Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Do you think children in Private schools are better educated than those in Public?
Just a thought I had today!

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Depends on the schools.

I went to private school and believe I got a great education. DH went to a different private school and thinks he got a terrible education.

Where I grew up, the Catholic schools far outweighed the public. Where DH grew up the public far outweighed the Catholic. So there is no clear cut answer.

Message edited 3/5/2008 11:23:42 AM.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

oh boy this will become MORE than just a thought on here

my answer (to start it off )

heck no !

RAH RAH for public schools !

(I dont bother getting into the heated debates, there are so many factors involved in this decision) so I just give my overall opinion.

Save the money for college.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

This will turn into something crazy, but heres my thoughts:

I think depending on what district you live in (public) private school may be better. Personally I was lucky enough to be brought up in a great public school system. Either way, I think parents play a large role in how valuable an education is (whether its from public or private). I personally don't want to send my kids to private school for other reasons.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I don't think you can make a blanket statement that one is better than the other. It depends on the schools that you are comparing. I went to NYC public schools, in Staten Island, and was in honors and AP classes throughout. I know that I had a better education than many of my friends who went to private schools, but that there are also some who had a better edcuation than I did. There are certainly pluses and minues to both.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I think there are really 3 categories, public, private, and parochial.

I went to private (non-parochial) middle and high school, and I think since we had smaller classes we got more attention, and also had to do many more in-depth assignments.

I started college and had already written 20 and 30 page research papers, and not many people I know who went to public school had that experience only because classes are so large the teachers don't have the time to grade the assignments. Heck, I'm teaching graduate level classes and the students can't write as well as we had to in order to graduate high school.

Message edited 3/5/2008 12:56:54 PM.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I think there are too many factors involved. and it depends on the student.

my dh went to catholic school his whole life. great schools and he's crazy smart.

I am a product of the NYC public school system. Not as much support b/c classes are larger, but I have always been crazy smart and I LOVED school. my own ambition and interest surpassed any possible problems with the school itself. I was in honors classes and graduated in well at the top of my class with a regents diploma. I DO think I may have done better on my SAT's had I been in private school b/c they are able to focus more (as I learned from all of my friends that were in private growing up.) still, I did score pretty well.

my siblings did not do as well in the public school system b/c they NEEDED the structure a catholic school (or other private school) would have afforded them.

this will be the major war between dh and myself when I have our first kid. I LOVE the public school system. he's not a big fan LOL

Message edited 3/5/2008 11:30:02 AM.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Totally depends on the schools. I personally grew up going to private school, but these schools were far better than the SD in which I grew up. I had access to honors, AP, and college classes - but most (if not all) public schools on LI do, too.

I don't think you can make the generalization that a private school is always better than a public school or vice versa. We have some truly amazing public schools on LI and some truly amazing private schools. We also have public and private schools that need a lot of work... so I think it really depends on the particular schools. That said, it also depends on each student's (and family's) needs.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Message edited 3/5/2008 11:33:36 AM.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

My response to your question is that I have only gone to public schools and I am a mad genius.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Posted by azoodie

My response to your question is that I have only gone to public schools and I am a mad genius.

Message edited 3/5/2008 11:49:35 AM.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I think it completely depends on the schools in question. I went to both public and Catholic elementary schools, and the education I got in public school was far better than the one I received in Catholic school, particularly in certain subject areas. However, I have no complaints about the education I received in Catholic high school.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I think it totally depends on what district you are talking about.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Posted by anna

Posted by azoodie

My response to your question is that I have only gone to public schools and I am a mad genius.

I was going to say something similar but didnt want at me

I went to an average district, and my middle and HS were NOThing to rave about
but I did top notch all around, skipped a grade in HS and Im overall somewhat smart (not a mad genius though )

but Azad, I heard those private schools in Queens are quite the hype

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I think it totally depends on the private/parochial school vs what district you are talking about. There are excellent private schools and some horrible ones - and there are excellent public schools and again some horrible ones. I think one also has to take into consideration the individual child. Do they need more attention, smaller classes, - what is their learning style?

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

It depends on your local district, but overall I do think that the *top* private schools provide networking opportunities for later in life that most of us don't have access to.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Message edited 3/5/2008 2:26:16 PM.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Posted by azoodie

Posted by anna

Posted by azoodie

My response to your question is that I have only gone to public schools and I am a mad genius.

I was going to say something similar but didnt want at me

I went to an average district, and my middle and HS were NOThing to rave about
but I did top notch all around, skipped a grade in HS and Im overall somewhat smart (not a mad genius though )

but Azad, I heard those private schools in Queens are quite the hype

I am sorry Anna I don't have as much tact as you do

Are you talking about Holy Martyrs?

Message edited 3/5/2008 2:22:55 PM.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

Posted by anna

Posted by azoodie

Posted by anna

Posted by azoodie

My response to your question is that I have only gone to public schools and I am a mad genius.

I was going to say something similar but didnt want at me

I went to an average district, and my middle and HS were NOThing to rave about
but I did top notch all around, skipped a grade in HS and Im overall somewhat smart (not a mad genius though )

but Azad, I heard those private schools in Queens are quite the hype

I am sorry Anna I don't have as much tact as you do

Are you talking about Holy Martyrs?

Why of COURSE ! Im married to a member of the FIRST EVER graduating class, ya jealous ?

ehh, we have the public/private debate all the time.. he knows im right


we have friends that are still very loyal to that place.

I will fm you something about the Hovnanians schools (in jersey) that really me.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I went public until 8th gade and then a Catholic HS. I think like others have said it depends on the SD you are in but most importantly the child. Back when I was going into HS my public school district had some bad race relation problems. They did a big
re-district and we had some kids from another town come to to our school and many ignorant people were not happy, hence the problems.


My parents didn't think it was wrong for the new kids to join our district but the also didn't want me in the middle of all of it.

BUT I went to Catholic HS mainly because I was a LAZY student who needed to be pushed. I was your average 80-85% student. The HS I went to 75 was passing so an 80-85 didn't look to good then. My parents knew I could do better so sending me to this HS gave me the kick in the A$$ that i needed.

Re: Question about Private School/Public Schooling!

I think it completely depends on the child and the child's parents. If education is highly valued in a child's home, and parents are instilling a love of reading, respect for intellectual curiosity, and a healthy level of ambition, then the student will most likely be a success.

Some schools are better than others, due to budgets, class size, the academic culture of the school (do the teachers have autonomy, how much pressure is placed on tests, what are the course offerings, etc.)

As a college professor I've had loads of students from public, private and parochial schools and I cant say that one type of school consistently promotes better students. But I can say that when I have an excellent, motivated, disciplined student, it is almost always the case that this student came from a family where his/her learning was taken very seriously and encouraged from a young age.