I would prefer that my child's teacher not give me these reasons for working in private school:

[Anonymous]

The class sizes are smaller, making work easier.
Less test pressure, making it easier.
Better behaved children, easier to work with.
Children who have been tested and are above average, making it easier to teach.

You see, from my perspective, I want a teacher who can work well with large classes of average children and test pressures teaching my kid in either environment. I believe that the teachers who are successful in the tougher environments are better teachers overall. I get suspicious when some individuals seek out the private schools perhaps because they are not up to the challenges.
Would you want a lawyer who only takes easy cases? What if your case gets more complicated?
Would you want a pediatrician who only wants to see well children? What happens when your child gets sick?

[Anonymous]

I think OP's logic is flawed. What the shorthand "easier" usually means in that context is not that those characteristics of private schools make the job "easy" so lazy teachers can sit around munching bon bons. What it really means is "easier to more effectively educate." It means easier for the teacher to focus on the children's learning rather than extraneous bullshit, and easier for the children themselves to learn.

I suppose there could be some lazy teachers out there who mean "easy" in the sense of wanting a cushy job, but I suspect that's not terribly likely in an employment-at-will situation of a private school.

Your analogies to lawyers and doctors are flawed. For example, a low-level prosecutor might have "easy" cases in that they're not terribly complex, but she will have hundreds of them at the same time, so her job is very hard and she's very good at handling certain types of pressure. By contrast, a BigLaw litigator may have only 1-2 active cases at a time, and they may often be in a highly structured federal court system, so they're "easy" to manage the logistics. But those 1-2 cases will be incredibly complex, with multiple stakeholders and huge risks at stake, making the litigator's job incredibly hard and ensuring she's very good at handling that type of complex case.

Your claim only makes sense if "easy" is linked to "lazy."

[Anonymous]

I'm a college professor who prefers seminars to lecture course. Actually, it's easier to teach lecture courses -- you can outsource grading to grad students, you don't have to get to know your students, you generally are in a position where you put out your POV on its own terms rather than figure out where your audience is coming from and try to get them from there to where you want them to be. The students are pretty much compelled to be relatively passive.

By contrast, to teach a seminar well you have to have exceptionally good listening skills. You have the opportunity to get to know each student's writing and help them progress. Small group discussions enable you to get to a depth of analysis and level of detail that would lose people in a lecture. You can create challenging syllabi and sometimes even choose students so you know you're dealing with a group that is ready, willing, and able (even eager) to go fast and far. And who will not only be challenged but will challenge you to look at things from different perspectives (not just the obvious ones or the ones well-represented in the literature) and to focus on details that wouldn't otherwise be salient to you.

As a student, I'd also rather be in the seminar -- usually I got to learn from (and about and to respect) at least some of my fellow students as well as my professors. I prepared more carefully and more actively for seminar (who knows what will happen and what part you'll want to play or be asked to play?) than for lecture (set the alarm clock, find a pen and paper). And as a parent, I want my kid to be experiencing all of these things (and I have a greater appreciation for the no place to hide aspect of seminars!)

Bottom line, some challenges are more pedagogically useful than other. The challenges I want in a classroom are the kind that improve my kid's learning.

[Anonymous]

11:29 did you ask your DC's teacher these questions? Are these the teachers answers? Does your DC go to private or public?

[Anonymous]

OP here, I am not saying that the teachers who say this are incompetent, but I do ask myself if they are capable of doing the "hard" work. I would prefer someone who is capable of complex situations working on easier ones.

[Anonymous]

It's harder work to try to meet the needs of every student than to teach to the group and let them sort themselves out.

And some of the things that make a teacher's job "harder" also make a student's (aka your kid's) job harder. Maybe you think that's character-building. In many cases, I think it's just distracting.

It's harder to teach when you're sleep-deprived. It's harder to teach when you don't have good curricular materials. It's harder to teach when your classroom is stiflingly hot. So is the best teacher the one who pulled the all-nighter, who has a shortage of textbooks, and no A/C?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's harder work to try to meet the needs of every student than to teach to the group and let them sort themselves out.

And some of the things that make a teacher's job "harder" also make a student's (aka your kid's) job harder. Maybe you think that's character-building. In many cases, I think it's just distracting.

It's harder to teach when you're sleep-deprived. It's harder to teach when you don't have good curricular materials. It's harder to teach when your classroom is stiflingly hot. So is the best teacher the one who pulled the all-nighter, who has a shortage of textbooks, and no A/C?

Again, I want the good conditions for the teacher, but I want the teachers who can handle the tough conditions. I am thinking of one teacher who told me much of the above was the reason she left public schools, but she is still not an outstanding teacher.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure we all want our children taught by good teachers. But I just don't see a correlation between "good teacher" and "handling tough conditions." Teachers who can handle tough conditions may be good teachers, or they may be crappy teachers. Teachers who cannot handle tough conditions also may be excellent teachers, or utterly worthless.

If a "tough" teacher from some overcrowded and under-resourced school is capable of getting 30+ students to sit quietly in their desks for an hour each day, and can break up fistfights if need be, that's great for her. But thankfully, I really don't see how those skills will be handy in teaching my child's class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure we all want our children taught by good teachers. But I just don't see a correlation between "good teacher" and "handling tough conditions." Teachers who can handle tough conditions may be good teachers, or they may be crappy teachers. Teachers who cannot handle tough conditions also may be excellent teachers, or utterly worthless.

If a "tough" teacher from some overcrowded and under-resourced school is capable of getting 30+ students to sit quietly in their desks for an hour each day, and can break up fistfights if need be, that's great for her. But thankfully, I really don't see how those skills will be handy in teaching my child's class.

My child is in private schools, and believe me, there are some kids who need teachers who can firmly and smoothly handle problems, then get right back to the lesson. I wish we had some of those in K, so we would not be dealing with some crazy kids now in 4th.

[Anonymous]

It almost seems like teaching private and public are different jobs. My sister teaches private and has small classes of well behaved girls. She has so much planning time and does a lot of curriculum decelopment. My son's public school teacher is fantastic, but 70-80% of the curriculum and standards have been developed for her. They both do incredibly well at what they do.

[Anonymous]

A very talented and highly regarded local psychologist told me he prefers private practice to mental hospitals. That's his preference. Should his private practice patients hold it against him that he feels uncomfortable and less than optimal working in a mental hospital? I don't think so.

I think there's an issue with your logic, OP. Some teachers prefer public school teaching, and some prefer private school teaching. Their preferences aren't necessarily a poor reflection on their professional abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You see, from my perspective, I want a teacher who can work well with large classes of average children and test pressures teaching my kid in either environment. I believe that the teachers who are successful in the tougher environments are better teachers overall.

Not me. I want a teacher who does an excellent job under the conditions provided by our kids' school. I don't care whether or not he or she could hypothetically manage a class of 28 kids. I do care about how effective he or she is in a class of 14 kids with highly motivated parents.

[Anonymous]

12:54, you name one case. That makes a pattern? Perhaps you need a smaller maths and logic course where you can beef up on these principles.

One reason why my kids are in a private: I don't want them taught to a test. I cannot imagine how tough it must be for many public teachers, who do great jobs, but are not always able to capitalize on spontaneous learning opportunities because of NCLB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I am not saying that the teachers who say this are incompetent, but I do ask myself if they are capable of doing the "hard" work. I would prefer someone who is capable of complex situations working on easier ones.

I think the question was who actually said this to you.

Our school has many special needs kids.

[Anonymous]

OP what reason would you like a private school teacher to give you?