Reply to Families who can afford private but go public, why?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Private schools have much lower standards for teachers. And they pay far less than public schools. If you are good at your profession, why get paid a third or more less????[/quote]

That's what always confuses me when people claim teachers in private are better. This contradicts all economic theory about sorting in the labor market.  My private school teachers always complained about how they weren't paid as much as the public school counterparts (and this was in a city that did NOT pay its public school teachers particularly well). Why would a teacher whose skills and abilities are marketable choose a private school when they could almost certainly gain employment in a good public school with far better wage and benefits?[/quote]

I have kids in private and public, and I am a supporter of both. I realize this whole thread is full of people making silly and sweeping black and white conclusions, but I think this point about teacher quality is one of the silliest.

Look, it's a balance. Teachers at private get paid less but can be easily fired. Teachers at public get paid more (how much depends on the school) but essentially can't be fired (the bar for firing has to be largely criminal in nature and even then it's hard). There are benefits for teachers at private that teachers at public don't get and vice versa. The teaching environment differs between schools and people gravitate to their needs.

The idea that private teachers are worse because they make less flat salary is just ignorant of the profession.[/quote]

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