Public or Private Education?

I prefer Private education for my children. Why? .... Because the school attended is single stream and ALL the teaching staff know ALL the students! My children have great friends and on a general note, the whole class (for each child) are friends. Having just one class of each year seems to work well for my children - they are happy and enjoy going to school. I home schooled my children from age 3 until they were of "proper" school age, and I feel this is the reason they enjoy the exclusivity of the Private School they now attended. As for me.... Well I attended a Public school (many years ago!) and my education level was good, my experience was fun and fulfilling. Sadly though, the Public school system is just not-as-good-as-it-could-be nowadays. Before my children came along, I always said they would attend a Public School as I always believed a Private Education was way out of reach for my budget! I watched Friends and Family send their children to a mix of Private, Public, Catholic and Home school. I watch with an open mind and heart. When my children came along, I made the decision for Private Education, based mainly on the happiness of the children from these Family and Friends. As for the Expense - it is well worth it. I am good with money and budgeting and the cost of the education was not as important as the quality of it. My children are happy, they love school AND it is less expensive than I thought! I am a single parent and pay the fees in fortnightly installments, this is not going to send me broke as I also up the installment amount starting in the last term each year, so as to be ahead for the coming year.

I was educated in public school during my elementary years and it wasnt really good because I didnt get as much education as I should have at that age. In high school, i was educated in private school which is an exclusive school for girls and it somehow managed to fill in the gaps of my education. I have learned that I will never scrimp or go for cheap education with my children so as early as now, I am sending my daughter to a private school with more specialized education system. Education for me is one of the best thing that I could give my children.

My older two children went to public school 20 years ago when things were much different. They got a great education. My two younger children are just finishing their schooling, and both are products of the public school system. I would have to say that public education has gotten much more lax between my two sets of children. In today's time, I would have to judge my decision regarding public vs private or home-schooling on each individual school district. I believe that there are still some wonderful schools out there, but they are getting fewer and farther between! One must certainly supplement the education at home. I have also seen that private is not always better, and is often lacking in quality due to decreased funding! This is especially true of some smaller parochial schools.

I attended public school from Kindergarten to 4th grade and then was moved to Private school for 5th through 7th grade. After that I was moved back to public school for the remainder of my education. I learned more and did better overall at Private school. My class was no bigger than 10 students so that was a big plus, more one on one attention from the teacher. Plus, kids get into trouble less with smaller class size since you can't get lost in the crowd. Also, with the smaller class size, there is less chance of distraction of the social things. I had great friends in Private school but we still had "cliques" though not nearly as many as there are in public school. The only draw back to being in Private school and then being transferred to public school is that I was unprepared for how typical public school students act towards one another. It's true that public school is free but you have to remember that you get what you pay for!

This is a very interesting topic, LightninStrike. The differences that you have mentioned are accurate, yet, I see that there can’t be a proper generalization, for me, as such, based upon my personal as well as wider experiences. I think that the success depends more on how individual child/student is treated at home by parents and at school. Another important point is the teacher/instructor him/herself, in how a student would develop. I’ll provide my personal experiences to elaborate my points. All of my siblings and I first attended a private school just because there was no public school available for first 5 grades. My elder sister and I always attended a public institute after 5th grade as my parents couldn’t afford a private one for us but by the time my third brother got to 11th grade, my parents’ financial conditions got better and they were able to afford private education for him. For the rest, though they were in public education systems but my parents afforded them private tutors too to help them succeed more. But, beside my parents affording my other siblings private education, none of them got to the university level education other than myself and my elder sister, who always attended public institutes. Between us two, my parents afforded a private tutor for my elder sister for short periods of time, Yet, I am relatively more successful, academically and professionally, than my elder sister. So, in my personal family example, the more one was in public system, the more he/she was successful in life, in general. Let me also give you my very personal experience in both private and public education system. In my proper grades (1-5), in my private school, I was never below 2nd position in my class. I either topped (3 times) or stood 2nd(2 times). When I went to public school, in 6th grade, It was the first time in my life that I stood 3rd in class as there was an immense competition there and I felt like I’ll be lost there. In 7th grade, in public school, I met a great teacher who, for the first time, made me realize what actually education is. He made me discover a spark of creativity in myself and helped me much to evolve, intellectually. In my 9th grade, there was a national competition, on administrative division levels, for Presidential Award Scholarship. The Scholarship was to be awarded to top 100 students among more than 120, 000 students, both from public and private systems, throughout that administrative division. The majority in those top 100 as well as in top 10 was from public schools, including myself. My college (11-12th grade) is another very, very interesting example, especially as It has been a public college for more than 100 years until recently. It is a private institution now for some years. It’s merit was the highest, not only in my administrative division but also among the whole country’s colleges, when I got admission there, and it was always like that. After it’s privatization, not only it’s merit has dropped but the quality of education has also dropped much. It had a long tradition of Excellence so much so that it was every students’ dream to get admission there but it’s image seems to fade away now, after it’s privatization. Worth mentioning is the point that, the only Nobel Prize laureate from my country of origin(Pakistan), graduated from this college. The other notable Scientists, Historians, Poets and other literary figures and artists are also mostly the people who have been through public education. Another interesting example was the nation wide competition for study abroad Scholarships. More than 12500 students throughout the country applied for it, including more than 125 engineers from my organization. There were two phases, first was a GRE type test and then an interview. Only 3 engineers among more than 125 succeeded to pass the written GRE type test to move on to interview phase and all of these three were exclusively from public education systems. In interview, the other two were dropped and I was the only one to win the scholarship in my organization. All this was despite the fact that I didn’t prepare for the test as such. All in all only around 90 students were finally selected among 12500 competitors. Having said all this, I am not trying to undermine the private education system. What I think is that the students who are able to get themselves through public education systems are perhaps more resilient, tough and competitive probably because of survival instinct that is inculcated in them through public education system. Another very important point is personal attention and interest of the parents towards their children. I gather that my elder sister and I were given more parents’ attention and time while my other siblings weren’t lucky enough in that as my parents tried hard to manage more for them by doing extra jobs and not spending much time with them. Personal attention of especially parents and then teachers is probably the best key to success whether a student is in Private institution or in a public school. Though students are more likely to get this attention in private schools yet there are examples, like myself, who were lucky enough to get this attention in public systems too. All of the above was in response to your second question i.e. about my experiences. To your first question of ‘whether I prefer Private or Public education’, I can’t answer it as such. What I would do for my child is that I’ll visit schools and will meet teachers who will be teaching my kid. If I find a devoted teacher who also take personal interest in upbringing the personalities of students in addition to the bookish education, I’ll go for that school, whether it is public or private.

I only got to attend a public school when I got into college. I think, especially here in the Philippines, going to private school is better because in most public schools, the standard of education is compromised. This is not to look down on the achievements of those coming from public schools. It is just a statement of fact. There are still a few good public schools in the country. But in most cases, teachers are overworked, classrooms are overcrowded and the environment is not so conducive for learning.

I think some private schools are actually not all that good and they attract parents because they appear of a certain "class". Sometimes you can buy a better education but I think unless you have good basic values and good parenting no amount of money will buy a good enough all round education. A quick skim through the who is who is achievers will find as many people who worked their way up from the shop floor or market as who had a head start at a private school. Personal qualities and the right parenting will always win out, I think.

private is good but they take a lot of donation whic is not possible for lot of parents. but every one wants their their children to study in good schools. so this is the only bad thing about private education

I work with a lot of kids, and have therefore seen kids move through both systems. While public schools are more realistic, I think private schools have a lot of advantages: better science labs, more social studies, more competitions which are available to all students, not just the smartest kids. And if a kid is struggling, it seems to be immediately noticed. On the other hand, public schools usually offer more variety in the courses available. I have no idea what I'm going to do with my kids, when I have them.

Well I think here in England, my answer would be that it depends an awful lot on where you live. In some areas there are great State Schools, especially the few remaining Grammar Schools, and they provide as good an education as any Private School could do, and I would be proud to send a child of mine to one of them. However, there are sadly many big, compregensive State Schools here that are rough, and full of violence, and I would never, EVER send any child to one of them. In my view, how can a quiet, perhaps shy child, fulfill their abilitities amd potential, when their place of learning is full of vandalism, hooliganisim, and bullying, and their teachers have so many kids to deal with, that they can't give them any individual attention? I admit I speak as a child of a good, old-fashioned English Private School education - my parents paid for me because they wanted me to have the best possible education, and chance in life, and I have nothing but priase for the private system, as it gives a lower student/teacher ratio so a child can have individual attention if needed, and there is usually a much safer, more pleasant environment. As for the social reality - well mine was an all-girls School, but I never had a problem relating to boys, or adjusting to "real" life once I went to University. We don't have kids, but on my experience, and looking at the State Schools local to where we live, then if we had a daughter, we would probably send her to the same one I went to,

I think both forms of education have their advantages. Public schools tend to have more diversity, whereas private schools tend to have fewer students, thus a smaller student:teacher ratio with more individualized teaching. Private schools tend to have less discipline problems as well. My oldest two children went to public high schools, and my youngest son went to a private school.

Hi there. Although our children are in public education, I personally favour private education as well... Both methods of education are beneficial in there own ways...

I am about to find out the differences first hand. I went to public schools when I was a student. My children have been in public schools until now. My oldest (my daughter) began attending a private school this year. School began last Thurday. My son is still in public school. YOu pointed out the main differences already. It will be intersting to find out how things go for us this year.

Hi LightningStrike! I was educated in private schools from my preparatory until I finish college. I do agree with you that private schools can offer exclusivity and private treatment. However I know that there are also public schools that have high standards in terms of teching and educating their students. Take care and have a nice day!

I went through public schools and I survived and got great jobs, my kids are going through public school..I really dont see any problem with them at all...

i like public education. why? i don't know why..maybe yes/maybe no..