Public vs. Private

I go to a public school in the US and it's great- it's one of the top schools in the state. I hate it when people make public school out to be this horrible place. Most of the teachers at my school are fantastic and we consistently have better test scores than the private schools in the area.

Up until 6th grade, I had attended a private school. When I transferred to a public school, I loved it. But, now, I think I would gladly go back. I really liked it. Fun times, great classes, and it wasn't overcrowded - not to mention the school was kept up well. The school I go to now the roof leaks, they're re-doing the gym for the third time, and they have garbage bags over the ceilings.

So, yeah. I like private schools better.

well, i've gone to private school my entire life.
my k-8 school was quaker, and my high school now is catholic ans all girls.
but i love it.
i know that a lot of people think that catholic school has too conservative views, and that can be true, but i am strong in my beliefs, so if i disagree with something that they say, i just know that they aren't going to change my mind
so i like private

but also because the private schools in my area are awful

I've been to both, and they both have so many advantages and disadvantages it would take far too long to list them all.
Overall, it's really a matter of choice. What works for you will be different to what works for others.
Just like public schools, private schools have both good and lousy teachers.
I'd probably be biased if I went on a rant.
For me personally, I much prefer going to a public school.
But it truly is a choice depending on the person.

Agreed with the person above, both have many disadvantages that the other doesn't but then they can have advantages.
I personally went to a public school and it was one of the best in our county (I'm from England!). I got a better education, both in highschool and a level's, than friends who go to private schools. And our test results compete with the private schools, achiving much higher in some subjects.
But It really depends on the student and how they learn; and of course the teaching quality.
You can get bad teaching in both private and public.

I go to a private school since kindergarten. The school is Christian, we pray every morning. The uniform is a yellow polo shirt and a blue skirt. The skirt has to be two inches below the knees if not you get a detention. Every time a teacher enters the classroom we have to stand up and say good morning. On Fridays we have to go to chapel, which is like church but in school. The girls can only wear these accessories; tiny earings and one ring, no bracelets. The guys can't have very long hair. If we want to organize something outside the school we have to take the other section(7a and 7b,I'm in 7b.)even though we gave our money and they anything. If you don't come to school one day you need an excuse. Once they told all the girls to wear a ponytail to school everyday. If your going on a trip, girls can't seat next to the boys. If you have a boyfriend and the school knows that, they're going to call your parents. I like the school a lot, but the rules are stupid. I really like all the activities we do together. I'm happy because the school awarded us as the most friendly group, the best students, and the most caring ones.

^ I think that's a bit silly, with the 'no boys seated next to girls' rule. And they'll call your parents if you have a boyfriend?! :twitch:

I've always gone to public schools, and I've turned out alright. Private schools here are just too expensive. There are pros and cons to both, and they change from place to place. See, I know my school's a bit of a shithole, but I'd rather go there than go to one on the Southside, where there's a lot more violence and drugs and whatnot.

There's a teacher in my school who went to private schools all his life, and he says that public schools are so much more... alive. I guess they're more diverse - they have the troublemakers and the smart kids, the good and the bad. Private schools here are very selective, very strict. The kids from the private schools in this area kind of remind me of the clones from Star Wars, because they're all so perfect, prim and proper. :shifty

I know not everyone who goes to those schools are like that, but... yeah. I don't like my school at all, but it's better than what it could be.

I've been to private schools all my life so I can't really judge on public schools...but most public schools where I live don't exactly have the best reputation (unless if it's a selective school) and private schools tend to have the best facilities and they're often ranked in the list of best schools in my state.

A lot of public school kids think private school kids are snobs, and it's usually the private school kids that get hoots and jeers in public more than public school kids do. ;o

I have always gone to private schools, except for attending a public one for about 2 days out of one year. I prefer private to public, the teachers [in my opinion] were better, the atmosphere was better, the education was better, etc. I never liked public schools, never will.

I went to public school and by god, some of the teachers were wankers but most of them provided a support system and somewhere steady for me mentally so I could do well. It started to break down in my last years at school but I owe so many of my teachers a great debt that I feel duty bound to repay one day. Would I have gotten that at a private school? I don't know and I don't care. What happened happened and as a result, I will defend them to the ends of the earth.

Never having attended a private school, I can't say. But in talking to friends who have gone to both public and private, I find school size and teacher/student ratios tend to matter more than public/private. Some of the private schools my friends went to were more comparable to a small public school

I have never attended or have been to a public school before so I don't really know what to say about it (I've been studying in a private school for more or less 7 years). But I do know that it depends on the person's choice or country. For example, I was told that the public schools in the United States are on the same level as private schools there; the things that separate public schools from private schools there are probably the facilities, the tuition and the uniform. I do not study in the States so I don't really know if what that person who told me about this is true. On the other hand, the public schools here in the Philippines are really. . . I don't know how to describe it with one word but it would be somewhat ugly.

Not all public schools in the Philippines are ugly but most of them are. There are a few that is up to par with private schools here. The students that go to public schools in the Philippines are often the middle class and the less fortunate people. The public schools in the provinces often have only 5 teachers, one building and more or less five adequate classrooms with more than 50 students. Those students travel more than 5 kilometers on foot just to go to school. Though you can admire them for their willingness to learn.

If I would to compare private schools and public schools here in the Philippines it would be comparing a small apartment with a penthouse or a huge condo. But I don't know about other countries.

Like I said, I think that to decide whether public school is better than private schools (or the other way around) lies within the person and where he or she lives.

elenore rigby:

I have never attended or have been to a public school before so I don't really know what to say about it (I've been studying in a private school for more or less 7 years). But I do know that it depends on the person's choice or country. For example, I was told that the public schools in the United States are on the same level as private schools there; the things that separate public schools from private schools there are probably the facilities, the tuition and the uniform. I do not study in the States so I don't really know if what that person who told me about this is true.

For the most part, that's pretty accurate. Most private schools here have a religious component as well, but their curriculums and standards are pretty similar. The only real place I can see a difference outside of morals is in large cities where public schools do not have enough money to meet the needs of their students.

@Kurtni

I think that's true for public schools in most places in the world.

I've gone to public school for my whole education (Which is 11 years now, wow) and even though I have never been to a private school, I find it debatable about the better teaching. My secondary school has some amazing teachers, my English teacher works on the exam board and has written books about our courses and my Graphics teacher used to work in advertising and all the teachers honestly put in so much more effort than their job requires of them to get the best out of the students. Or maybe that's just my school

I've seen the worst of one world and the best of another. My primary school was on a council estate up the hill from my house. I was classmates with a girl whose mum's boyfriend was the drugs baron of the area. Another girl a few years down had a pet wolf, and her dad used to come in covered in jewelry and wearing black leather gloves. One parent got stabbed in a pub right next to the school and the boy wasn't allowed to know a thing. My list could go on and on, but basically it was a pretty shitty place to be (oh the irony. Our motto was 'A wonderful place to be'). I always happened to be part of the clever group though, and ended up applying for three private schools in the area.

I passed the tests and got through the interviews to all three schools, and eventually chose the one I'm at today. In the area I live in, I couldn't even imagine going to a public school, especially since even in a private school I'm labelled as a nerd.

From what I've seen and experienced of the public schools in my area, private is definitely better for the kids. Bullying happens, but compared to other schools it's a small amount and is dealt with extremely seriously by teachers. One girl in my year has started to become anorexic, and after PE or games, the teacher calls her back and they chat about all her problems and what's wrong. Maybe it's just where I'm from, but I can't see most public schools taking such an interest in helping out students in their out of studying lives.

As for religion playing a big part in private education, I think that's an American thing. My public primary school was a Catholic school, and my private secondary school isn't religious at all. My friendship group involves a Muslim, a Sikh, myself a Catholic, and a Protestant. I don't think Britain at all focuses on religion and private education being related. And all British schools require uniform (or most) so that point doesn't affect the difference.

School size and buildings is something I also can't compare, since my school is made up of lots of old buildings from the 1800s when it was built as an orphanage. My friend's private school though seems to be about the same size as a regular public school. More funding definitely seems to go into private, but with large costs of thousands of pounds per student, and a huge board of fundraising parents, I can see where the money is coming from.

But most of this is coming from a comparison of the two in my area, so I can see how public in some places might not be that bad or different.

I went to a private school until earlier this year, when our stupid prime minister closed it down. She refused to fund it because it wasn't a government school.

So, not I go to a public.

But seriously, I prefer private. The teachers actually challenge the students in a private school. School for me is too easy, and the students in my class are pretty much year three standard.

I think in the private school systems, they think about the education more than what the public systems do. And most of the private school around here are high-achieving schools, because of how they push the students and how strict they are when it comes to schooling.

But that's my opinion, anyway ^^

Mana;;:

I went to a private school until earlier this year, when our stupid prime minister closed it down. She refused to fund it because it wasn't a government school.

Where did you hear that? "The Gillard government will offer a lower but more 'stable' annual increase of around 5 per cent to the $8.5 billion a year it gives private schools." Considering completely reforming the school system was going to cost $5 billion - to fix the whole country - 8.5 billion's not really something to sniff at. Fun quote from that article: "Private schools have been wary of delinking their funding from the average cost of educating students in government schools, because the system has worked to their advantage over time."

The private/public gap is appalling in Australia - government schools, because they have to take all students, are trying to cope with 3/4 of the disabled, Indigenous, poor and rural (along with appalling funding), while private schools intake whatever minimum is necessary to continue getting sweet government money. If private schools are so great, why should the children of the wealthy be the only ones to access that superior education? Why should a kid have to get a sub-par education because s/he wasn't born into wealth?

It's easy to say a school is 'better' when it has more teachers to students, ridiculously more funding, and can kick out anyone who threatens to lower their standards. My brother's Anglican private school had kms of land, multiple swimming pools, a chapel, medical centre, numerous extracurricular programs - they were also pocketing $10-22,000 per student per year (primary/senior costs), $2200 just to get in, and numerous camps/trips costing hundreds to thousands extra - my school (like other state schools) could request voluntary contributions, up to $235/year. My brother's school had merciless bullying and a deeply-rooted drug culture, where mine had a[n effective] zero-tolerance policy and the one or two people who would brag about drug use were distanced from. I got into the state's best university and studied Arts/Law - he dropped out, joined the Army, became a mechanic, became a butcher. Even with fewer teachers and "thinking about the education" less (?) the environment was extremely nurturing, and the teachers seemed to care about us as people, not as percentage grades. If there was less of a focus on exams and university, I'd consider that positive because it's not the path for everyone. A lot of people went through various practical training programs and got stable, high-skill jobs after their studies ended. Without a liberal arts degree. And while private school students get higher tertiary rankings (TEE/TER/TEA a few years back?) they have much higher relative rates of failure/dropout in first year, because they've been honed to study/live in/under certain conditions. Conditions which got great exam marks in high school, but bomb out when they're working independently. (This is, of course, a generalisation. Most of my uni friends went to private schools. But if the majority of private year 12s get 90+ when they finish, compared to a couple dozen from the nicer public schools, that's going to skew results.)

The cut to private school government funding (much as that ought to sound like an oxymoron) is to implement [some of] the Gonski report recommendations, to set standards such as a 'per student' amount, with adjustments for students and schools facing certain additional costs (extra loadings for disadvantage such as disability, low socioeconomic background, school size, remoteness, the number of Indigenous students, lack of English proficiency.) Government schools, since they do not (so cannot) run on private donations, would receive full funding to meet the standard; private schools would be funded giving regard to the private donations they're getting, but with a minimum of 20-25%. And frankly the super wealthy are always going to have places to send their kids, and those places will always have some programs for the less advantaged, and many are going to be excluded from those establishments. So if costs go up for private schools because the government does cut funding (despite that Gillard is making efforts to prevent that from severely impacting) the wealthy will continue to pay and continue to get that 'better' education.

Oh there's also the point that girls studying with girls produces better results. Boys studying with girls is worse for girls, but better for boys, and boys studying with boys is worse for boys. So if your school is gender-segregated (and you are female) then that's also statistically better for you / results.

Another point to consider is that 90% of Australian independent/private schools are religious (2010 stat) and it's estimated that up to $30 million is 'lost' to religious organisations through tax-exempt status. If that money were taxed, notwithstanding my utter and sincere belief that it is being put to the best possible use and not things like profits for 'religious' organisations like Sanitarium (which is able to undercut competitions because they have lowered costs due to tax-exemption/s) we'd probably be able to fix up not just the school system but the mental health system healthcare and well sky's the limit. (Also research on the subject has found that the #1 thing anyone can do to reduce poverty in an area is to improve education.) Not that religious groups are the only place we could find money - holding children [asylum seekers] in detention was costing us $85 million last year - but since 90% of these schools supposedly failing due to lack of funds are a) propped up by rich people who as I've said will pay more if necessary to keep their offspring separate from the chaff who don't even "think about education" and b) more importantly are nine out of ten religious but want to simultaneously play the "mean government taking away our money" alongside the "sorry us churchmice need that [extra] 30 billion" well they should either pay out of their pocket for the schools they want to run, or they should hand over money that other organisations would pay so that the government can put it into schooling for everyone (including private schools.)

I go to a private school and it has all the qualities that people hate about private schools but I still love it. I don't even know why. I can be really old fashioned and there's some sort of pride I get when I tell people the school I go to. Yes, it's one of those snobby schools that is basically the best at everything in our region. To top things off I'm also a prefect there but yeah. Private for me guys.
Also the fact that I'm just scared of the relaxed nature of public schooling, I think I've been brain washed into following rules etc. that a little leniency scares me.