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Jump4Joy
Guest
I went to public school. Not a Catholic one.
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midori
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Some public schools are weak. Other public schools are rigorous.
Some public schools have gang problems, drug problems, lots of kids who have uninvolved parents who don’t emphasize the importance of getting an education. Other public schools don’t have to worry about gangs, or drugs, or have a high proportion of educated, involved parents who encourage their kids to learn.
But when you look at private schools— private schools, by their nature, tend to attract more of the Involved Parent Demographic. Because you’re suddenly paying $2k, or $5k, or $10k a year/semester/whatever for your kid’s education, not putting them in whatever school your geography dictates.
And when you pay $2k, or $5k, or $10k a year/semester/whatever, you expect certain results… because otherwise, it’s not a good investment. And so the schools strive very hard to live up to the parents’ expectations.
I went to public school for a bit. I also had the opportunity to go to Catholic school. The thing that really stood out to me on my first visit before enrollment was-- “Wow! The kids are so quiet!” Because they were bent over their work and working, not chatting and goofing off. They had focus and discipline and knew how to act, unlike the kids at the public school I was attending.
The public school kids, you get a wider strata of society. The private school kids, they tend to come from a more homogeneous background. Not necessarily in terms of income, but we were in a University town, and so a lot of our parents were high-achievers in some way or another, and because we were Catholic, a good proportion of us had grown up with that faith background to color our worldview of our place in the world.
Some public schools have gang problems, drug problems, lots of kids who have uninvolved parents who don’t emphasize the importance of getting an education. Other public schools don’t have to worry about gangs, or drugs, or have a high proportion of educated, involved parents who encourage their kids to learn.
But when you look at private schools— private schools, by their nature, tend to attract more of the Involved Parent Demographic. Because you’re suddenly paying $2k, or $5k, or $10k a year/semester/whatever for your kid’s education, not putting them in whatever school your geography dictates.
And when you pay $2k, or $5k, or $10k a year/semester/whatever, you expect certain results… because otherwise, it’s not a good investment. And so the schools strive very hard to live up to the parents’ expectations.
I went to public school for a bit. I also had the opportunity to go to Catholic school. The thing that really stood out to me on my first visit before enrollment was-- “Wow! The kids are so quiet!” Because they were bent over their work and working, not chatting and goofing off. They had focus and discipline and knew how to act, unlike the kids at the public school I was attending.
The public school kids, you get a wider strata of society. The private school kids, they tend to come from a more homogeneous background. Not necessarily in terms of income, but we were in a University town, and so a lot of our parents were high-achievers in some way or another, and because we were Catholic, a good proportion of us had grown up with that faith background to color our worldview of our place in the world.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
Many of the public schools in the area where I grew up had serious drug and violence problems and the academics weren’t very good. Dress codes also used to be pretty bad. I can remember checking out my public high school at a time when I was deciding what high school to go to (this was back in the 70s) and the public high school was humongous, everybody was smoking, girls were running around with bare midriffs and it looked like one of those old 70s stoner movies (Fast Times at Ridgmont High, or Dazed and Confused). It made me feel uncomfortable and I really didn’t want to go to school there.
Public high schools in wealthy areas can be very nice options. Public high schools in areas that aren’t economically well off, not so much.
Public high schools in wealthy areas can be very nice options. Public high schools in areas that aren’t economically well off, not so much.
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Xanthippe_Voorhees
Guest
By almost every measure it boils down to parental involvement. Public schools are free…and anything that is free is bound to appeal to those who really don’t care. Even extremely low income schools that have involved parents do better than middle class schools where parents are checked out. This is often why public charter schools appear to do so well in comparison.
Public schools are there to ensure that every child has an education. When parents don’t care that child is so disadvantaged it’s nearly crippling.
Public schools are there to ensure that every child has an education. When parents don’t care that child is so disadvantaged it’s nearly crippling.
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MaryEstelle2
Guest
My opinion is that the public schools are a way too large and centralized. I went to the last one-room school in the State of NJ…really, I did, but when I went to the central school I was lost. All my friends were swallowed up by the system. How can you monitor, teach well, and see problems coming in a school that has a thousand students? I too was swallowed up by the centralized school system and it took a good while to adjust. I have wanted to mention this for a long time, but maybe it is past time to go back to smaller, neighborhood schools. I know it is all about money needed to run the smaller schools, but pouring cash into the centralized system is not necessarily providing a good, solid education. Just my opinion.
Just to clarify my post the one-room school evolved into a 3 room school and then into a larger school system, but I look back at the one-room school as some of the best years of my life.
Just to clarify my post the one-room school evolved into a 3 room school and then into a larger school system, but I look back at the one-room school as some of the best years of my life.
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Sunbreak
Guest
Some public schools are unruly and have criminal elements among the students. If my parents had stayed in Detroit in the early 60s the nearby high school was padlocked at all but one entrance and knifings were common. We moved to the suburbs and I went to the new public school which was excellent and without the riffraff.
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midori
Guest
When I was in elementary school in a town of about 80,000, I was in a classroom of about 26-28 kids with one teacher. There were maybe 4-6 classes per grade. In private school, it was more like an 18-20:1 ratio.
When I was in a junior high in a town of about 12,000 people, I don’t remember the classroom size, because it varied depending on who was taking what electives, there were about 450 kids in my grade total.
My kids live in a town of about 3,000. They have 9-15 kids per classroom. There’s about 50 kids per grade.
When I was in a junior high in a town of about 12,000 people, I don’t remember the classroom size, because it varied depending on who was taking what electives, there were about 450 kids in my grade total.
My kids live in a town of about 3,000. They have 9-15 kids per classroom. There’s about 50 kids per grade.
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