FAQ: Comparing Public versus Private School Education

[Anonymous]

Do progressive privates use a set curriculum or is it more loose?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm not even sure the two PPs are saying the same thing. It sounds like PP#1 is saying private schools are worse because they just accept pre-packaged curricula, whereas public schools are better because they use specialists to craft their own personalized curricula. But PP#2 is saying private schools are worse because they craft their own personalized curricula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a valid question because private is only mandatory in DC where as in Virginia and Maryland Public is a good option.

+1, the charters are better but don't even measure up to FCPS and MOCOs lowest public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

I question the assumption that public schools are more diverse. If a school district is an area that is entirely affluent, what economic diversity is there? Also, seems to me that ethic diversity is lacking as well. Private schools can and DO strive for diversity and it is not uncommon for about 20% of students to be on scholarship and students come from all over the region, not just exclusive neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Further to the PP a quick search shows that bannockburn elementary is 83% white 1% black. Just one example, but there are many more

http://elementaryschools.org/schools/24133/bannockburn-elementary.html

[Anonymous]

Our private is much more diverse than the local public. Public is 90% caucasian, private 60%. 40% diversity in private.

[Anonymous]

We chose public b/c public schools are the only ones offering immersion in Mandarin starting in preK. Everything else was secondary but overall we are very happy with the diversity, facilities, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the comparison between private and public also needs to be made in the context of your child. A child with special needs may be better served by facilities in a public school that are lacking in a private school. A child with special needs may also find more kids like them and a greater range of "kid types" and therefore have an easier time fitting in socially at a public school than a private school where he is the only child who is different. A truly gifted (not just a smart kid with parents who educate at home) may do better in public school with the gifted programs. A highly motivated, academically competitive kid will do well in public. An average kid who can easily get lost in the middle at a public school may do much better at a private school where they get more attention to push themselves and achieve to their potential.

In terms of outcome indicators, I don't know if class size or the extra presence of arts, PE, drama and better facilities makes a huge difference as parents in public school can and often just have their kids do these things after school. The big difference that I see is that public school intentionally only pushes kids to achieve up to the baseline standard. A kid must be independently motivated to challenge themselves. This also has to be done outside of class as their is no allowance for kids to try to challenge themselves in the class. In private school, if it is reputable, there is a more focused attempt to get each child to reach his/her own potential and challenge themselves beyond the state baseline standard.

I agree with the sentences in bold. I disagree with your following statement in our DCs' experiences in both.

[Anonymous]

^^oops. I agree with most of your 2nd paragraph except the last sentence. I accidentally emboldened the entire post.

[Anonymous]

The ignorance on this thread is astounding.

[Anonymous]

Our DCs just made the switch from small private to public schools this past September. The biggest change I see is that there are so many discipline problems with their classmates, which affects the tone in their classrooms. My DCs are in early elementary, so I know the day can be long for some kids. However, I am annoyed that my usually well-behaved kids are often placed near these disruptive kids to help calm them down.

Also, in the private schools you have knowledge of the other families and can contact them directly to set up playdates, etc. In public, it is so hard to meet and get to know the other families in your DCs class and there is no open family directory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DCs just made the switch from small private to public schools this past September. The biggest change I see is that there are so many discipline problems with their classmates, which affects the tone in their classrooms. My DCs are in early elementary, so I know the day can be long for some kids. However, I am annoyed that my usually well-behaved kids are often placed near these disruptive kids to help calm them down.

Also, in the private schools you have knowledge of the other families and can contact them directly to set up playdates, etc. In public, it is so hard to meet and get to know the other families in your DCs class and there is no open family directory.

Interesting; our kids also moved from public to private when they reached middle school, but we had a really different experience with our public elementary school in MoCo. We encountered no more disciplinary problems than in private school. And actually, we found it easier to get to know other families because we lived in the same neighborhood. Additionally, most folks would walk their kids to school, so that provided an opportunity to meet other parents. Our public school also had a directory.