Public School vs Private School vs. Home Schooling - your opinion is needed

Hyperwrx

New member
When comparing home schools, private schools, and public schools it is important to look at the pros and cons of all of them. This post contains the advantages of public schools when compared to private schools or home schools. I pulled this article and changed it to fit in this format. I thought it would be interesting to see people's pros and cons relating to each of these 3 sources trying to accomplishment same thing. Nmleon (and anyone else- even me), if you are going to comment in this thread (which I encourage I will ask you to keep your posts concise and to the point rather than super long with loads of data that nobody cares to read).

When talking about the advantages of private schools, it is important to know what the public schools are being compared to. In this post, we will look at the advantages of public schools compared to home schools and private schools, both sectarian and secular. Of course, it is possible to also look at things the other way and consider the advantages of home schools or private schools.

Advantages of Public Schools Compared to Home schools

* Public schools generally have a range of children from the whole gamut of socioeconomic classes and a wide variety of backgrounds. This is the type of community that most people occupy as adults, and public school is an opportunity to meet it and learn to negotiate with other points of view an understand people with diverse backgrounds and values.
* Public schools generally have students with a range of abilities and disabilities. As with ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, the diversity introduces students to the communication issues and interpersonal issues that rubbing elbows with people who are different from oneself provides.
* The number of students in a public school classroom provides opportunities that don’t exist in most homeschools, from large-cale projects to team sports.
* The number of students and funding allows public schools to have facilities (such as a skating rink or pool) and/or purchase equipment, such as laboratory equipment and technology that would be prohibitive for most homesechool families.
* The number of students and funding often allows public schools, particularly at the high school level, to offer an array of advanced classes in the arts, technology studies, and the sciences, any and all of which might be difficult to conduct for homeschooling parents who do not happen to have specialized training.
* Public schools expose students to a variety of teachers: even in situations with one main classroom teacher, students may have additional instructors for foreign language, home economics, shop, physical education, drama, music, art, etc. This gives them an opportunity to learn with diverse pedagogies.
* Public schools often offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities, ranging from intramural sports to a range of clubs and other opportunities.

Advantages of Public Schools Compared to Private Schools

* Public schools don’t charge tuition, while private schools do. Even scholarships an other aid may not cover the difference.
* Public schools usually provide transportation for students who live more than a few blocks away, whereas private schools usually do not.
* With ninety percent of all American children in public school, public education is a uniting element and can be seen as an important factor in our democratic way of life.
* Because public school education now includes magnet schools and charter schools, as well as traditional public schools, there are - right within the public education system - choices that have many of the features of education that used only to be attainable in private schools.
* As a result of receiving Federal funds, public schools must follow strict teacher certification rules, which do not apply in many private schools. As a result, public school teachers may, in some cases, be better qualified than private school teachers.
* Researchers at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana found, when examining data from a standardized math exam taken by fourth and eighth graders, that if they excluded the influence of family background and socioeconomic factors, public school students did slightly better than private school students.
* Public schools often have more robust services than generalist private schools (i.e., those that are not focused on a specialty population with a particular disability) for assisting students with disabilities, both in terms of staff and funding.
* Pay for public school teachers is overall better than pay for private school teachers, though this differs by school.
 
Originally Posted By: HyperwrxAdvantages of Public Schools Compared to Private Schools
* Public schools don’t charge tuition, while private schools do.

i take it you dont own a house or pay any property taxes?
 
If you will allow. I was in Public school from K to 5th grade. Home schooled starting at 6th grade for a couple year's. We get a letter from the school board saying that the type of schooling I was getting was not good enough and would not be recognized so I did'nt do any. Went and took GED test at the age of 22 w/out any studying except for math(I suck at math). I passed with flying color's. Most was what they considered high school level and some being college level.I am now 28 and I make 75,000+ a year. Not bad for a 5th grade dropout. Public school = fail IMO. I did miss not playing sport's.
 
hey skeet, congrats on your success. i bet that you are not "socially adjusted" though?
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i always laugh when i hear "those home schooled kids need the social interaction". what a crock. lets see, they missed out on drugs, the gang bangers, having to have the latest style clothing and $200 shoes, being "popular" or not, being punished for wearing a tee shirt with our country's flag on it and homework.
p.e. class here at home was splitting and stacking firewood, target shooting, hunting, taking care of our garden, mowing the lawn and butchering what we hunted.
if i had to do it over, i wouldn't change a thing.
 
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Originally Posted By: sweatybettyhey skeet, congrats on your success. i bet that you are not "socially adjusted" though?
wink.gif

i always laugh when i hear "those home schooled kids need the social interaction". what a crock. lets see, they missed out on drugs, the gang bangers, having to have the latest style clothing and $200 shoes, being "popular" or not, being punished for wearing a tee shirt with our country's flag on it and homework.
p.e. class here at home was splitting and stacking firewood, target shooting, hunting, taking care of our garden, mowing the lawn and butchering what we hunted.
if i had to do it over, i wouldn't change a thing.


All very useful job skills, unless you have to read or write something.
 
Originally Posted By: jeffoOriginally Posted By: sweatybettyhey skeet, congrats on your success. i bet that you are not "socially adjusted" though?
wink.gif

i always laugh when i hear "those home schooled kids need the social interaction". what a crock. lets see, they missed out on drugs, the gang bangers, having to have the latest style clothing and $200 shoes, being "popular" or not, being punished for wearing a tee shirt with our country's flag on it and homework.
p.e. class here at home was splitting and stacking firewood, target shooting, hunting, taking care of our garden, mowing the lawn and butchering what we hunted.
if i had to do it over, i wouldn't change a thing.


All very useful job skills, unless you have to read or write something.

He said P.E. class. Physical Education/Gym Class.

I am licensed by the USCG as a merchant mariner Master Of Towing Vessel's so obviously I had to go through some test where I had to read and write.
 
Public schools in my area don't do a very good job. We tried public school when we lived in what is considered one of the better public school districts in the area. When we moved to a rural area, the schools were so bad that we put the kids in private school.It has been money well spent. I guess it really comes down to the individual teachers. I had some great teachers in public school.
 
Those are useful job skills whether or not you have to read and write. They would always be useful job skills even if one were illiterate.
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Good hunting!
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I'm with you sweatybetty. I know i'll sound like a hypocrite but my oldest daughter(6yrs old) is in public school. Right now it's just not possible to home school her. I've thought about a christian school but not real sure about that either. Maybe I'll find a way to teach her at home soon. I was'nt tryin to make it out like look at me I make this much money and I have this job title. I was just saying either i'm really smart or the public school system is'nt teaching our kids anything if i'm able to pass the GED with atleast a high school level and higher. I'm not really book smart at all and I don't think you have to be book smart to be able to accomplish thing's in life. I guess you could say i'm street smart, but the one that is the key is COMMON SENSE.
 
Quote:I will ask you to keep your posts concise and to the point rather than super long with loads of data that nobody cares to read.

Nope wouldn't want to use actual DATA to support a position now would we?


Quote:pay for public school teachers is overall better than pay for private school teachers, though this differs by school.

Differs considerably by school, and by skill level as well. Could this possibly have anything to do with why so many government school teachers oppose private schools?

I'll be back (with data).
 
No offense but I wanted your opinion, not a bunch of data and numbers. Honestly, many people on here just gloss over the super long post full of data. I know that because they tell me so in PMs. Even I get bored in these discussions when people delve into constantly throwing research studies and articles out rather than personal experience.

Thats a lesson for me also.
 
Originally Posted By: jeffoOriginally Posted By: sweatybettyhey skeet, congrats on your success. i bet that you are not "socially adjusted" though?
wink.gif

i always laugh when i hear "those home schooled kids need the social interaction". what a crock. lets see, they missed out on drugs, the gang bangers, having to have the latest style clothing and $200 shoes, being "popular" or not, being punished for wearing a tee shirt with our country's flag on it and homework.
p.e. class here at home was splitting and stacking firewood, target shooting, hunting, taking care of our garden, mowing the lawn and butchering what we hunted.
if i had to do it over, i wouldn't change a thing.


All very useful job skills, unless you have to read or write something.


jeffo, skeet mentioned missing out on sports. i was referring to our physical education program here. isnt there a "p.e. class" where you are? or is it called something else?
 
Originally Posted By: skeet987 I guess you could say i'm street smart, but the one that is the key is COMMON SENSE.

my personal opinion is that common sense will get you farther than any piece of paper. and by farther i dont mean big money.
 
My personal opinion is informed and formulated based on data.

I've found that by making decisions and forming opinions based on FACTS (that would be data) rather than feelings, I am much more likely to be correct.


This based on NCES longitudinal study data.
Privatevspublicschools.gif


More later, I've got to go to bed now.
 
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The flow chart above shows the obvious. Private schools provide a better foundation- no doubt about that. They do it at an additional cost and restrict who can attend and contribute to the learning environment.
 
Originally Posted By: sweatybettyOriginally Posted By: skeet987 I guess you could say i'm street smart, but the one that is the key is COMMON SENSE.

my personal opinion is that common sense will get you farther than any piece of paper. and by farther i dont mean big money.


Just curious, what do you mean by "farther"?
 
Actually, the flow chart doesn't look right. You start out with a 100% of kids. Add private and public and you get 100%. Then go down to the college on the private and public side. On the private it says 79% were accepted and 64% were not and if you add those numbers you get 143%, no way. Then look at the public side in the same row you have 65% and 37% which comes up to 102%. If you were to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and say they rounded those numbers up then maybe it is possible to come to that number. It looks like something is wrong, like those numbers are not comparable or were pulled from different survey's, and then just sort of stuck together. Nmelon I would like a link to this survey on the NCES website so that I can look for myself. I have been on their and cannot find any survey with these numbers (not saying its not their but the website is cluttered).

"Public school = fail IMO"

Generalization and not true. If it was true then why are so many students in public school. It is sort of the "everybody in school must be a loser" attitude that I see a lot of. I graduated from a public rural high school, got my Associates, Bachelor’s, and working on my Masters. I don't make 75,000 a year but I don't think that money necessarily equates happiness and success in life. If you took your GED when you were 22 then I would expect you to pass and I am glad you got your GED.
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That said the education you get in a classroom is not everything. There are more important things than money and education but we often tend to forget that.
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I am also glad that you make $75,000 and feel you are successful. Congrats, to you! That said I would like to know what your job is if it isn't to personal for you to reveal?

Still my favorite political cartoon on our public education system right now:



Although I think his new one that Mike did is definetly growing on me:

 
* Public schools don’t charge tuition, while private schools do. Even scholarships an other aid may not cover the difference.Public schools charge TAXES and (generally) cost MORE than private schools. $8,549 average for private schools, and $10,041 for public schools (using screwy government accounting, it's actually a much higher figure for public ed).
* Public schools usually provide transportation for students who live more than a few blocks away, whereas private schools usually do not.Depends very much on the school. In addition the reason public schools "provide transportation" in many cases is because of court ordered busing.
* With ninety percent of all American children in public school, public education is a uniting element and can be seen as an important factor in our democratic way of life. What on earth does that mean? Oh yeah, as sweattybetty said your children can be exposed to gangs etc too. (Liberal) democracy at work.
* Because public school education now includes magnet schools and charter schools, as well as traditional public schools, there are - right within the public education system - choices that have many of the features of education that used only to be attainable in private schools. And as we all how well charter schools do know from Scott's previous thread
* As a result of receiving Federal funds, public schools must follow strict teacher certification rules, which do not apply in many private schools. As a result, public school teachers may, in some cases, be better qualified than private school teachers. I suppose the statement is literally true, but it's obviously not true in general or private schools wouldn't be kicking public school's behinds in academic quality.
* Researchers at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana found, when examining data from a standardized math exam taken by fourth and eighth graders, that if they excluded the influence of family background and socioeconomic factors, public school students did slightly better than private school students. Let's see, if you DON'T USE PERTINANT DATA, you can skew the results. What a surprise...NOT.
* Public schools often have more robust services than generalist private schools (i.e., those that are not focused on a specialty population with a particular disability) for assisting students with disabilities, both in terms of staff and funding. Absolutely true. Public schools must (usually) accept everybody regardless of academic ability or physical disabilities etc. Private schools can cater to students with disabilities, brainiacs etc. Contrary to the conclusion though, this is one of the ADVANTAGES in private schooling.
* Pay for public school teachers is overall better than pay for private school teachers, though this differs by school.
And so at last, we may possibly get to why so many public school teachers support the government school system.


Private schools cost less than public schools. The problem NOW is that you have to pay for the government school before you can pay for a private school.

Private schools provide a better education for your children. This is for many reasons, including the school's ability to tailor education to fit your child's needs. Different schools specialize in particular areas.

In a privatized system your child will not be indoctrinated with beliefs and values contrary to yours.

Current government school teachers might have to take a pay cut to teach at a private school (unless they were among the best in which case they'd probably get a raise) and would probably see an end to their union representation.

That factor and the fact that so many government school teachers oppose privatizing education makes me wonder who's well being they have as their primary interest, our children's or their own.
 
Quote:Actually, the flow chart doesn't look right. You start out with a 100% of kids. Add private and public and you get 100%. Then go down to the college on the private and public side. On the private it says 79% were accepted and 64% were not and if you add those numbers you get 143%, no way. Then look at the public side in the same row you have 65% and 37% which comes up to 102%. If you were to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and say they rounded those numbers up then maybe it is possible to come to that number. It looks like something is wrong, like those numbers are not comparable or were pulled from different survey's, and then just sort of stuck together. Nmelon I would like a link to this survey on the NCES website so that I can look for myself. I have been on their and cannot find any survey with these numbers (not saying its not their but the website is cluttered).

Look at the chart again Red. It sys that 79% of those who graduated high school went on to a "High Ranking College or University". 64% of the 12% who did not graduate didn't attain a higher degree.




Quote:Nmelon I would like a link to this survey on the NCES website so that I can look for myself.

At last!!! A government school teacher who wants to look at DATA!!!



Here's the most recent (2002-2010) longitudinal study home page (so you don't have to download the whole thing).

Here's the previous (1988) study.

This is the Digest of Education Statistics, 2009, which covers private and public ed.

This is the home page of "The Nation's Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress in Reading and Mathematics 2008". There are mountains of interesting data there on both public and private education, with interactive charts etc.
 
Originally Posted By: sweatybettyOriginally Posted By: skeet987 I guess you could say i'm street smart, but the one that is the key is COMMON SENSE.

my personal opinion is that common sense will get you farther than any piece of paper. and by farther i dont mean big money. Could not have said it better myself!
 


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