FAQ: Comparing Public versus Private School Education

[Anonymous]

PE once a week on public, daily in private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I'm curious. You say the teachers are better in your DC2's public classroom than in DC1's private classroom, but how do you define "better"? It seems from just your description that the DC1 teachers are doing a much better job than DC2 teachers. Can you please explain why you think DC2 teachers are better?

Note: I'm NOT trying to start a fight or criticize your viewpoint. I'm sure your assessment is correct. And of course I gather from your post that you recognize how individualistic this all is -- in other words, the quality of teachers each of your children have is not necessarily indicative of all teachers in either public or private schools. But I ask my question because I just don't see any indication in your post of why you rate your particular public school teacher as better than the particular private school teacher, and in fact, your post seems to suggest the opposite.

TIA

Objectively, I have entered the classrooms both formally and informally. The difference is HUGE. The public school teachers have a MUCH better grasp on what comes next, what the plan of the day should be. Even with the larger classes they know what is going on in the room, like eyes in the backs of their heads. They anticipate trouble and jump on it early. They have more fluid speech and sound more like they know exactly what they are talking about and exactly what they expect. More scripted (better curriculum?) and confident, less making it up as they go along. I KNOW that public school has rotten eggs, but I have not come across them. Private school teachers have been very nice, but some rare ones border on incompetent, and some can be described as unmotivated and sloppy, IMO. Maybe a tad bit too much creativity in their day.
In the evaluations when I meet with them about my children, the private school teachers seem more unsure about what they think DC needs to do. They have a lot of vague positives, always. That might be because they don't want to sound too bossy or risk upsetting the parent, but someone has to be incharge. The public school teachers say this is what YOUR child needs to work on..., these are the weak areas..., these are the strengths..., don't worry about X, pay more attention to Y.

Interesting. Thanks for your response. What you're saying doesn't match my own experience with either private or public teachers, but I suppose that's just further indication that each school (and maybe even each classroom) is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I'm curious. You say the teachers are better in your DC2's public classroom than in DC1's private classroom, but how do you define "better"? It seems from just your description that the DC1 teachers are doing a much better job than DC2 teachers. Can you please explain why you think DC2 teachers are better?

Note: I'm NOT trying to start a fight or criticize your viewpoint. I'm sure your assessment is correct. And of course I gather from your post that you recognize how individualistic this all is -- in other words, the quality of teachers each of your children have is not necessarily indicative of all teachers in either public or private schools. But I ask my question because I just don't see any indication in your post of why you rate your particular public school teacher as better than the particular private school teacher, and in fact, your post seems to suggest the opposite.

TIA

Objectively, I have entered the classrooms both formally and informally. The difference is HUGE. The public school teachers have a MUCH better grasp on what comes next, what the plan of the day should be. Even with the larger classes they know what is going on in the room, like eyes in the backs of their heads. They anticipate trouble and jump on it early. They have more fluid speech and sound more like they know exactly what they are talking about and exactly what they expect. More scripted (better curriculum?) and confident, less making it up as they go along. I KNOW that public school has rotten eggs, but I have not come across them. Private school teachers have been very nice, but some rare ones border on incompetent, and some can be described as unmotivated and sloppy, IMO. Maybe a tad bit too much creativity in their day.
In the evaluations when I meet with them about my children, the private school teachers seem more unsure about what they think DC needs to do. They have a lot of vague positives, always. That might be because they don't want to sound too bossy or risk upsetting the parent, but someone has to be incharge. The public school teachers say this is what YOUR child needs to work on..., these are the weak areas..., these are the strengths..., don't worry about X, pay more attention to Y.

Interesting. Thanks for your response. What you're saying doesn't match my own experience with either private or public teachers, but I suppose that's just further indication that each school (and maybe even each classroom) is different.

I must point out that we are in one of the best schools in MCPS and the private school is a "feel good, everyone gets a trophy school" and DC does indeed feel good. So for those reasons might explain my position.

[Anonymous]

I think that it is natural to defend your school regardless. If you paid a ton of money to be in a particular neighborhood for the schools, by golly, the school will be perfect in your mind. Likewise, if you paid lots in tuition, you will stand by the private school.
We need to have that comfort with big financial layouts.

[Anonymous]

Me thinks thou doth protest too much pp. I don't believe you conviently have one in public and one in private. Neither public nor private schools allow parents to hang out in the classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Meant "conveniently" above

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that it is natural to defend your school regardless. If you paid a ton of money to be in a particular neighborhood for the schools, by golly, the school will be perfect in your mind. Likewise, if you paid lots in tuition, you will stand by the private school. We need to have that comfort with big financial layouts.

I agree that there is lots of potential for bias in these discussions. Here are some examples I can envision:

1. Public school parents biased to justify their property values deriving from their local school quality.
2. Private school parents biased to justify their spend on tuition.
3. Both camps biased to defend their choices as parents, since no one wants to think she is making a less than ideal education choice for her children.
4. General psychological bias to defend whatever group you are part of.
5. Revenge bias resulting from residual anger at particular schools or parent bodies over perceived slights (whether justified or not).
6. Troll bias from people who just want to stir up trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Me thinks thou doth protest too much pp. I don't believe you conviently have one in public and one in private. Neither public nor private schools allow parents to hang out in the classrooms.

You can believe what you want. I did not "hang out". Over many years I had reason to come to class briefly. Then there are the days that teachers are on their best behavior for the parent visit to see the child in action. Then there are back to school nights and student evaluations yearly or twice yearly. The teachers know that we are all watching. DC is in public because DC requested it due to "best friends" attending public. It was very easy to say yes since it was a big savings that we needed.

BTW, did you notice that I said many positive things about private? The defensiveness is concerning. It is also painful for me that I sank hundreds of thousands of dollars into an education that I think needs much improvement. The shortcomings are less painful in public because it is free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it is natural to defend your school regardless. If you paid a ton of money to be in a particular neighborhood for the schools, by golly, the school will be perfect in your mind. Likewise, if you paid lots in tuition, you will stand by the private school. We need to have that comfort with big financial layouts.

I agree that there is lots of potential for bias in these discussions. Here are some examples I can envision:

1. Public school parents biased to justify their property values deriving from their local school quality.
2. Private school parents biased to justify their spend on tuition.
3. Both camps biased to defend their choices as parents, since no one wants to think she is making a less than ideal education choice for her children.
4. General psychological bias to defend whatever group you are part of.
5. Revenge bias resulting from residual anger at particular schools or parent bodies over perceived slights (whether justified or not).
6. Troll bias from people who just want to stir up trouble.

+

[Anonymous]

I work in a private school and dc is at a private but I would prefer public school if I worked closer to my neighborhood. Public schools have curriculum specialists and a well defined scope and sequence of skills that need to be taught in each grade while private schools tend to teach whatever the textbook publisher puts in the book.

[Anonymous]

12:38 again. I think #3 is the big one. Every person here is going to suffer that bias. Also, most people who participate in these discussions care a lot about their children's education. All parents presumably spent a lot of effort choosing the school most appropriate for their children's education. And all parents will be very sensitive to any suggestion that they are not giving their children as good an education as they might get in some other school.

People are sensitive to these issues because any criticism of a school can easily be perceived as criticizing the person's role as a parent. Every time some private school parent writes that "I chose private because it gave my child a better education than my local public," some public school parent will worry she's not doing what's best for her children by keeping them in public school. Every time some public school parent writes "I decided my child would get a better education at public school than any private," some private school parent worries.

I think the only way to avoid these sensitivities flaring into arguments is to make clear that YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Reasons Public School Education is Better than Private School Education
1. It's free!
2. Diversity
3. More programs what help students with different needs.

Reasons Private School Education is Better than Public School Education
1. Better Curriculum
2. More structure/discipline.
3. Small classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:38 again. I think #3 is the big one. Every person here is going to suffer that bias. Also, most people who participate in these discussions care a lot about their children's education. All parents presumably spent a lot of effort choosing the school most appropriate for their children's education. And all parents will be very sensitive to any suggestion that they are not giving their children as good an education as they might get in some other school.

People are sensitive to these issues because any criticism of a school can easily be perceived as criticizing the person's role as a parent. Every time some private school parent writes that "I chose private because it gave my child a better education than my local public," some public school parent will worry she's not doing what's best for her children by keeping them in public school. Every time some public school parent writes "I decided my child would get a better education at public school than any private," some private school parent worries.

I think the only way to avoid these sensitivities flaring into arguments is to make clear that YMMV.

Agree, I think, what is YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a private school and dc is at a private but I would prefer public school if I worked closer to my neighborhood. Public schools have curriculum specialists and a well defined scope and sequence of skills that need to be taught in each grade while private schools tend to teach whatever the textbook publisher puts in the book.

I am the one with one in private and one in public and I agree with you here. But my experience is the private school using NO curriculum or making it up on their own, which is damgerous. Often the material is not appropriate for the child's age or big gaps in content. For our math text, it was just three people who sat at a table and flipped through a few books then decided. Risky to me.

[Anonymous]

YMMV = "your mileage may vary" = respect that every other person's situation may be different, and yield different conclusions