Maria Alejandra Villabon
Professor Foley
English
17 September 2018
Discourse Essay: The Privileges of Private School vs. Public School
There is one thing that a myriad of people in this world find essential in someone’s life; school. Schools are used to teach students about a variety of subjects, develop mathematical and english skills, but mainly to prepare people for the 21st century workplace. However, schools are distinguished by two words, private and public. Private schools are defined as schools that are funded or supported by private organizations or people that charge tuition and follow a certain set of viewpoints. On the other hand, public schools are schools that are funded by the government providing free public education. One may sound better than the other, the privileges of a private and public institution will be portrayed to distinct the two and become aware of the benefits of private schools where public schools lack in.
Private schools and public schools have a variety of things that are offered that differentiate the two in a plethora amount of ways. The variety of things include the type of education, involvement, environment, extracurricular activities, sports, cost, teachers, admission, class sizes, test scores, and plenty more.
When searching for a school for your child, most of the factors are applied for the decision making, yet it also comes down to certain beliefs in different families.
Let’s begin with admission. Admission is a key thing because it determines whether you will be able to attend the school and learn there. Although that may be a concerning thought in a lot of minds, admission is mainly not an issue in public school. They allow any race, gender, and religious people in their school while some private schools look into that. On the other hand, private schools are more strict when allowing people to attend their school. In order to be admitted in private schools, you will need to meet certain criteria such as good grades and behavior for the most part.
Next is cost. Cost is a big factor for different families because of the different social classes. When deciding on the school, parents want to know how much they will have to be spending on their child for that year. For public schools, there are no costs to attending the school because public schools are paid by local taxes while private schools have a yearly tuition which ranges from $5,000-$25,000. The amount of money needed to pay each year reflects highly on the quality of school. Although private schools seem very expensive, they are also very generous. Private schools offer a surfeit of scholarships for those families that desire for their children to go to a prestigious school without having to worry about a high number.
Admission and cost are very distinct and significant between the two, just as is the education. Education is very important when wanting to learn about any subject and being able to apply it in a workplace. Both public schools and private schools offer many education opportunities like honor classes, AP program, and the IB program so one can exceed past the general teachings. They may offer the same, but private schools have the freedom to plan their own curriculum which results in higher standards and grades. This can also be caused by having to keep grades up to continue to attend the school.
Next are the teachers, parent involvement, and the environment overall. A lot of these correlate one another and can be affected by the other. The main purpose for teachers are for them to teach you, regardless of what you desire and what grades you wind up with. That is where the differences in each are very distinct. In public schools, the main goal is to teach the lesson and in private schools, the main goal is for the students to learn the material. The difference between the two is that public school teachers tend not to care as much that they acquired the knowledge, it’s more for their own sake. While on the other hand, private school teachers teach the material for the purpose of every single student to understand the material. In public schools most of the time when someone is not paying attention, on their phone, or sleeping, teachers tend to be more lenient and not care as much about they are doing. In private schools if a student was caught doing that, there would be consequences and the teacher would ensure that every student is paying attention. This reflects on the types of grades students are getting. Parental involvement can also be very significant when it comes to grades. Depending on the type of parent you have, depends on the type of involvement the parent will have with the school. In public school, you can easily get away with a myriad of things, your grades is one of them and your behavior at school. There have been many students’ parents who do not know about their child’s attendance at the school or grades because they are told by their children that everything is fine. On the other hand, private schools do not allow that and it is hard to get around it since the parents are contacted by the school about any incident that has occured with their child. ThoughtCo. spoke about one point that stated, “Private school life mirrors family life.” That statement is not completely accurate, there are some families in the private school system that don’t resemble their life at home. Private schools tend to have more united families than public schools. As someone who was a private school student, I became aware that many parents were a part of the school in any way possible wanting to have a closer connection with their child. Following, the environment. The environment of the two types of schools are very serious. Both private schools and public schools have no tolerance for bullying, yet private schools enforce it more than the other. As a student in a private school, you “will never be a number at a private school.” “The result of zero tolerance is that you can be assured that you are placing your children in a safe environment. Yes, she will still experiment but she will understand that there are serious consequences for unacceptable behavior” (ThoughtCo.).
Lastly, I would like to discuss about connections. Connections are “a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else.” We are constantly surrounded by different types of connections. Whether it may be our school, friends, parents, teachers, strangers, employees, etc. There are resources all around us that we are not taking advantage of. Being in a private school with higher educated people and their parents is like being handed a contact list with a variety of connections. I am not trying to say that public schools don’t have connections because they do, they’re all around us. I am saying, that because of the higher education and the amount of money parents give for their child to attend the school, could mean the type of job or position they are in socially. I was in a private school and had many connections ranging from an Orlando Pride player who played alongside with Alex Morgan, Ashlyn Harris, and many more to authors, non-profit organization owners and creators, well-known golf player Chris DiMarco, and many company owners. I was able to be a part of a lot of non-profit organizations and help those in need.
In conclusion, regardless of what was stated, the parent or guardian has to decide the best type of school for their child and we may not know the circumstances. Although we may not know, private schools have proven to help your child in some type of way academically, mentally, and behaviorally. I suggest you look more into what private institutions have to offer and the benefits that come along with it.
Works Cited
“Connection | Definition of Connection in English by Oxford Dictionaries.” Oxford Dictionaries
| English, Oxford Dictionaries, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/connection.
Grossberg, Blythe. "5 Major Differences Between Public and Private Schools." ThoughtCo, Jun.
14, 2018, thoughtco.com/major-differences-between-public-and-private-2773898.
Kennedy, Robert. "10 Facts About Private Schools." ThoughtCo, Jun. 14, 2018,
thoughtco.com/facts-about-private-schools-2773775.
Lindenberger, Hudson. “Which One Is Better? Private School vs Public School.” Fatherly,
Fatherly, 7 Nov. 2017,
www.fatherly.com/educational-and-development-toys-for-babies-and-kids/private-school
-vs-public-school-facts-benefits-statistics/.
“Private Schools Versus Public Schools | Private Vs Public.” Waldorf vs. Montessori Schools | Our Kids, Camp Artaban, www.ourkids.net/private-schools-versus-public-schools.php.
“Public vs. Private Schools: Whats the Difference?” ExploreHealthCareers.org, 9 Jan. 2018, explorehealthcareers.org/public-vs-private-schools-whats-the-difference/.
