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Public School vs. Private School: Argumentative Comparison

Table of contents, public schools: accessibility and diversity, public schools: limited resources and class sizes, private schools: specialized curriculum and resources, private schools: affordability and socioeconomic disparities.

• Baker, B. D., & Welner, K. G. (Eds.). (2017). School Choice: Policies and Outcomes. University of California Press.
• Henig, J. R., Hula, R. C., & Orr, M. T. (Eds.). (2019). Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America's Students. Harvard Education Press.
• Kahlenberg, R. D. (Ed.). (2013). The Future of School Integration: Socioeconomic Diversity as an Education Reform Strategy. Century Foundation Press.
• Ravitch, D. (2013). Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools. Knopf.
• Van Dunk, D. D., & Taylor, S. S. (Eds.). (2020). Global Perspectives on School Choice and Privatization. Information Age Publishing.

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Public School vs. Private School Education Essay

Introduction, the comparison of public and private schools, works cited.

The choice of the best school is the eternal problem for all parents. Many debates have occurred on this basis. Public and private schools vary in numerous aspects. Nevertheless, the most significant reason for parents’ choice of public schools is the cost of studying at private schools. Although public schools are free for all students, private schools are better for pupils because of the profound approach to studying and the effective environment for education.

The determination of the best type of school can be rather a challenging task. There are both advantages and disadvantages in the public and private sector of education. It is necessary to compare the schools on the basis of several significant factors.

Quality of education

The school program and teachers’ qualifications predetermine the quality of teaching. Thus, public schools should follow the standards defined by the national curriculum. Private schools can offer a wider choice of subjects to be taught. For instance, some schools include specific topics in their programs such as sexual or religious education of children.

Some parents may choose the particular school because its basis meets their principles and understanding of the world. Besides, the teacher in private schools is free to choose thy ways of presenting new material. However, some subjects such as mathematics, history, and science are obligatory in both types of schools.

Private schools demonstrate the better quality of education because of their admission standards. Private schools accept students who pass necessary tests and prove that they have the desired level of knowledge. Such a selection enhances the quality expectations. Public schools have to accept all students regardless of the level of their knowledge. Very often, this fact impedes the achievement of good academic results (Kennedy par. 6).

Exposure to violence

The level of violence in public schools is of primary concern to principals. There have been many cases of shooting in public schools. Consequently, public schools have to work on their security measures. It is also difficult to monitor the intentions and activities of all students in public schools.

On the contrary, private schools are considered to be safer than public. It can be explained by several facts. As far as private schools do not have to accept all students, the risk for dangerous behaviors is lower. Also, it is easier to supervise pupils in private schools because they are less in number.

The number of students who are taught is significant for the efficiency of education. In public schools, almost thirty students go to one class. Teachers face difficulty in approaching and engaging every student. The time devoted to the lesson is not enough for providing all pupils with opportunities to express themselves and answer.

In private schools, the class is comprised of no more than twenty students. Thus, teachers have the possibility to monitor the academic achievements of every pupil in the class. During the lesson, the teacher can approach every student and evaluate his or her knowledge. Consequently, the teacher notices students who need more attention and can help them to catch up with others.

Social development

The school environment influences the social and moral development of students drastically. This environment includes the social support, the educational programs, relations with other peers, and teachers’ approaches to the presentation of new material. Strong relationships are essential for the efficient social development of the child. Thus, students are more likely to greet each other or help with different activities when they have positive feelings (National School Climate Center 1).

It is rather difficult to define the type of school that is the best for the appropriate social development of children. The social development of children depends on the school environment. One cannot say that positive school environments are typical for private or public schools only.

Public schools can be helpful because pupils have the possibility to communicate with many people. They can find many friends and develop positively. However, there is a risk that the students may find friends who will influence them negatively. Also, an enormous diversity of public schools’ society provides the opportunity to learn how to behave and communicate effectively in society.

Private schools, at the same time, may have the better environment for the social development because of the limited number of learners. Administrators and school personnel can do their best to create the most efficient environment for pupils while it is not always possible in public schools.

The primary disadvantage of private school is their cost. They are much more expensive than public schools. The necessity to pay for private education limits the number of students whose parents can afford paying annual fees. Public schools are funded by local authorities and provide all students with the equal opportunity for studying.

A variety of aspects influences the choice of school. Private schools provide students with better academic opportunities in comparison to public one. Despite the fact that public schools require no tuition fees and can be useful for the development of social skills, private schools are better because of the high quality of education, a limited class size, and a low level of violence.

Kennedy, Robert. Comparison of Private and Public Schools . n.d. Web.

National School Climate Center. School Climate and Moral and Social Development . 2013. Web.

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clock This article was published more than  6 years ago

Are private schools really better than public schools? A look at the data.

Independent schools are nonprofit private schools that are governed by an independent board of trustees and are supported primarily through tuition and contributions. There are more than 1,500 independent private K-12 schools in the United States, including some of the country’s best known, including Sidwell Friends School in Washington, where several presidents sent their children.

It is commonly thought that many of these private schools provide a better education than public schools — and  data published recently by the National Association of Independent Schools and Gallup find that their graduates may have better long-term outcomes.

But data can be misleading, and there is a legitimate question of how much sense it makes to compare private and public school performance when the populations of students are different.

In this post, Alden S. Blodget — an educator who spent decades in independent schools — writes that the NAIS-Gallup report, “Seeking Critical Collegiate Experiences and Consistent Progression in Higher Education,” could have “unintended consequences, the most dangerous of which is confirming a tendency to believe that education in independent schools must be better than what happens in public schools.”

Blodget was both a student of independent schools and a teacher of English and drama, as well as an administrator in five different schools in several states during his nearly four-decade academic career. He has published numerous pieces about education. And from 2000 until 2014, he worked with University of Southern California neuroscientist Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, offering workshops for teachers to explore the implications of her research and that of Harvard University’s Kurt W. Fischer.

Immordino-Yang researches the psychological and neurobiological bases of social emotion, self-awareness and culture, and their implications for learning; Fisher has been a leader in researching how neuroscience, cognitive science and psychology tell us about learning and the cognitive and emotional development of young people.

Blodget published a short book based on these workshops: “ Learning, Schooling and the Brain: New Research vs. Old Assumptions .” He has retired from teaching and is the editor of ParentsAssociation.com , a free online resource and idea exchange for parents, students and teachers.

By Alden S. Blodget

“We have built a cult of data, and we are now enclosed within.”

                                                                                    — Nicolas Sarkozy

We live in the age of Big Data. People no longer seem to trust intuition, experience or observation, and anecdotal evidence causes the eyes to glaze over. If you have a thought, chances are good that few will take it seriously unless some sort of research supports it. Conclusions and evidence based on research-produced numbers increasingly determine not only the direction of decisions but whether a new idea is even considered.

Research and data can certainly be important tools in assessing claims and effectiveness and in guiding people as they explore new initiatives, but the elevation of data to a sort of monotheism is dangerous. Numbers offer only one view of reality. Experience offers another. The worship of numbers, especially when those numbers present a reality sharply at odds with the reality that people actually live, can limit or stifle change and innovation.

In his foreword to “ Mis-Measuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn’t Add Up ,” Nicolas Sarkozy wrote about a “gulf of incomprehension between the expert certain in his knowledge and the citizen whose experience of life is completely out of sync with the story told by the data. . . . We wound up mistaking our representations of wealth for the wealth itself and our representations of reality for the reality itself.”

Sarkozy’s observations apply to areas other than the economy.

Recently, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) partnered with Gallup to compare the college experiences of NAIS graduates with those of graduates of other high schools. Not surprisingly, its report ( NAIS-Gallup Report on NAIS Graduates ) showed that NAIS graduates fared better in college and in life after college.

Although the survey claims only to look at factors that contribute to a future sense of well-being (good job, good life) rather than how well educated students are, there is a tacit invitation for people to draw conclusions about the superior quality of an NAIS education. As a result, the report could have unintended consequences, the most dangerous of which is confirming a tendency to believe that education in independent schools must be better than what happens in public schools.

Comparing NAIS students to students in non-NAIS schools might produce nice marketing fliers, but it can also solidify comfortable self-satisfaction and complacency, lulling independent schools into thinking that they are some sort of model of excellence in learning outcomes.

The data from this study are certainly being used in new marketing tools to claim that NAIS schools are superior to public schools. After all, just look at the numbers used in the NAIS fliers: “77 percent of NAIS grads complete college on time, compared to 64 percent of public school grads,” and about the same percentages enjoy academic challenges.

So why mess with success? Resistance to change has long dominated independent schools, especially those that send large numbers of graduates to Ivy League colleges, and this report offers support to those who prefer to keep things as they are. Data are good; parents are happy. Why rock the boat?

I have no doubt that a higher percentage of independent school graduates feel more positive about the categories that the NAIS-Gallup poll measured — though I wonder how these percentages are skewed by other variables such as the population of wealthy, motivated students attracted to independent schools vs. the greater range of abilities and resources in the even larger number who go to college from non-NAIS schools.

But what do these categories and percentages have to do with education, with meaningful learning? Nothing, and although the report does not claim that they do, the tendency to conflate one with the other is irresistible.

What is the reality of independent school? Does it merit this lavish self-congratulation?

Finishing college on time, having higher SAT scores, being active in extracurricular activities and feeling prepared for college or enjoying academic challenge are mis-measures of deep learning. Yet the implication seems strong that these categories offer legitimate insight into the overall quality of an NAIS education, which implicitly includes learning. In fact, schools generally do not use assessment tools that measure deep learning. The SAT and ACT provide no insight into students’ level of skill (what they can do) or complexity of conceptual understanding (what they really know, as opposed to what they have memorized).

As a citizen who lives in the gap between the NAIS-Gallup data and my years of experience in independent schools, I see a different reality “completely out of sync with the story told by the data.” And I know that many of my colleagues share this perception of reality, which comes from faculty rooms and meetings filled with voices ranting about kids who can’t think, can’t write, aren’t curious, don’t listen, know nothing, remember nothing, can’t read and don’t care.

Teachers in NAIS schools, as well as public schools, complain about the steady decline in focus and attention span as students become more addicted to social media and smartphones: “I can’t give the same assignments or tests to these kids that I could give them 15 years ago.”

At the same time, everyone worries about a reality that produces an increasing number of depressed and anxious students, the kids who can’t cope with the pressures to get the grades they need to attend “a highly ranked college,” where they arrive already burned out. And this reality is reflected, too, in an earlier Gallup poll that identified the two words students most frequently used to describe their experience of school: “bored” and “tired.” Their words resonate with my own lifetime of experiences and observations of students in many classrooms in different independent schools. Given this reality, does it really matter whether someone finishes college on time?

My reality also comes from years of reading books and articles written by others who think about and work in education. The most recent is education philosopher Zachary Stein , who writes:

The recent economic crisis has involved the best graduates from our most prestigious schools. The key players were our greatest test-takers, our academic overachievers, and those who leveraged Ivy League success to land (unconscionably) high paying jobs in the financial sector. Their greed, incompetence, and narcissistic irreverence speak eloquently to the failure of our educational systems.” ( Education in a Time Between Worlds )

Stein is not alone in a belief that the complexity of the problems we face today, from the degradation of our planet to the failure of our economic system, far exceed the capacity of our schools, as currently designed, to help students develop the skills or understanding to solve them. This is the reality that the data produced by the NAIS-Gallup report not only fail to capture but actually hide by implying that learning in NAIS schools must be superior to learning in public schools.

One problem with comparing graduates from NAIS schools with those from other schools is that schools are still schools. With a few exceptions, they all, public and private, rest on the same flawed assumptions about how people learn: teaching, telling and learning are synonyms; single skills can be learned in a linear fashion; natural and necessary regression of a skill is failure; emotion interferes with rational thinking and learning; brains come in two forms — normal or disabled; performance can be judged independent of context; recall is evidence of learning. We have a system badly in need of  rethinking and redesign.

One of the reasons so many educators, even in NAIS schools, might perceive that students are not learning in deep, meaningful ways is that students are not learning in deep, meaningful ways. The last thing we need is a poll that assures those of us who work in independent schools that all is well.

Unlike most public schools, independent schools have the freedom and resources to rethink education, yet reports like the NAIS-Gallup study are likely to prevent deeper self-examination. After all, the data percentages that the study produced are in our favor. We must be doing something right.

Sarkozy warns that “treating these [statistics] as objective data, as if they are external to us, beyond question or dispute, is undoubtedly reassuring and comfortable, but it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous because we get to the point where we stop asking ourselves about the purpose of what we are doing, what we are actually measuring, and what lessons we need to draw. That is how the mind begins to close . …”

We need to focus on more profound questions about the purpose of education and make sure that what we are measuring will allow us to learn the lessons required to improve our schools. Formulating these questions depends on understanding a complex reality.

The point is not that data should be ignored. The point is that intuition based on experience and deep knowledge should not be relegated to its current inferior status. Anecdotal evidence can be useful. Data and intuition can be equally valid (or invalid) tools for gaining insight into reality. Intuition can serve as a meaningful check on data; data can serve as a meaningful check on intuition. People need an accurate and complete sense of reality from as many perspectives as possible to improve the actual lives of people — those of our students.

Public School Vs Private School Essay | Advantages & Disadvantages

The discussion surrounding the choice between public and private schools is one that resonates with many families across Nigeria. Both types of institutions offer unique advantages and pose certain challenges. Ultimately, the choice often depends on personal values, specific needs, and the student’s individual circumstances.

Table of Contents

Essay About Public vs Private Schools: A Comprehensive Comparison

Advantages of public schools.

1. Accessibility

One of the primary advantages of public schools is their broad accessibility. Funded by state and federal governments, they provide education to all students, irrespective of their socio-economic status. This democratic perspective guarantees that education is not a luxury limited to a handful, but a basic entitlement available to everyone.

2. Diversity

Public schools usually attract a diverse student population, providing students with exposure to a variety of cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives. This diversity often fosters a richer learning experience, broadening a student’s worldview and encouraging empathy and inclusivity.

3. Extracurricular Activities

Public schools frequently take pride in offering an extensive selection of extracurricular pursuits, encompassing everything from athletic teams and societies to arts initiatives. These activities offer students an avenue for personal growth and development beyond the academic sphere, promoting physical, emotional, and social wellbeing.

4. Special Education Services

A crucial advantage of public schools is their obligation to provide special education services to students with disabilities. This ensures inclusive education, promoting equal opportunities for all learners, regardless of their abilities.

Advantages of Private Schools

1. Smaller Class Sizes

Private schools typically have smaller class sizes, offering students more individualized attention and personalized instruction. This can be particularly beneficial for students who need additional support or those who thrive in a more focused learning environment.

2. Resources and Support

Private schools generally have more resources and support systems in place for students, families, and teachers. This includes state-of-the-art facilities, well-stocked libraries, dedicated pastoral care, and robust parent-teacher associations.

3. Academic Reputation

Many private schools have built a reputation for their high academic standards and rigorous curriculum. Often aligned with international standards, these schools may offer a more challenging educational experience, preparing students for higher education and competitive career paths.

4. Specialized Programs

Private schools also offer a variety of specialized programs, such as arts-focused education, military training, or single-sex schooling. These specialized programs offer tailored educational experiences catering to a student’s specific interests or needs.

Disadvantages of Public Schools

1. Overcrowding

One of the major disadvantages of public schools is overcrowding, which often results from a lack of funding or resources. This often results in an increase in class size and a decrease in personalized instruction for students.

2. Limited Resources

Public schools, particularly in underserved areas, may lack the necessary resources to provide a high-quality education. This includes outdated textbooks, inadequate technological infrastructure, and underfunded extracurricular programs.

3. Standardized Testing Focus

There’s a significant emphasis on standardized testing within public schools, which can sometimes overshadow the broader educational experience. This focus may limit a student’s ability to explore subjects in depth and hinder the development of critical thinking skills.

Disadvantages of Private Schools

1. High Cost

The most obvious disadvantage of private schools is the high cost of tuition, which can exclude students from low or middle-income families. The financial burden can be further exacerbated by additional costs for uniforms, textbooks, extracurricular activities, and school trips.

2. Less Diversity

Private schools often lack the socio-economic, cultural, and racial diversity found in public schools. This can limit students’ exposure to different perspectives and experiences, potentially impacting their personal development and worldview.

3. Selective Admission Policies

Private schools often have selective admission policies, which can lead to a competitive and pressurized environment. This may not be conducive to all learning styles and can cause stress among students.

The debate between public and private schooling is intricate, with both types of schools providing distinct advantages. Indeed, the quality of education can vary significantly within both realms, influenced by factors like the specific school, the quality of teachers, and available resources. Ultimately, the choice between a public and private school should hinge on the student’s individual needs and the family’s values and circumstances. Each type of school offers unique learning environments and opportunities, and the decision should be made with careful consideration. Education, after all, is about nurturing a child’s potential and guiding them toward personal and academic success.

Public Schools Are Better Than Private Schools Argumentative Essay

Public schools, often criticized and contrasted to their private counterparts, possess several distinct advantages that are commonly overlooked. These advantages contribute significantly to the holistic development of a student, making the argument that public schools are better than private schools a credible one.

Firstly, the diversity in public schools is unparalleled, ensuring students are exposed to a multitude of cultures, social classes, and perspectives. In such a setting, students develop a robust understanding of the world, fostering empathy and tolerance. This rich cultural exchange is often missing in private schools, which tend to attract a more homogeneous student population.

Furthermore, public schools are governed by a standard curriculum decided by education boards, ensuring transparency and uniformity in the quality of education. This ensures that every student, irrespective of their geographical location or socio-economic status, receives an equivalent education. On the other hand, private schools are not subject to the same level of scrutiny and may deviate from the prescribed curriculum, leading to inconsistencies in the quality of education.

Public schools also provide a real-world learning environment where students learn to navigate challenges without the protective bubble often found in private institutions. This helps students develop resilience and adaptability, essential skills for their future endeavors.

Additionally, public schools offer more teacher stability compared to private schools. Teachers in public schools are often unionized and enjoy secure employment, leading to a lower turnover rate. This stability ensures continuity in a student’s learning process, while also fostering a strong student-teacher bond.

Lastly, the wide range of extracurricular activities in public schools provides students with numerous opportunities to discover and nurture their talents outside the classroom. While private schools also offer extracurricular activities, they often come with additional costs, which may deter some families.

In conclusion, while both public and private schools have their merits, the argument that public schools are better than private schools is valid. Public schools offer diverse learning environments, a standard curriculum, a realistic representation of the world, teacher stability, and a plethora of extracurricular activities. These attributes contribute to a well-rounded education, equipping students with the necessary skills to thrive in the real world.

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Private School vs. Public School

Parents have much to consider, from test scores and class sizes to diversity and costs.

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Parents may want to look at the certification, training and professional development obligations of teachers in both public and private schools.

Deciding whether to send a child to public or private school can be a tough choice for parents of elementary, middle and high school students. Data on whether public or private education is better can be challenging to find and difficult to understand, and the cost of private school can be daunting.

So how can parents weigh private schools versus public schools?

Myra McGovern, spokesperson for the National Association of Independent Schools, says it comes down to what is best for each child.

“The individual needs of the child should shape the choice for parents,” she says.

Robert Pianta, professor of early childhood education and founding director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia , notes that there are various types of private schools. Some are managed by and affiliated with religious sects, while others operate independently under certain philosophical guidelines. He says parents should be “clear about the specific benefits that they are seeking for their child.”

“What is it about their child that makes them think a private education will be better, and then, more importantly, what is it about a specific private school that matches that child’s needs?” he wrote in an email. “And then, would this experience (or others) be also available in public school?”

Public and Private Schools By the Numbers

With more than 13,000 public school districts (made up of about 100,000 schools) and more than 30,000 individual private schools in the U.S., parents have plenty of choices. However, certain locales may have limited or no private school options. Some may have private schools for certain grades and not others.

Consider these

According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, public schools still attract far more students than private schools, with 50.8 million students attending public school as of 2019. Private school enrollment in the fall of 2019 was 4.7 million students, down from 5.7 million in 2017.

But what are the distinctions that might make a difference to parents as they decide between the two? Experts and education researchers say parents should look at a variety of factors when choosing a school for their child, including:

• Educational outcomes, such as rates of graduation and college enrollment.
• Class size.
• Teacher training.
• Affordability.
• Availability of programs for learning disabilities.

Comparing Student Success in Public and Private Schools

Research has consistently shown that private school students tend to perform better on standardized tests. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is often referred to as “the nation’s report card,” assesses both public and private school students in subjects such as math, reading, science and writing. The most recent NAEP data shows what other research has found: Private school students score better in almost all subjects.

For example, eighth grade private school students averaged about 20 points higher than public school or charter students on the NAEP reading test in 2022. Fourth grade private school students had nearly the same advantage in average scores.

On college entry tests such as the SAT , NAIS found that students in private schools consistently outperformed their public school peers in all subject areas.

While private schools appear on paper to promise better educational outcomes for their students, some scholars have attempted to dig deeper than just test scores to find out if private schools actually increase student success.

Pianta, who led a study published in 2018 that examined academic, social, psychological and attainment outcomes, says he found student success is more directly related to family attributes, such as having college-educated parents and higher incomes, than which school they attend.

“When you compare children who went to private school (for an average of six years) with those who only went to public school, any apparent benefits of private schooling – higher test scores, for example – are entirely attributable to parents’ education and income,” he says. “The fact that they went to private school does not account for any differences we might see.”

Christopher Lubienski, a professor at Indiana University and co-author of the book, “The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools,” agrees, saying, “Whether it’s a public or private school is not necessarily the defining factor. Private schools tend to score better on tests. … But we found that family background differences more than explain the difference between public and private school test scores.”

So how do students from low-income families who attend a private school perform?

Megan Austin, a principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research, looked at the success of students who participated in Indiana’s publicly funded private school voucher program, which is aimed at students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and skews heavily toward the parochial schools that participate in the voucher program.

She says that students using vouchers to attend private schools were somewhat less successful than those who were attending without a voucher, but that “both types of students … were less likely than traditional public school students to ever fail a course, or to ever be suspended in high school, and they were more likely to enroll in college within one year of high school graduation.”

Courses and Class Size

When researching school options, parents also may want to consider what kinds of courses public and private schools offer, particularly in high school, where high-achieving students may want access to a varied selection, including honors and Advanced Placement classes, Austin says.

She adds that parents should ask schools about how many students graduate on time, how many of their students enroll in college, and the school’s average SAT and ACT scores, among other things.

“Those are all indicators that have been shown to correlate with later success, so asking for that information is a good starting point,” she says.

Class size may be another indicator for parents. While some may feel that smaller class sizes are better for students, Pianta says research on the impact of smaller class sizes on student success has been mixed.

“It’s only when classrooms are in the 12-18 (student) range of size compared with classrooms of 25-35 (students) that we really see a difference,” he says. “In fact, although those smaller classes are observed to be richer in interactions and conversations, there is also some evidence to suggest that some larger classrooms (25-30) actually are better managed, and children learn somewhat more in terms of facts.”

Pianta also stresses that, when it comes to class size, “there’s not a clear rule of thumb.”

Still, the selling point of private schools for many parents is smaller class sizes and more individualized instruction. The student-to-teacher ratio at private schools in 2021 was 12.5 students per teacher, lower than the average 15.4 at public schools.

McGovern of NAIS says smaller class sizes in private schools create a “more tight-knit environment,” which allows the “teacher to really get to know each individual student and their strengths and weaknesses.”

Pianta agrees that smaller class sizes may benefit certain types of children. “If parents have a real reason to be concerned about their child in a large classroom (perhaps that student is very shy or, on the other hand, more likely to be disruptive), then smaller classrooms are better,” he says.

But he adds that many public school classrooms have fewer than 20 students per class, which would allow the same kind of individualized attention students receive in private schools.

Teacher Training and Certification

Regardless of class size, parents may want to look at the certification, training and professional development obligations of teachers in both public and private schools.

McGovern says that while many private school teachers are not certified as public school teachers are required to be, private schools often hire subject matter experts with advanced degrees who can give students more authoritative instruction than a teacher with a background in just education.

“Independent schools generally have extensive professional development for individual teachers and groups of teachers to make sure their skills in the classroom are really top-notch,” she says.

McGovern also says independent schools “are not driven by performance on standardized tests,” as many public schools are, giving teachers more flexibility to create engaging curricula. Private schools are generally not required to meet state testing requirements. However, because some private schools don’t teach with standardized testing in mind, it can make it more difficult for those schools to document the benefits of their approach, she notes.

Lubienski says teacher certifications are important. Public school teachers face rigorous requirements to attend training and to adopt the latest changes in curricula for important subjects like math. Without certifications and regular professional development, curricula can become outdated.

The Cost of Public vs. Private Schools

Public schools are funded by taxpayer dollars, but private schools represent an additional expense for parents. To send their children to private schools, parents generally either need to have the resources on hand to pay tuition or they need some type of financial aid, whether that is scholarship money, loans or publicly funded vouchers in states and localities that offer them.

Tuition costs vary based on the type of private school. For example, median tuition at independent day schools for grades K-12 was $27,408 as of September 2022, according to NAIS. Private boarding schools were more expensive for K-12 students, charging $63,650 on average.

Schools operated by organizations like the Roman Catholic Church or other religious groups tend to cost less than secular independent schools. For example, average annual tuition for private Catholic elementary schools as of 2023 was $4,840, compared to $11,207 for all private elementary schools, according to the Education Data Initiative . Average tuition for secondary Catholic schools was $11,240, while independent private secondary schools charged $16,645.

Diversity in Public and Private Schools

Racial diversity at private schools typically looks different than at public schools. According to NCES data, 66% of students attending private schools were white in the 2019-2020 school year. Hispanic students made up 12% of the population, while 9% were Black, 7% were Asian and the remainder were students from biracial, Pacific Islander or Native American backgrounds.

In contrast, 45% of students attending public schools were white, according to NCES data from the fall of 2021. Hispanic students made up 28% of the population, while 15% were Black, 5% were Asian and the remaining 7% were students from biracial, Pacific Islander or Native American backgrounds.

Pianta says parents looking to send their children to schools with a diverse student body are more likely to find that in public schools. “The diversity of public school is a strength,” he says.

Best Schools for Learning Disabilities

For children with learning disabilities, education experts say that private schools may not always be a good fit.

Public schools are required by law to provide access to “a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensure special education and related services to those children,” according to the U.S. Department of Education’s webpage on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act , or IDEA. The department says 7.5 million children were receiving services in public schools under IDEA as of the 2020-2021 school year.

Pianta says his research shows children with learning disabilities are better off in public schools, given the resources that states and localities are required to commit under the IDEA.

“Public schools are more tightly regulated than private schools, and this is very evident in the services they must provide to students with special needs,” Pianta says.

McGovern of NAIS acknowledges that not all private schools have support systems for children with learning disabilities, but emphasizes that “some schools do a phenomenal job with students of different learning abilities.” She adds that some private schools are specifically geared toward students with learning disabilities and provide programs tailored to address those needs.

For example, The Fletcher Academy in North Carolina notes on its website that it serves students “with ADHD, processing & memory issues, and a variety of learning disabilities, including dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia.” Similarly, the Forman School in Connecticut is a college prep school for children with ADHD and dyslexia.

“It’s important for families to ask what the school’s strengths are and their capabilities to really serve the child based on his or her unique needs,” McGovern says.

Researching Public vs. Private Schools

Because each child is different and school options vary by locality, many experts say parents need to do their research locally before deciding what’s best.

“People often assume that private options are better in areas like transportation, housing and health care,” Lubienski says. “With education, that’s not necessarily true.”

He says parents may want to choose private schools over public schools for reasons that go beyond academic outcomes, such as religious education or extracurricular activities such as sports, music or theater.

Austin at the American Institutes for Research says parents should evaluate a variety of options in their communities, including public charter and magnet schools.

“Many parents name academic quality as their top priority, but fewer parents end up having a strong understanding of the academic quality of the school their student goes to,” Austin says. “Instead, they tend to rely on reputation, word-of-mouth or less concrete information that may or may not actually reflect school quality.”

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Public or Private School? It Shouldn’t Matter

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, mark dynarski mark dynarski owner - pemberton research, former brookings expert.

June 12, 2014

My years of attending different schools went like this: public, private, public, public, private.  As the sequence suggests, I had opportunities to experience schools that were public and schools that were private.  At least from my perspective as a student, a school’s classification as public or private did not make much difference. They were all schools to me.

I was reminded of the public versus private school debate, and my experience with the insignificance of this categorization, by a recent front-page article in Education Week with the headline, ‘Public Schools Outperform Private Schools, Book Says.’   The authors of the book ( The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools ), Christopher and Sarah Lubienski, argue that earlier research showing private schools—mostly Catholic schools—outperformed public schools was hampered by data limitations. When they analyze data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study’s (ECLS) kindergarten cohort, they find that after adjusting for student characteristics, the average student in an elementary public school had a higher math score than the average student in an elementary private school.

At least three issues come to mind about these findings. First is that costs are not mentioned, despite how much they matter. Second is how disconnected the findings are from the choices parents actually have to make. And, thirdly, the question of ‘public versus private’ is a sideshow diverting attention from a far more substantive inquiry: what can we do to make all schools become more productive?

First, costs. Recent data on Catholic schools reports per-student costs well below public schools. It’s about $6,000 for elementary schools and $12,000 for secondary schools . NCES reports average public school spending combined for both levels of $12,000 . Over the K-12 span, then, and with most Catholic elementary schools spanning K-8, the total spent per student is about $102,000 in Catholic schools versus 50 percent more, $156,000, in public schools. By this metric, even if Catholic schools had the same test scores, their productivity (output per unit of input) is substantially higher than public schools.

Second, parents. Tables in the Lubienskis’ book show huge differences in public and private school test scores. Catholic and Lutheran schools have fourth-grade NAEP scores that are 10 points higher than public schools. Because of how the NAEP is scored, this difference is approximately an entire grade level. Fourth graders in public schools are scoring about what third graders in private schools score. Differences between public and private school students are even larger in eighth grade, ranging from 14 to 20 points.

These differences disappear when the authors do their analysis. But how? Scores are ‘adjusted for’ student differences using statistical models. I am not criticizing the use of statistical models, having spent decades using them. But there are limitations that need to be kept in mind. In the case of private schools, ‘adjusting’ for characteristics creates a hypothetical situation in which public and private schools are being analyzed ‘as if’ they had the same characteristics. For example, a local public school that has a large enrollment and many students on free lunch and a local private school with a small enrollment and few students on free lunch will be compared ‘as if’ they have the same enrollment and the same proportion of students on free lunch.

The fact that this situation doesn’t actually exist is the point. Parents see real schools, not hypothetical ones. Suppose a parent is considering whether to send their son or daughter to a private school or to a public school. For sake of argument, let’s assume transporting their child to either school takes the same time and energy. There is a huge difference in student test scores between the schools, which the parent recognizes might be partly because high-achieving students already attend the private school. The parent also learns that studies suggest students who attend private schools are more likely than similar students attending public schools to graduate from high school and to enroll in college . Suppose the private school is achieving these score differences and graduation outcomes while also spending less than public schools.

This scenario might lead many parents to choose private schools. Having high-achieving students in the private school as peers for one’s child is an attractive feature. Increasing the odds that one’s child will graduate from high school and attend college is appealing as well. The lower cost closes the deal.

Except in reality, parents don’t pay a lower cost for private schools. In fact, the cost of a private school is added onto the cost of a public school. Parents pay property and state income taxes that fund public schools, and then have to decide whether they can afford private school on top of that. So, private school becomes an expensive proposition. Some parents will nonetheless decide to pay for it, but it’s unsurprising that 90 percent of America’s K-12 students are in public schools.

The Lubienskis say their findings should undermine arguments in support of voucher programs and other market-based programs because these programs are based on the idea that students attending private schools will do better than if they attended public schools. Let’s expand ‘doing better’ beyond test scores and focus on the education attainment of older students.

The DC voucher study cited above found that using vouchers increased high school graduation by 21 percentage points. Applicants for those vouchers were low-income (families below 185 percent of the poverty level were eligible), and nearly all were African-American. That study did not follow students long enough to know whether students went on to college. However, the study of the New York voucher program cited above found that using vouchers increased college enrollment by 9 percentage points for African-Americans.

These seem like small numbers, but economists have estimated that compared to dropping out, lifetime earnings of high school graduates are $300,000 higher for African-Americans, and lifetime earnings of graduates who attend at least some college are $800,000 higher. Thus, the increased likelihood of graduating high school and attending college associated with the use of a voucher can add tens of thousands of dollars to lifetime earnings. This is likely an underestimate given that completing college is not accounted for (neither study explored college completion), but is associated with even greater earnings. And most voucher users do not use the voucher for long, usually only two to three years. The current DC voucher program provides $8,000 for elementary schools and $12,000 for high schools, which means public spending of somewhere around $20,000 to $30,000 could achieve an earnings effect three times larger or more.

Of course these are rough numbers that are influenced by data limitations: estimates of lifetime earnings necessarily involve many assumptions; the New York City study found beneficial effects of vouchers only for African-American students and not for Hispanic students; and only a couple studies have been done (though both studies referenced here use strong experimental designs). And if a much larger voucher program were created, it might serve other kinds of families and possibly have smaller effects.

The point is that comparing test scores of public and private schools can be a distraction from the bigger picture. In fact, the entire public-private debate is nothing more than a sideshow. How to improve schools generally is more fruitful, though less dramatic, than framing the debate as ‘public is bad and private is good,’ or the reverse. Certainly though, analyzing what private schools are doing to yield higher graduation and college-going rates while spending less is one way to begin answering that question. And if what’s discovered to be working in private schools can possibly be replicated by the public schools that nearly all students attend, there will be no need for future debate. 

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Are private schools better than public schools? Perception versus reality

Op-ed article published in the Times-Colonist (Victoria, BC) newspaper on the myth of the private school advantage.

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What do you believe is the role of affordable private schools for the poor in India? " Private " schools are schools that are independently operated and do not receive government aid. Private schools for the poor exist and they are most likely to have the largest effect on enrollment. The macro-level analysis of various independent factors such as government spending on education, political opinion, economic data, and cultural variables determines their relationship to private schools in the developing world. Private schooling in India is demand-driven. Parents choose private education because they believe they provide better education and future opportunities for their children than the government schools. Political factors play a serious role in private education choice. Private schools are currently educating a large percentage of the world's poor. Governments are not on track towards achieving the Goal: Education for All. When private schools are included, more students are enrolled in school than governments. Affordable private schools are included in education enrollment goals and benchmarks are being met. Because of government failure to educate students in very poor areas, private schools that charge low-fees are educating students that would otherwise attend government schools—or not be in school at all. Schools develop in this scenario as government does not meet a mandate to education, which it declares a fundamental right. Whether the failure is actual or perceived, private organizations are educating the masses where there is government failure. The low-fee private school sector is fulfilling parents' demands in cases where government schooling does not. Political scientists, policy-makers, and government officials need to recognize the influence and salience of the private sector when discussing global education. Private education is helping educate the world's poor in a substantial way. Primary reason that families choose private schools is perceived superior quality to government schools. Largest reasons for choosing private schools are, in order, poor or nonexistent government-school infrastructure, lack of English medium education, and insufficiency or absenteeism of government-school teachers. Government schools geographically located too far from many families to attend school, and children who attend private school tend to have higher attendance and greater measured achievement. Political aspect of affordable private schools has often been overlooked. Existing studies either discount affordable private schools completely, citing education as a normative universal " public good " , or discount the role of government, saying that private schools arise because the " government system is perceived to be inadequate " , that they exist because of the poor and declining quality of government education, or inadequate infrastructural capacity of government to handle educational needs alone. Affordable private sector can " reclaim education " for the poor, especially in cases in which governments fail to provide education. When a collective-action problem leads to failure of the government sector, and government is not responsive to citizens' needs, citizens are more likely to privatize what has been previously viewed as a collective function. Trust in government, the relationship between teacher job protection, union strength, and teacher absenteeism and the language of instruction are all salient concerns. Government policies, including spending and curriculum help explain the size of the private sector. There is a role of key players in government and private education. The principal actors, which are outlined as follows, are government actors (public officials), teachers, parents, and school operators/entrepreneurs. With such heavy job protection, teachers are often absent from class. Some teachers are absent because of the close relationship between teachers' unions and the government sector—they are carrying out administrative, political, or election-related work, and other teachers are absent because of the lack of accountability surrounding teacher absence. Parental preferences also play a role in private enrollment. Parents also recognize teacher absence, and cite government-school teacher absenteeism as one reason for choosing private schools. Government officials also hinder or encourage the provision of private schools by motives of personal financial gain. Corruption taints private school regulation. Government teachers oppose private education for both ideological and practical reasons. Teachers have a stated commitment to universal and compulsory government education, and many do not feel that poor families ought to pay money for private school. Practically, low-fee private schools are competitors for government schools, and teachers have a rational incentive to limit their supply in order to protect the pre-eminence of government school. Individuals and groups create and operate affordable private schools. For these schools to exist there has to be significant incentive for independent school operators to work in the sector. School curriculum and language of instruction can also impact parents' preference. Many families choose private schools because they are English-medium. English provides a competitive advantage: though the country has official languages at the state level, English is one of the two official languages for state business. Governments use language as a political tool. Finally, cultural factors have a significant impact on parental choice. Low-fee private schools do have some direct connection to parental choice through factors associated with religion. If given a chance what are the kinds of innovative solutions (products & services) that you will introduce to these schools and how would you make these interventions sustainable in these schools? Innovative Solutions-Outline

What's wrong with private education

John White’s new interdisciplinary study of private schools in Britain asks if there are good reasons for their continued existence. Drawing on philosophical, historical and recent policy data, it questions well-known objections to them. Its central concern is the danger they pose to a democratic society: their traditional dominion over leadership positions in sphere after sphere still continues. In recent years they have benefited from a deliberate blurring of the divide between the concepts of private and public education – most notably via the academies programme in England. Their growing strength has to be seen against the wider background of a single hierarchical system. Private schools and top state schools are at the apex of a new pyramid created by examination-focused curricula, league tables and parent choice.The book ends with proposals for abolishing private schools or curbing their power.

Patrick J McEwan

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10 Reasons Public Schools Are Better Than Private Schools

Adebayo Samson

January 22, 2024

Ever wondered why public schools are better than private schools? Public schools have several advantages, which we will cover in this article, and why they are better than private institutions.

It can be complicated for you as a parent to decide which school to enroll your child, especially if there aren’t enough resources. Not making decisions fast and smart can also cause your child to resume school late, becoming a headache for the child and you as a parent.

You want to take your child to a public school, but you’re wondering what people will say and if that’s the best option for your child.

In this article, you’ll learn why you should enroll your child in a public school and why public schools are better than private ones. Take your favorite position because it will be a fantastic long ride. At the end of this post, you’ll know the best school to enroll your child in.

Public School vs. Private School

There are two choices of education that a child can learn from. They are categorized into Public and Private schools.

Public schools are centers of learning owned by the government. They have been seen as a go-to place for low and middle-class citizens who can’t afford to enroll their children in private schools .

Private schools are centers of learning owned by individuals or organizations. They’re mostly filled with children whose parents can afford the enrollment fees and other school charges.

Undoubtedly, “Public schools versus Private schools” has been flying around for a while. While it is important to know what kind of school to enroll your child in, it is also essential that you have a sound understanding of the difference between public and private schools.

Reasons why Public Schools are better than Private Schools

Apart from the fact that enrolling your child in a public school can cost you nothing or less, there are also other good reasons you should enroll your children in a public school.

1. It costs you little or nothing.

One of the most important differences between a public and private school is the cost. Public schools are more budget-friendly than private schools.

Besides minor charges, taking your ward to a public school saves you cash. Public schools offer your child adequate knowledge and quality education. In so many public schools, it costs nothing to get into the school because the government has paid for it.

Sending your child to a private school may cost you a fortune or lead to bad debt. Why not go for the public school option when you can’t afford it?  

It helps save costs on the family’s part. Rather than spending heavily on a private school and running into bad debt, you can use the resources to cater to your child’s and some family’s pressing needs. This will go a long way in helping every member of the family.

2. No religious biases

Some private schools have a long tradition and religious aspects that often play a significant role in their curriculum. In public schools, there is no religious discrimination whatsoever. All students are treated as one, irrespective of their religious background.

Religion can lead to the isolation of your children in private schools. You wouldn’t want that, would you? Public schools give students a chance to practice their religion unashamedly.

Most private schools do not allow students to openly practice what they believe in. Unlike public schools, where your child can openly declare his/her religion without discrimination.

3. The best teachers are employed.

You’d agree that public schools have better teachers than private schools. This is because their teachers are well-screened before accepting them to teach the school children. When choosing a school for your children, you want them to have the best teachers possible. You want lifelong, committed educators who entered the profession as a calling and dedicated their lives to young people.

When the best teachers impart knowledge to your child, doesn’t it automatically mean your child will become one of the best or even the best? Public school teachers are required to be certified by the state. So, you can’t find an unqualified teacher imparting knowledge to your child.

According to data found in 2018, the percentage of new teachers (less than four years of teaching experience) is higher in private schools at 16%, compared with public schools at 11%.

Public school teachers also have a higher percentage of master’s degrees — 48% compared to 36% in private schools. Also, more public school teachers participate in professional development yearly than private school teachers.

The government ensures public school teachers are well-equipped to confidently teach students the right knowledge. With good teachers teaching your child, you have no fear that he/she won’t do well. A qualified teacher also boosts the parent’s confidence because they rest assured their children are in good hands.

4. Accessibility

Unlike private schools, students can be admitted into public schools without discrimination. They provide access to education for every child in the community. This ensures that every student in a neighborhood has the same educational opportunities as the neighbors down the street, regardless of their current personal or financial situation.

No matter who your offspring is or how good or bad a student is, public school operators believe they can help the youngster succeed.

Most private schools select the kind of students they want in their schools; they do not give the freedom of “any child can come in” Their students are carefully selected and adequately screened. Public schools allow children from different backgrounds access to education at little or no cost.

5. Social Interactions

It might sound a bit funny, but taking your child to a public school opens more opportunities for him/her. Children in public school classes are more in numbers than in those of private schools; this opens children to meet new people whose beliefs might be entirely different from theirs.

It also opens them to more opportunities that might only become visible soon. It ensures they have new learning experiences and become exposed to different cultures they can learn from.

Children can interact with other kids and become more sociable. This also allows them to defend themselves whenever the need arises. They also learn how to deal with different kinds of people. They learn to share this world with other humans from various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

When a child is socially smart and upright, it gives such a child an edge over his/her peers. It helps the child become familiar with socializing with people and their importance.

6. Academic Opportunities

Public schools often have the resources to offer more academic opportunities, like advanced classes and courses in some subjects. They also have the privilege to attend competitions which increase the children’s mental capacity and strength.

Students become more open to receiving scholarship opportunities and more visibility for the children. Going to competitions and gatherings outside the school walls broadens the horizon of the students and keeps them enlightened.

7. Accountability

The state holds public schools accountable for the student’s academic performance. This leads to proper management of the students’ performances in school, and they are seen excellently in their studies.

This prevents abuse and leads to the management of failing schools much more quickly than if the school did not have such accountability. Accountability helps to keep the teachers and school management on track.

It ensures that the teachers are doing their job as expected. Accountability also ensures that the students get adequate attention and are taught as required.

8. Public schools are more reliable.

You take your children to a private school and are unsure if it’ll be there tomorrow. Public schools will also be there if there’s one thing to be sure of. It’s been there for decades, and it’s not leaving.

Public schools, except on rare occasions, are better grounded than many private schools . A lot of public schools have been in existence for decades ago and are still standing strong.

Private schools can run out of business due to debt and other factors, but it isn’t the same for public schools. Since they are owned and funded by the state government , they are never established to run out.

9. Special Education Programs

Public schools are often better equipped to offer comprehensive special education programs compared to their private counterparts. This advantage stems from federal laws in many countries, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in the United States, which mandate public schools to provide services to all students with disabilities.

Also, public schools typically have a team of qualified professionals who specialize in special education.

10. Community Engagement

Public schools, by their very nature, are deeply rooted in the communities they serve. This integration into the local environment offers unique advantages that are often less pronounced in private school settings.

Through community-based projects and local initiatives, students gain hands-on experience in contributing to societal development. Also, public schools have the unique ability to adapt their curriculum and programs to meet the specific needs of their community.

Most primary and secondary public schools are free, but your children’s basic needs, like uniforms and books, might not be free. Not all higher institutions are free, either. But they are quite affordable, unlike private schools. So taking your child to a public school might be your best option.

Private schools can adopt a curriculum and set standards for themselves. On the other hand, public schools have their curriculum properly monitored by the government. Therefore, teachers can’t add unnecessary activities that are unimportant to the student’s growth.

No, taking your children to a public or private school does not determine how they’ll turn out. Taking them to a public school is securing their future by giving them a quality education, but that doesn’t mean they must also put in the work.

Check out their security systems before enrolling your child in any public school. Do they have guards? Are their guards active? Do they allow children to leave the school premises anyhow? These and other questions should be answered before enrolling your child. If it comes out positive, you can rest assured your child is safe in school.

For safety reasons, enrolling your child in a nearby public school can be the best option. But you can opt for a farther one if there’s no public school nearby. Nevertheless, the most important thing is giving your child a quality education and, at the same time, being safe in the process of receiving it.

Public schools have been termed as those which are for children whose parents are not privileged enough to afford a private school. In getting to this stage, you’d have decided if a public or private school is appropriate for your child.

I’m sure whichever you pick is your child’s best decision. However, nothing beats the fact that giving your child a quality education is necessary and of utmost importance.

Enrolling your children in a good school is giving your child the best thing he/she could ask for. Investing in your child’s education is one of the most important things you can give your child.

Public schools have a lot of edges over private schools, which have been listed in this article. Whatever decision you make now will decide what kind of education your child gets.

Enrolling your child in a public school can never get outdated. Public school students come out better, just like private school students. It would be best to focus on giving your child nothing but the best.

• Public and Private Schools (oecd.org)

Sam is a brilliant young Nigerian biochemistry student and an aspiring entrepreneur. Despite facing many challenges, he has never lost his passion for learning and drive to make a difference in the world. Read more about him here .

2 thoughts on “10 Reasons Public Schools Are Better Than Private Schools”

Very impressive

You already convinced me with all the answers you gave me Thanks

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Public Schools Are Better Than Private Schools Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Performance , Education , Children , Study , High School , Family , Students , Parents

Words: 1400

Published: 02/22/2020

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The need to give ‘the best’ education to their children has never been higher for parents as this is what society perceives to be the epitome of good parenting. This success is measured by good grades, co-curricular activities, entrance into Ivy League universities and finally high flying careers. The dilemma that parents face today is in choosing a school for their children, private or public? Whereas private schools have long been believed to the better option, with the prevailing economic crisis the cost of private schools is prohibitive to most parents; more people are turning to public schools because there is more data to prove that they are better than public schools. This paper seeks to debunk the myths surrounding public school education and to prove that public schools are better than private schools. Historically the notion that private schools provide better opportunities for their students in terms of academic performance, co-curricular activities and college entry has been propagated by research findings. CEP notes that researchers such as Coleman, Hoffer & Kilgore, 1982 stated that private school students perform better in school than their public school counterparts who cited a “private school effect”. (5) These findings are what prompted reforms in the public school sector that borrowed heavily on the private school model such as school uniforms and more autonomy for schools, ostensibly to match the performance of public schools to that of private schools. Recent research however points to a different direction, that public schools are indeed better than private schools. This is because the perceived better performance of private schools is due to other external factors other than the schools themselves. Public schools perform better, have more qualified teachers, have a wider range of facilities and are cheaper. The myths that private school students have higher chances of college entry, more satisfaction in the future and that public schools are unsafe are also dispelled showing that public schools are indeed better. CEP (Center for Education Policy) conducted a study in 2007 that had interesting findings; they found that the academic performance of children was based on “the kinds of economic and resource advantages their parents can give them during high school, as reflected by their SES” parents with a high SES have a higher expectations for their children to succeed, are more concerned about their children’s academic performance and discuss academics with their children more. (11&14)Such children are bound to perform better than their counterparts who do not have similar parents; these parents are mostly the private school parents because they can afford the high fees and are more concerned about their children’s schooling. Parents of public school children have lower SES and are mostly not available for their children as they have to work two jobs to get money. This study shows that ‘the private school effect’ is due to social factors and not due to the schools and that when these factors are put into consideration public schools perform better. The fact that public schools are cheaper is also another advantage, in these harsh economic times there is good news for parents since they don’t have to pay thousands of dollars for a good education that they can get for free. Private schooling “costs a family, on average, $15,000 a year”, with some schools costing as high as $40,000, parents can save all this money and still get quality education for their children if they take them to public schools. (Taylor,1) Another study by Lubienski & Lubienski in 2006, found that when factors such as SES and the academic ability of the student at entrance are put into consideration, students in public schools are performing better in mathematics, “moreover, particularly at grade 4, public schools actually scored significantly higher than did private and charter schools.”. This study faults the approach of previous studies as they did not put into consideration all the factors when preparing their findings. They found that public schools almost always get the weakest students which cause them to be perceived to lag behind in performance. This further proves that public schools are better. (3, 4&40)

According to NCES, “Most support services are found more often in public than private

Schools” they include remedial, ESL, special classes for disabled students who are sometimes rejected by private schools. They also have more medical services, substance abuse counseling and drug and alcohol prevention programs. (28) All these programs provide a better learning environment due to this increased support thus leading to better academic performance by the students in public schools. For a long time there have been claims that private school students have an advantage when applying to get into college. In his article Taylor interviews several people who are in college admission boards who say that private school students have no advantage when it comes to admission, they instead say that they look for "I look for qualities that don't show up on a high school transcript," and “someone who has an insatiable desire to learn, and who thinks critically." These are qualities that are found in all brilliant and hardworking students regardless of whatever school they went to. He also notes that there have been many successful children who attended public schools and the frustration that many private school students and their parents get after high school if their children don’t get into Ivy League schools after paying all that money for tuition. This article reveals that the parents with children in private schools may just be wasting their money paying for things they can get for free if they pay close attention to the academics of their children. (1) What about the claim that students from private schools had an advantage in the three post high school outcomes of college education, civic mindedness and job satisfaction? CEP found that at the age of 26 these outcomes were again found to be more dependent on SES and the Education of the parents other than the type of school attended. There was no relationship between private schooling and job satisfaction and civic mindedness was more determined by the students’ performance in the history subject than the type of school attended. The author closes by saying that “while private school effects exist in some circumstances, they are limited and inconsistent. In comparison, family characteristics appear repeatedly to influence student performance in high school and later life.” (18) These findings again dispel the myth of the existence of a ‘private school effect’ they instead show that brilliant and hardworking students will always succeed in life regardless of the type of school they attended. John Chubb and Terry Moe stated that “choice is a panacea” hailing autonomy in schools as the ultimate recipe for success thus implying that private schools are inherently better than public schools because they are autonomous and that the choice that parents had led to positive competition that caused academic excellence. What are these parents basing their choices on? Strauss notes that choices are based on “the demographics of a school, and sports programs are easier to observe, and parents often consider these, along with religious values,” and not necessarily academic performance. This leads to private schools concentrating more on attraction and pleasing parents more than teaching as opposed to public schools that focus more on teaching, choice might not be the panacea after all.(1) There have also been claims that public schools are unsafe and that “public school students have a much greater exposure to crime” (NCES, 19) While this is true to some extent seeing as public schools have low SES leading to an increase in the chances of crime, it would be unfair not to notice the stringent measures that these schools have put in place to increase security such as the installation of CCTV cameras and that crime also occurs in private schools.

“Are Private High Schools Better Academically Than Public High Schools?” Center on Education Policy. October 2007. Web. Lubienski, C. Lubienski, S. “Charter, Private, Public Schools and Academic Achievement: New Evidence from NAEP Mathematics Data” National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education. January 2006. Web “Public and private schools: how do they differ?” National center for education statistics. July 1997. Print Strauss, Valerie. “Are private schools better than public schools? New book says ‘no’” The Washington Post. 5 November 2013.Web. Taylor, Jermaine. “Is Private School Worth the 'Entitlement' and Hefty Price?” CNBC. 28 April 2013.Web.

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Public School Is Better than Private School Argumentative Essay

The debate of whether to attend a public or private school is a common concern for students and parents. Although private schools offer a better quality of education and more intelligent students, attending a public school has its advantages. Public schools have less competition and stress, allowing for more perseverance and determination to succeed. Although the lower standard of education in public schools may seem like a disadvantage, it can actually benefit students in the long run. Private schools’ intense competition can result in physical and mental harm, such as illness and suicide. Overall, attending a public school is the better solution for a more successful future.

When choosing the best path for a successful future, students and parents often contemplate this question: Should they choose a public school or a private school? In my view, selecting a public school is better than opting for a private one. The decision depends on various factors such as the student’s performance, abilities, and the parent’s financial resources. Both private and public schools have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Despite the lower educational standards, public schools offer the advantage of reduced competition and stress when compared to private schools. Personally, I believe that this lower standard can be beneficial as it encourages perseverance and determination in students attending public schools, motivating them to strive harder for future success.

While private schools offer benefits like top-notch education and the opportunity to interact with intelligent peers, it is crucial to weigh potential drawbacks. Students may experience a loss of motivation and become uncooperative. Additionally, intense competition within private schools can lead to adverse outcomes such as physical or mental harm, including illnesses, suicides, or other negative consequences.

Ultimately, ample and crucial evidence exists to endorse attending public schools over private schools. This guarantees parents and students that selecting a public school results in a superior future.

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Debate On Public School Is Better Than Private School In Nigeria

Education has always been a hotly debated topic, and nowhere is this debate more fervent than in the context of public versus private schools. In Nigeria, the discussion surrounding the superiority of public schools over their private counterparts has gained significant attention and ignited passionate arguments on both sides. While private schools have often been perceived as the epitome of quality education , supporters of public schools contend that they offer equal, if not superior, educational opportunities.

In this article, we delve into the heart of this debate, exploring some of the reasons why public schools are better than private schools in Nigeria and vice versa.

Whether you are a student preparing for a school debate, conducting personal research, or simply curious about the subject, this article titled “ Debate on Public School Is Better Than Private School In Nigeria ” will serve as an invaluable resource.

However, by delving into the key points surrounding this contentious topic, we aim to equip readers with a comprehensive understanding of the arguments put forth by both sides. Whether you find yourself advocating for or against public schools or seeking a balanced perspective, this article will provide you with crucial insights, enabling you to articulate your viewpoint effectively and engage in informed discussions.

1. Accessibility and Affordability

Public schools in Nigeria are generally more accessible and affordable than private schools. This is because public schools are funded by the government, while private schools are funded by tuition fees. As a result, public schools are often able to offer lower tuition fees and more scholarships than private schools. Additionally, public schools are typically located in more areas than private schools, making them more accessible to students from different backgrounds.

2. Government Support and Regulation

Public schools are under the purview of government authorities, which ensures a certain level of oversight and accountability.

Government-owned schools in Nigeria are generally better than private schools because of government support and regulation. The government provides public schools with funding, resources, and infrastructure, which helps to ensure that students receive a quality education. Additionally, the government regulates public schools to ensure that they meet certain standards, such as teacher qualifications .

3. Social Integration

Public schools in Nigeria are generally better than private schools for social integration. This is because public schools are more diverse, as they are open to all students, regardless of where they come from. This diversity can help students learn about different cultures and perspectives and develop a more well-rounded understanding of the world.

In addition, public schools often have more extracurricular activities and opportunities for students to get involved in their community. This can help students develop social skills, make friends, and feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.

Here are some of the benefits of attending a public school in Nigeria for social integration:

• Diversity: Public schools are more diverse than private schools. This is because public schools are open to all students, regardless of their background. This diversity can help students learn about different cultures and perspectives and develop a more well-rounded understanding of the world.
• Extracurricular activities: Public schools often have more extracurricular activities and opportunities for students to get involved in their community. This can help students develop social skills, make friends, and feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.
• Community: Public schools are often more integrated into their communities than private schools. This is because public schools are funded by the government and are open to all students, regardless of their background. This integration can help students feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves and develop a sense of 

4. Government Support and Regulation

Public schools in Nigeria are generally better than private schools because of government support and regulation. The government provides public schools with funding, resources, and infrastructure, which helps to ensure that students receive a quality education . Additionally, the government regulates public schools to ensure that they meet certain standards, such as teacher qualifications and curriculum content.

5. Qualified Teachers

Public schools in Nigeria are generally better than private schools because of qualified teachers. Public schools are required to have teachers who are qualified and certified, while private schools are not. This means that students in public schools are more likely to have teachers who are knowledgeable and experienced in their field.

Here are some of the benefits of attending a public school in Nigeria with qualified teachers:

• Knowledgeable and experienced teachers: Public schools are required to have teachers who are qualified and certified. This means that students in public schools are more likely to have teachers who are knowledgeable and experienced in their field.
• Higher academic standards: Public schools are held to higher academic standards than private schools. This means that students in public schools are more likely to be challenged academically and to receive a high-quality education.

6. Infrastructure and Facilities

While private schools may have better infrastructure in some cases, public schools have been receiving increased attention and investment in recent years. Many government initiatives have focused on improving the physical infrastructure, including classroom facilities, libraries, laboratories, and sports amenities in public schools.

7. Balanced Curriculum

Public schools follow a standardized national curriculum, which ensures uniformity in education across the country. This balanced curriculum covers a wide range of subjects and provides a comprehensive education that prepares students for higher education or vocational opportunities.

8. Community Engagement

Public schools often have strong ties with the local community, which can enhance the educational experience. Community members, including parents, local organizations, and professionals, may actively participate in school programs, provide resources, or offer mentorship opportunities for students. This collaboration strengthens the school-community relationship and enriches the learning environment.

9. Standardized Assessment

Public schools typically adhere to standardized assessment systems implemented by government bodies. This helps ensure a fair and unbiased evaluation of students’ academic performance. Standardized assessments also facilitate benchmarking and monitoring of educational progress on a national level, enabling policymakers to identify areas that require improvement and implement necessary reforms.

10. Focus on National Development

Public schools often align their educational goals with the national development agenda. They prioritize subjects and skills that are relevant to the country’s needs, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, vocational training, and entrepreneurship. This emphasis helps equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to the country’s development and address its specific challenges.

11. Inclusivity for Special Needs Students

Public schools in Nigeria often have dedicated units or departments to cater to the needs of students with disabilities or special educational needs. These units provide specialized support, resources, and accommodations to ensure that all students, regardless of their abilities, have access to quality education. Public schools’ inclusive environment fosters empathy, tolerance, and acceptance among students.

12. Preparedness for National Examinations

Public schools often prioritize preparing students for national examinations such as the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) or the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). These examinations are crucial for students’ progression to higher education institutions. Public schools’ familiarity with the examination structure and curriculum can help students perform well and increase their chances of gaining admission to desired institutions.

Against: 

The education system in Nigeria is a topic of continuous debate and deliberation, with opinions divided over whether public schools or private schools offer a better educational experience. While public schools play a vital role in providing accessible education to a broad spectrum of students, it is important to explore the distinctive advantages offered by private schools in Nigeria.

In this section, we delve into the discourse on private education and present a compelling argument for why private schools surpass public schools in Nigeria. By examining key points and analyzing the reasons behind the growing preference for private schools, we aim to shed light on the myriad benefits that private education can bring to the educational landscape of Nigeria.

Some of the advantages of private schools in Nigeria over public schools include:

1. Academic Excellence

Private schools in Nigeria often prioritize academic excellence by providing a rigorous curriculum and fostering an environment conducive to learning. With smaller class sizes and a lower student-to-teacher ratio, private schools can offer individualized attention and personalized instruction, allowing students to thrive academically. This focused approach enhances student engagement, encourages critical thinking, and yields higher academic achievements.

2. Quality of Teaching Staff

Private schools in Nigeria tend to attract and retain highly qualified teachers who are passionate about their profession. These educators often possess specialized expertise in their respective subjects, undergo regular professional development, and are committed to providing the best possible education to their students. The caliber of teaching staff in private schools contributes significantly to the overall educational experience and the students’ intellectual growth.

3. Enhanced Learning Environment

Private schools often boast modern facilities, well-equipped classrooms, and access to cutting-edge technology. These resources create an enriched learning environment that stimulates curiosity, creativity, and innovation. Private schools invest in infrastructure development, ensuring that students have access to state-of-the-art libraries, laboratories, and extracurricular facilities, thereby nurturing holistic growth and academic exploration.

4. Individualized Attention and Support

Private schools recognize the diverse needs and learning styles of their students. With smaller class sizes, teachers can provide personalized attention, identify individual strengths and weaknesses, and tailor instruction accordingly. Private schools also offer additional support systems such as tutoring programs, counseling services, and academic guidance, ensuring that each student receives the necessary assistance to thrive academically and personally.

5. Co-curricular and Extracurricular Opportunities

Private schools are often seen as being better than public schools for a number of reasons, including their co-curricular and extracurricular opportunities. These opportunities can help students to develop their interests, talents, and skills in a variety of areas, and can also help them to build character and leadership skills.

Some of the co-curricular and extracurricular activities that are typically offered at private schools include:

• Student government
• Volunteering.

These activities can provide students with a number of benefits, including:

• Improved academic performance
• Increased self-confidence
• Enhanced social skills
• Reduced stress
• Stronger character
• Increased leadership skills

In addition to the benefits listed above, co-curricular and extracurricular activities can also help students to make friends, develop a sense of community, and learn how to work together. These skills can be invaluable in college and in the workplace.

It is important to acknowledge that both public and private schools contribute to the growth and development of Nigeria’s education system. By recognizing the benefits offered by private education, we can foster a more comprehensive discussion that leads to the continuous improvement of educational standards and the empowerment of future generations.

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