Parents always want the best education possible for their children. This is why those who can afford to do so send their children to private schools. However, as the modern day parent faces the biggest financial crisis to hit our society in the 21st century, the question of practicality now comes into play when choosing which kind of school to send your child to. Should you opt for the free educational system as supported by the taxes parents pay to the government, or should they continue to patronize the highly prohibitive private educational system? What are the pros and cons of the two systems? How are the two different and similar?
To begin with, the educational system of the two institutions are as different as night and day. While public education advocates free speech and a more relaxed learning atmosphere, private education is more stringent and often requires unbelievable discipline of the student while on campus. Public school students have a certain degree of freedom, such as in the choice of what clothes to wear to school. Whereas the private school students most often wear uniforms that tend to remind them of their social status and therefore the need to act accordingly.
In terms of the standard of education, private schools tend to lead the pack with their demand that students produce grade results of a certain level or risk expulsion. They also manage to fund more learning programs that the public schools due to the high tuition fees paid by the parents. However, while the private schools have students that tend to perform better in exams, that is not to say the public school products have lesser intellect. Afterall, public school students need to pass the standardized tests given by the government in order to prove that the student is worthy of pursuing the more difficult levels of higher education.
Another marked difference between the private and public school system is by way of student acceptance. Public schools are bound by law to accept all students who wish to gain and education provided that they live within the zonal responsibility of the school district. Private schools on the other hand tend to choose their students based upon social factors such as parental connections to the school, family background and recognizabilty, and most recently, pre-formal education attendance and its accompanying results. Such a set up leaves the public school sector at a disadvantage since they must accept any and all students who wish to study regardless of who their parents are and their station in life. In a way, private schooling was not meant for the general population due to the stringent admissions requirements that cannot be met by most ordinary American families.
In my opinion, private schools do not offer a well rounded education for any child because of the seemingly obsessive fascination their teachers have with the written word. Students in these schools barely have time for the regular after school activities that allow them to participate in sports and other social skills building programs. So, one may say that private school students are more intellectual than the public school students but, public school students develop into much more well rounded and highly experienced individuals.
Let me just make it clear that picking the right educational system for a child is the duty and responsibility of the child’s parents. Therefore, it is not proper to say or believe that one educational system is better than the other. A lot of a child’s education will depend on the educational beliefs, social, and financial status of the parents. Only after careful examination of these factors can a parent safely decide upon which educational system they belive, will be the best environment for their child to be educated in.