Public vs Private

As I was searching for a topic for my final post, I was thinking about my own education growing up and how it has made me into the woman I am today. I thought about the schools I attended and the teachers who helped me along the way, and I began to think about the opportunity I had as a child to attend both a private and public schools. From kindergarten to middle school, I attended a well-known and highly aspired private school in my area. However, as the time came for me to enter high school, my parents gave me the choice to change to public school. Looking back on this switch, I can easily compare the differences between the school both good and bad. Yet, these comparisons of good and bad have sparked debates within the education boards today. In a Time article, John Cloud argues this topic. He states that,” today’s study shows that sending your kid to private school is still a better way to ensure that he or she will get into college” (Cloud). He claims that private education focuses more on the aspect of learning material rather than memorizing like public schools. Nonetheless, he does agree with the idea that private schools often achieve better score averages of students because of the socioeconomic status of the students that attend those schools. He agrees that achievement of a student is based how on how well that student is being encouraged by parents and the resources that student is given. Public schools, which often can cost the same as a college education, automatically give students a boast in their SES. But does this mean that public schools offer less of an education? Many would say not at all. There are many factors that are apart of the achievement scores of a student and therefore there is no way of ultimately stating which school provides a better education For example other educators would argue that public schools often have a greater number of teachers and courses to offer to higher achieving students and therefore give a greater chance for that student to succeed.  Ultimately there is no way of generalizing a school saying this one is better than the other. Every school and student has pros and cons that can contribute to their education.

            So what does this message convey to teachers? I believe it shows that a good teacher can be effective in any school environment. Teachers must access the backgrounds of each student and individual address their learning needs. If teachers did this across the board in both private and public schools, I believe this would close the gap between the two school systems.

Citation: Cloud, John. "Are Private Schools Really Better?" Time. Time, 10 Oct. 2007. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1670063,00.html>.