Private School or Public School?

[Kabluey]

Queensland study showed that private vs public made no difference overall.
The biggest determiners were parental income and education level.

Fairly well off kids with educated parents trump all others regardless of school ownership.

For parents wanting their kid to be part of an old boys'network, this only works if they work and live in the same city. Otherwise no one else in the world has heard of your town's local elite school.

 

[pat grimshaw]

The correspondents to this thread seem to favouring Private over Public, so far.

 

[palbert]

So I had this discussion with friends the other day. Pretty much most of my friends - myself included - were educated at Private Schools. None of us are fussed if our kids - I don't have any - would be educated at them though. Actually I think all but 1 of the people said the education would be just as good at public schools.

If you had kids, would you send them to a public school or a private one? And where were you educated? Do you think you have an advantage? The perceived advantage was the reason that was most stated by my friends who were educated in public schools as to why they'd send their kids to private.

Using American terms, aren't you Public Schools private and your Private Schools public?

 

[Kabluey]

Using American terms, aren't you Public Schools private and your Private Schools public?

That's a British phenomena

 

[ravenstar]

Using American terms, aren't you Public Schools private and your Private Schools public?

No. In Australia Private Schools are private - i.e. parents pay a shit load of money for their children to attend them. They can be religious based (like I went to) or secular. Public Schools in Australia are funded by the Australian Government and the States.

 

[peeonme]

While I have a bias towards our public school system I am in favor of it over private schools. Without public education many children would never see a school, we all contribute towards these schools via taxes and we all reap the benefits in the form of an educated work force.

 

[geloge]

I've always been pro public education.

 

[backagain]

The first 6 years were of private schools and the second 6 years were of public schools. The 6 years of public was an eye opener.

The education was just as good as private, but the diversity was the eye opener.

 

[Kulindahr]

^
Fifteen years ago if I hired a kid to help with a job, I never had to worry he wouldn't be able to read the instructions of the chipper or other equipment and just go ahead and start using it. Now, though, I assume I'm going to have to walk them through every step.

 

[maxpowr9]

@dejavudoo

A lot of it has to do with unions, in particular with bad teachers being protected and "senior" teachers getting carte blanche which in turn discourages new teachers from joining the union. The bureaucracy only makes it worse. Private institutions, mostly colleges, are not immune either but have wised up with "tenures" and gone with a temporary one or "fellowship". Teachers at private schools have more "open" curricula than public schools adhering to a "test". Yeah, there were a few bad teachers I encountered, usually coaches who favored the jocks, but overall the education was much better. I think it was my mom and dealing with such a shitty public school education growing up that made her not want to subject us to it.

At least for "culture", my hometown was actually LESS diverse than my private school. My hometown is a bunch of white bred, soulless yuppies.

 

[RaKroma]

Quality of public school education all depends on the zip code you live in! In NYC, good public school education is harder to come by especially outside of Manhattan these days. My parents generation were all public school educated but most of my friends were in private schools or lucky/smart enough to get a lottery ticket to the few high performing public schools that have difficult placement tests and too many smart Asians in line. The suburbs do better with education here.

 

[blackbeltninja]

I favor public education strongly, but the system (the Board, the administrators, teachers, parents, and taxpayers) have an obligation to maintain the system. But, they don't. The resulting broad failure in education is gradually cancelling the contract, much like in any other ghetto. Too many schools have become educational ghettos.

Agreed on all counts. This is the only reason I'm considering private for my non-existent kids. Public just doesn't cut it any more, and it seems at present that nobody can adequately fix it.

-d-

 

[darden]

@dejavudoo

A lot of it has to do with unions, in particular with bad teachers being protected and "senior" teachers getting carte blanche which in turn discourages new teachers from joining the union. The bureaucracy only makes it worse

one of the final straws for me was when teachers were getting laid off a few years ago at the height of the housing bust. they stuck to the "last hired, first fired" principle to the point where young teachers were getting fired because administrators who hadn't seen a classroom in 20+ years had the right to return to teaching rather than get laid off as an administrator.

 

[Kulindahr]

one of the final straws for me was when teachers were getting laid off a few years ago at the height of the housing bust. they stuck to the "last hired, first fired" principle to the point where young teachers were getting fired because administrators who hadn't seen a classroom in 20+ years had the right to return to teaching rather than get laid off as an administrator.

Yeah, that's a stupid rule. It should be the least related to teaching get laid off first. Of course they don't do that because it might just become obvious that they don't need all the additional secretaries and such who exist merely to handle paperwork mandated by some government agency that wouldn't know a classroom from a coffee shop.

 

[Rickrock]

I had a four year Catholic private school education followed by eight years of public education. I would consider something like that for my children if I had any and could afford it. Of course I lived in a suburb which had better schools than the big city. I like the idea of a base of morals followed by a more rounded environment similar to real life. If the time came that I had children I would have to evaluate the situation at that time.

 

[USEDCAR]

I would send them to Private unless i live in a area with excellent public schools. When its time for them to go to college i don't want them to have a culture shock like i did.


I went to public schools, most of my teachers were a hit or miss i had some amazing teachers and some that just pass you along. I live in a poor county so the schools here suffer. We have older buildings and teachers that don't want to do their job. While in the next town they have up to date modern schools.