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First, it hasn't been established that private schools are better than private schools.
Second, a huge amount of resources are spent on handicapped and special needs students, who private schools aren't required to accept.
Third, in NY public schools must bus the students to their private school and also provide books.
I don't dispute that, I've spent over two decades teaching in public schools, and have done so successfully. It just aggravates the living heck out of me when people compare public and private schools because even if they both have kids, they are not the same.
Your child is by all means entitled to an education and, with a high IQ and a mild form of Asperger's, he is actually a good investment; with the right education he can be a real asset to society. However, every time he has a meltdown, education in his classroom stops, no matter how much the educators in the room work to avoid it. And I say educators, because depending on his age and severity his presence in the classroom may require two adults, making his education more expensive than the average child. Even if he is primarily on his own, there has to be a system in place to deal with him, just in case. I totally support educating him in the regular classroom and he is a prime example when inclusion is appropriate but I'm sorry, he is a burden that the private schools, nor the other students in the private school have to bear. The 5-20 minutes leading up to his meltdown, the 5-10 minutes it will take to get him calmed down or removed from the classroom during the meltdown, and the 5-15 minutes it takes to get the class back on track makes for between 15-45 minutes in which educational instruction is at best not optimal, at worst educationally useless. In the younger grades it can effectively shoot the day entirely. So while your son's scores might not be in the equation when they are comparing private and public student scores, they have not factored in the impact of his presence in the class either. It is just an example of why you can't fairly compare the two scores. Like I said, don't get me wrong, I loved my high-end Aspies, and absolutely agree with their mainstreaming - matter of fact, I think it borders on criminal to not mainstream them - but it does not come without cost to the other students in the class, if they are not in complete control. The bottom line is private schools don't have to take kids as they are, they don't have to take them at all, and they don't. It's like comparing salad made with hand picked gourmet, organic vegetation and salad made with whatever was on the shelf, or in the bins, at the local discount grocery. Sometimes it won't matter much, sometimes it will matter a great deal.
We find ourselves in violent agreement. I was just saying high IQ kids with issues as well as low IQ kids from poorer families will tend to be excluded from privates schools, and they'll tend to cause learning disruptions. I genuinely appreciate the investments made by special ed teachers for my son, and I am very sympathetic to the learning disruptions he has caused.
High functioning Aspies tend to improve markedly after about age 10, but they can be every bit as disruptive as low IQ or ADHD kids until then. I am thankful that society chose to support the education of my son, and I will be a lifelong supporter of public schools and public school teachers because of it.
Self selection. Public schools take everyone, private schools pick and choose.
Although not all private schools are any good. Mine sucked big time and education was a myth.
Could it be that private schools are required to compete for funding and have to attract students, whereas public schools, in general, have nothing to worry about with regard to funding? Of course there are exceptions, but one student leaving a public school is a win, one student leaving a private school means loss of tuition dollars.
I thought the government was all holy and all powerful, so why do public schools lag behind private schools. Even at the university level, when you rank schools, you have to get out of the Top 20 before you reach a public school. Liberals, if the government and public goods are so incredible, why do they lag behind private schools?
1. Because private schools can select their students.
2.The area and student body are going to play a huge role. For example, I would be more then happy to send any kids I had to Chapel Hill public schools...Chicago or LA public schools not so much.
3. At university level Public schools don't necessarily lag behind unless you consider Berkeley, UVA, UCLA, UNC, and U of M lagging behind. I would suggest that they are quite a bit better then a fair amount of private schools.
Private doesn't necessarily mean for profit. As it stands, the best universities are private. In K-12 your income determines the kind of education your kid is going to get. If you can only afford $100K for a house you aren't going to have access to the schools that people with $500K houses have access to.
That is not true in all districts. Some states have school equalization formulas and are not so dependent on local property taxes. Also, in these high end school districts, many kids will do well no matter who is teaching. They don't necessarily have better teachers.
Could it be that private schools are required to compete for funding and have to attract students, whereas public schools, in general, have nothing to worry about with regard to funding? Of course there are exceptions, but one student leaving a public school is a win, one student leaving a private school means loss of tuition dollars.
All the private schools in my area are religious and have a waiting list. I think it has less to do with the overall education and more to do with the religious teachings.
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Of course there are exceptions, but one student leaving a public school is a win, one student leaving a private school means loss of tuition dollars.
