wasn’t doing so great in school. I think it was just going from such a small school to such a big one that really affected me though. The work was just as hard and if anything the teachers were more helpful in the public school. According to an article from The Washington Post, Are private schools better than public schools? New book says “no”, Valerie Strauss states, “It is often assumed that private schools do a better job educating children than public schools, but a new book, ‘The Public School Advantage,’ which is being published this week, shows this isn’t the case.” It definitely depends on what public school you go to but mine was one of the top rated high schools in the county. The article goes on to explain all the factors that go into what makes the education aspect better, but it is also up to the child to make the best of their experience. It is amazing how so many little things that can effect one’s education experience in lower schools.