public vs. private schools

[prayerfull]

Good Morning!

Do you have children already in school? If so, what was your choice - Public or Private School? Why did you make that decision?

My son will be entering Kindergarten in the fall and my husband and I have made the choice to send him to a private Christian school. Our reasons for making this choice are twofold.

First, Christ is the core of our family. Seeing as how our children are in school at 8am everyday and we don't see them again until around 6pm, that leaves us with somewhere around 5 hours a day (during the week) that we spend with them. If we're going to surround them in a Christian environment and home, but they spend more time at school, then they need to be in a Christian school environment. So that's where the choice for a Christian school comes in. (As opposed to a non-religious based private school).

The second reasoning for choosing a private school has to do with the level of teaching that private schools offer. We live in California. If anyone else lives in Cali, you'll know what I'm talking about. The public schools here are made up with a lot of spanish speaking children. They do not have a separate class for them. Thus, the teachers spend a great deal of their time working on the special needs of those children and less on english speaking students.

What about you?

[CocoaCaramel]

Prayerfull, I live in Cali too and I understand what you are talking about. My stepmother is a kindergarten teacher for the LA Unified School District. And I see the problem that you are talking about. But language barriers are not the only problem.
Class size plays a big part in the problem. When you have 35+ students (4 & 5 year olds) and 1 teacher; that's a big problem. How can a teacher make sure all of these children know what they are suppose to know by the end of the year? Our education system needs help.

I attended private schools for almost my whole life. Kindergarten aged children are at one of the most impressionable times of their lives. I think that being in a private school can be of benefit to your child. They go to school for the WHOLE day and are able to learn in a more structured setting. I'm not saying that you can't get this in a public school, but that all depends on where you live.

I have to say that I did benefit from the private school experience because it is a smaller more personalized setting. But just because you go to a private school does not mean that you automatically escape the same problems that are in the public school system.

[ZChi4Life]

Well I don't have any kids but I'd like to comment on this.
I attended Catholic school from 1st through 12th grade. I'm so glad my parents put me through private school. I think I really benefited from it and I think I am a better person because of it. I'm not saying this to down public education. I have many friends and relatives that went to public schools that really benefited them. But I think for me, it was really a great experience. My best years are my high school years b/c I was able to be around a lot of diverse people (I attended a pre-dominantly white high school but there were a few other ethnicities besides Af-Am). It was also great b/c the class sizes were small and you were able to get a lot of personal help from teachers. I was also able to make a lot of personal friendships w/ the teachers there.
However, there were some downsides to it though. One thing was the fact that since parents paid tuition, it was kinda hard to obtain some of the things that public schools had. I'm not sure if this is true of all public schools, but from what I understand, public school students don't pay for books. Well when I was in high school, we had to pay for our books and they weren't cheap at all! I remember spending $300-400 on books in 9th and 10th grades!
Also, in high school, all the teachers taught at least 2-3 subjects. This could have been b/c my high school was very small (198 students to be exact when I was a Senior...I graduated w/ 37 people). But a lot of the subjects that I was interesting in taking, I could not b/c they didn't have someone to teach them or couldn't afford to hire someone else (unless they raised tuition which was already pretty costly).
Another thing to go along w/ this teacher thing, was that we didn't have AP courses. Apparently we had to have teachers w/ Master degrees to teach them. We almost got AP English but the teacher left the next year. So b/c of not having advanced courses, we ended up having 6 people in my class w/ 4.0 GPAs. I think if we had AP courses, we might have been able to narrow this down a bit. I don't know if that would have worked, but it was interesting b/c we ended up having 3 Valedictorians and 3 Salutorians (I don't know how that got worked out).
But those are just some of the downs to private education. Some of my other friends who went to private schools complained of some of these things too. But these things will vary of course from school to school, just like w/ public schools. Overall, I enjoyed it and I had a lot of fun.

Sorry this was so long!

[Poplife]

I was in private school for the second half of my school career. I graduated from an all girls Catholic High School, and while I didn't really like it I am grateful that I was educated in such a close knit environment.


I find that private schools keep the communication lines open between faculty and parents for two reasons. 1.) There are less students they have to tend to and 2.) You pay their salaries


For me it depends on the school systems in your area. In my county they are slowly resolving major issues with underfunding, violence, and overcrowding, but let's just say it's not all the way there yet. However the county next to us has the best school system in the state. I would have definitely attended public school if we had lived there.

[jali0004]

I also attended private school. I was in parochial school from Kindergarden through 12th grade.

I can go on about being in private school as well, but the pros and cons have been explained very well by the previous posters

I just wanted to add, that I am thankful and grateful for the sacrafices my mother and grandmother made to put me through private school. I'd say in total, my mother paid $30,000 for me to go to private school all all those years. She could've bought a new car (me one too!), put a down payment on a new house..we could've been livin' large...but she invested in ME...my education and my faith in GOD. And for that, I'll always be thankful!

Yes, it's expensive, time consuming (remember Market Day, Bingo, Casino Night?? ), but I feel it is worth it, and prepared me for college..much more that many neighborhood kids who went to the Chicago Southside public schools, where I lived around.

I don't mean to "down" public schools, but I never missed school becuase of strikes, we were safe in our buildings (limited access), we all wore the same clothes, my classes were small...all the "small" things. And of course there's the DISCIPLINE!

I can go on, and on (esp. because I went to an all girls private high school--very different from coed), but I will add, if you plan to put your kids in private school, KEEP them in private school..



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"I am not yet the author of my life; I am still it's unenlightened protagonist"
---Unknown

[ClassyLady]

I have experienced both sides of the spectrum. I attended a private school from preschool through the sixth grade and public school from seventh grade through graduation.
The early childhood years are when children are the most impressionable. Private school gave me a lot of positive reinforcement and I love it for that. But, my private school was less than 5% minorities (all minorities - not just blacks). I really resented not being able to go to associate with and socialize with other black children.
Public school was like a shock to the system for me. Since I had never attended a school with a reasonable black population, I started to go buckwild. I did a lot of things that I knew I shouldn't have done (luckily I rarely got caught - ssshhhh!!! don't tell my momma!) But, I never let my grades slip even when I was acting crazy. I managed to graduate at the top of my class and went on to do extremely well in college.
I appreciate both schooling experiences. Ultimately, I think it all comes down to your parents and how your raised. Private school doesn't mean that you'll do well and public school doesn't mean you'll fail. Strong and loving parents will ensure the child's success.

[kitten03]

Flip side,
I have never gone to private school until college. The 13 years I spent in public school were filled with different experiences and people. Public school may not have all the benefits of private i.e. small class sizes etc. However, it does provide students with real world experiences. In private school, almost everyone is of the same socioeconomic background. From my experience in college, this is true and also from the experiences of others. While there are always exceptions to the rule, the fact remains that by paying for private school it ensures that the population of students are relatively homogeneous. Kids need to understand that the world is filled with different people all over. Public school had all types of people and I learned a great deal from all of them.

Another thing I gained from my public school education is determination. It's easy to fall between the cracks if you let yourself. If you don't want to, you learn how to get ahead regardless of your circumstances. There are good characteristics of both types of schools. Though I am not a parent, I intend for my kids to attend public school (my boyfriend thinks differently )

[sphinxpoet]

I don't have any children but from my experience I found one of the best ways to raise you children(as my loving mom Mrs. Sphinx did) is send your child to a private Grade School for K-8 grade. That will give your child early discipline. When they get into high school(if you trust they have the discipline) send them to public School where they can start building on independence and so when they get to college they have a balance of discipline and social interaction that will allow them to succeed in a college environment.

Remember this is just my 06 cents

Sphinxpoet

[Onenine08]

By all means private. You would be amazed at how advanced students who attend private schools are. Now, making the decision of which one is the right one takes a little time. In my family some of us went to Catholic school and some of went to Protestant Christian Schools and I was the only one to go to a non parochial private academy. Each school offered different things and our parents took the time to research which school fit each of us best. We are all very well rounded.

[MSLADYAKA]

I choose to send my son to a private Christian school where the majority of the students were African-Americans. He attended this school from K-5 through 4th grade. I choose that school because I wanted him to have a sound religious and cultural foundation. I wanted him to know about his ancestors. I didn't want him to study black history only in February. I wanted him to study it on a daily basis. He's still in a private christian school, but he is now exposed to many different cultures, races, and backgrounds. I wanted him to be well rounded young man. He has one more year at this school and then high school. I'm undecided on the probability of a private high school. He has learned a lot and has benefited from the small classes and the individual attention. I would highly recommend private school if its in your budget at least up to middle school as oppose to public because of the over crowding and the lack of individual attention. Sorry for the long post.