I know that studies show that public schools do better in uni because they're more independent (which is definitely true), but I think private school students can understand the workload and the expectations better than those of public schools. As a former private school student, I found the transition to university quite easy - actually, easier than school, in terms of the expectations and standards. I go to a decent university, and I've found that doing work averagely in school (eg 65-70) is the same as a 80. This could just be my uni though, but that's what I've found.
Also, in school while I was spoon fed quite a bit, I've found also at my university that they tend to spoon feed us a bit, (but perhaps this is because I'm a first-year, so).
As for the general debate on whether I prefer public to private, I've never been to a public school so I can't really judge. I only went to one school for my whole schooling career. Up until year 9, I went to a certain campus where my whole girls year level was about 25-30 girls, so everyone knew everything about everyone. It was also hard to fit in when you had been an outsider - so because of that, I always felt like I never fit in and I was pretty miserable. However, I moved to the main campus and each class averages about 18 girls (the whole year level at that campus had about 150 girls), and I became so much happier there. I think, with the more people there are (in public schools) it's easier to fit in, because there are so many groups you can join and hang out with, and everyone is so different. Socially, I think I'd prefer public school, but then socially it has its negatives as well.
Private schools have that snobby reputation, which is true - my school is one of the most expensive in the state, so you had to be fairly well off to come here - but there are a lot of middle-class families that don't spend money on holidays and work full time and struggle a bit but still manage to send their kids to good schools (this is me). We also get hate from public schools, and there have been occasions where public school kids have thrown tomatoes or pencils or just random things at my classmates simply because of the school we go to. Or, if I'm around people who go to public schools, I don't say what school I go to because I don't want to be pre-perceived as a 'rich bitch'. Sometimes I struggle with feeling proud from the school I went to or embarrassed, in a way, because of what others may say about me. I know I shouldn't feel the latter, but people get touchy about it, so.
Education wise, I was taught that private > public, because private schools have the funding to afford better teachers and all that. I'm sure each school in general varies, though.
(My apologies if I'm spewing some sort of crap or it doesn't make sense, it's late here
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