What public doesn’t teach

[Anonymous]

I agree public schools don't teach kids those things. Though I also think plenty of privates don't teach it all either. Depends on the private.

School will not provide your child with everything they need. Assess the school you have (or what you can afford) and then you have to fill in the gaps yourself. My kid's public elementary is great with reading competency and math skills. They don't give the kids anywhere near enough ime for writing or art, and I'd say they are mediocre at teaching study skills and organization.

So my kid gets lots of time for art at home, encouragement to write and periodic enrollment in local creative writing camps (plus one of her parents is a writer so gets instruction there), and we work on study skills and organization as a family, through the way we set schedules and what we model.

My kid will start middle school well rounded. If you are expecting the school to do everything, regardless of whether you are in public or private, you will be frustrated. A parent is more than just a place to live and a credit card to pay for things. Parenting also means involving yourself in your child's education and making sure they get what they need, whether it's by putting them in a school that will offer it or doing it yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Writing
Critical thinking
Creativity
Organization and study skills
In depth math

Have been at a highly ranked public from 1-6th and am appalled by the shallowness of the curriculum. I feel terrible for what my kid has missed.

Also:

Public speaking/presentation skills
Social-emotional kills

This is what stands out most to me, with one K student in private and a PK student in public. My PK student is learning nothing about social-emotional skills. My K student did PK at another public and also learned nothing about social-emotional skills. I really thought no school could go wrong with such a foundational element in the years it really starts. Definitely not the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Writing
Critical thinking
Creativity
Organization and study skills
In depth math

Have been at a highly ranked public from 1-6th and am appalled by the shallowness of the curriculum. I feel terrible for what my kid has missed.

Also:

Public speaking/presentation skills
Social-emotional kills

This is what stands out most to me, with one K student in private and a PK student in public. My PK student is learning nothing about social-emotional skills. My K student did PK at another public and also learned nothing about social-emotional skills. I really thought no school could go wrong with such a foundational element in the years it really starts. Definitely not the case.

Social emotional skills should be learned at home, modeled at school, and corrected when not used properly. I never expected a school to teach my kid to be nice, share, use their manners, learn how to lose gracefully, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Writing
Critical thinking
Creativity
Organization and study skills
In depth math

Have been at a highly ranked public from 1-6th and am appalled by the shallowness of the curriculum. I feel terrible for what my kid has missed.

Also:

Public speaking/presentation skills
Social-emotional kills

This is what stands out most to me, with one K student in private and a PK student in public. My PK student is learning nothing about social-emotional skills. My K student did PK at another public and also learned nothing about social-emotional skills. I really thought no school could go wrong with such a foundational element in the years it really starts. Definitely not the case.

Social emotional skills should be learned at home, modeled at school, and corrected when not used properly. I never expected a school to teach my kid to be nice, share, use their manners, learn how to lose gracefully, etc.

The problem is classmates in public. Nobody is teaching this to them, and it is chaos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Writing
Critical thinking
Creativity
Organization and study skills
In depth math

Have been at a highly ranked public from 1-6th and am appalled by the shallowness of the curriculum. I feel terrible for what my kid has missed.

Also:

Public speaking/presentation skills
Social-emotional kills

This is what stands out most to me, with one K student in private and a PK student in public. My PK student is learning nothing about social-emotional skills. My K student did PK at another public and also learned nothing about social-emotional skills. I really thought no school could go wrong with such a foundational element in the years it really starts. Definitely not the case.

Social emotional skills should be learned at home, modeled at school, and corrected when not used properly. I never expected a school to teach my kid to be nice, share, use their manners, learn how to lose gracefully, etc.

The problem is classmates in public. Nobody is teaching this to them, and it is chaos.

You said your kid never learned any of this in PK which would imply it’s not just classmates but also your kid.

I’ve never seen a PK or K class not try to model/enforce being kind, sharing, and general emotional regulation. Half of its in the class rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is no one going to call out the fact that OP things creativity is a thing that should/can be taught?

Seriously though, can someone explain this “teaching creativity” concept?

Fostering creativity would have been a better way for OP to phrase this. My kids have had drama, art and music classes since PK. They have gone on field trips to supplement these classes. Our private high school requires 4 credits of fine arts and offers varied courses such as photography, drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, mixed media, ability to learn any instrument, acting, improv, stagecraft, etc.

…those things teach techniques, not creativity. I would actually say children with fewer opportunities are more likely to be creative since they have less provided to them.

And to be clear I’m not knocking private school — I went to private high school precisely for additional academic offerings — I just think the idea anyone can “teach” creativity is ridiculous and frankly so is the idea that private schools universally teach the other things OP lists and public schools don’t.

Creativity can be found in anything. My kids make their lunches everyday and you should see the type of creativity that goes on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is no one going to call out the fact that OP things creativity is a thing that should/can be taught?

Seriously though, can someone explain this “teaching creativity” concept?

Fostering creativity would have been a better way for OP to phrase this. My kids have had drama, art and music classes since PK. They have gone on field trips to supplement these classes. Our private high school requires 4 credits of fine arts and offers varied courses such as photography, drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, mixed media, ability to learn any instrument, acting, improv, stagecraft, etc.

…those things teach techniques, not creativity. I would actually say children with fewer opportunities are more likely to be creative since they have less provided to them.

And to be clear I’m not knocking private school — I went to private high school precisely for additional academic offerings — I just think the idea anyone can “teach” creativity is ridiculous and frankly so is the idea that private schools universally teach the other things OP lists and public schools don’t.

Creativity can be found in anything. My kids make their lunches everyday and you should see the type of creativity that goes on.

I agree! And lol at lunch packing creativity. No need for a private school to teach that!

[Anonymous]

Depends where you are. No private school is touching Stuyvesant, Bronx Science or Brooklyn Tech in NYC. There are plenty of great public schools that leave most privates in the dust. I say that as a private school parent.

I will say that these kids often suffer in writing and other areas because many of them have spent years prepping for one test to get into these highly selective high schools and that’s what they know.

[Anonymous]

One more comment in the OP just above. My child went to public elementary and started private middle. I’m soooo grateful. The privates here in NYC spend in my opinion way tooo much time on creativity when the kids needs to learn basic learning skills.

It’s commonly thought in these parts that the foundation of a NYC public elementary education makes for a better private school student. Most kids that start out in the public’s here soon to be ahead in their educational foundation.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am in hindsight that we were waitlisted for the privates for K and we saved thousands of dollars. We wound up getting into an amazing public school for elementary and my child was beyond prepared for private middle school.

[Anonymous]

Google says there are roughly 90K public schools and 27K private schools in the US (according to the top results).

Anyone who thinks you can generalize across either group at that size did not receive a very good education. It's just like "Men are this" and "Rich people are that" and "Those people do this" arguments.

Nonsense. Self-serving stereotypes not based on any actual data.

But the folks who think you can love arguing on social media anyway.

[Anonymous]

Publics do not teach equestrian in gym class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In depth math?

The lack of in depth math is why we left our private school. We had to tutor our kids over the summer to get them up to the level of the high performing public school kids in our district.

What grade did you move to?
We also are moving far and anticipate a big shock with math behindness as well as open grading and ranking.

Kids moved to public school for 6th grade MS. The public school had 3 levels of math while the old private school was teaching to the lowest level with no differentiation, no math teams, no gifted program, and with me teaching my kids the basics like multiplication and long division. They did pretty math art though. The volume of kids at MS meant there were classrooms of kids operating at a higher level, not just 2 or 3 talented math students. My kids ended up doing geometry in public 8th grade, AP Calc BC in 11th, and multivariable/linear dual enrollment in 12th, which wasn't the fastest track. They would have been on a slower track if we hadn't tutored them at home.

Agree. Alumni interviewer here.

This is common in strong publics across the nation. 40% of kids have taken geometry before 9th grade or take it concurrent with algebra 1 or 2 then. The days of having an 18 month gap between the two algebras are over.

Then the kids take calc AB and BC, and AP stats, if they love math or anticipate a STEM major they take higher level math.

Just know what the transcripts out there are doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree public schools don't teach kids those things. Though I also think plenty of privates don't teach it all either. Depends on the private.

School will not provide your child with everything they need. Assess the school you have (or what you can afford) and then you have to fill in the gaps yourself. My kid's public elementary is great with reading competency and math skills. They don't give the kids anywhere near enough ime for writing or art, and I'd say they are mediocre at teaching study skills and organization.

So my kid gets lots of time for art at home, encouragement to write and periodic enrollment in local creative writing camps (plus one of her parents is a writer so gets instruction there), and we work on study skills and organization as a family, through the way we set schedules and what we model.

My kid will start middle school well rounded. If you are expecting the school to do everything, regardless of whether you are in public or private, you will be frustrated. A parent is more than just a place to live and a credit card to pay for things. Parenting also means involving yourself in your child's education and making sure they get what they need, whether it's by putting them in a school that will offer it or doing it yourself.

I agree that SOME public schools....

There fixed it - you are right - depends on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One more comment in the OP just above. My child went to public elementary and started private middle. I’m soooo grateful. The privates here in NYC spend in my opinion way tooo much time on creativity when the kids needs to learn basic learning skills.

It’s commonly thought in these parts that the foundation of a NYC public elementary education makes for a better private school student. Most kids that start out in the public’s here soon to be ahead in their educational foundation.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am in hindsight that we were waitlisted for the privates for K and we saved thousands of dollars. We wound up getting into an amazing public school for elementary and my child was beyond prepared for private middle school.

Same here actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can spot the private school kids in a coffee shop.

Me too. And in restaurants. It’s usually the ones whose parents are still ordering for the 12yr old. Which I didn’t realize was a thing until waiters kept being astounded that my then 8yr old could order for themself.

What? My 5yo in private can easily read a menu and order. He also speaks 3 languages.

I think this goes to show that it's wrong to make such a sweeping generalization.

My public schooled kids have been ordering off the menu since they were early ES. We had them look at the server and order themselves.

Someone I know ordered for their kid until they were like 14. Public schooled, and only child. Very coddled.

We taught our young teens to email/call places to find out about xyz, make a hair appt, etc... At first, they were nervous to talk to an adult on the phone like that, but the more they practiced it, the easier it was for them.

We also taught them how to take the public bus; read the map, and bus schedules, etc... They were pretty self sufficient. The parent of the coddled teen would never ever allow them to take the bus in our very safe area. They didn't even want them to be home alone at 13 for a few hours.

My kids do public speaking (like debate, theater, mock trials), and they are great public speakers. Their teams have won titles.

I think parenting styles (coddling vs not) drives these types of ability rather than being private vs public school educated.

Oh, and we've gotten a lot of compliments while out dining about how well behaved our kids were, and that they are not on their phone the entire time we are out.

So again, stop generalizing.