School

Private Schools vs. Public Schools

Nowadays, parents are often confused whether to send their children to a public or private school. Clearly parents want to make the best decision for their children and their futures. We will first talk about the different factors that impact decisions regarding public and private school. Then we will give some guidelines that should help families in their decisions.

Public schools are financed by the State and Federal Funding. 90% of the children in the United States today attend public school. Usually when considering private school versus public, they are more than one factor to be considering, such as: academic reputation, individual class and school sizes, safety reputation, cost, religious and moral instruction, and location. (http:// www.boardschool.com)

Academic reputation is very important when looking for a school, because school systems vary greatly in their academic reputation. Unfortunately, for as many great public schools that exist, they are also those that are poorly managed. Private schools usually have a better academic reputation than public schools. Related to the academic reputation is the focus of the school on college preparation. In the public school system, the percent of children that go to college depends of the location of the school.

School size and class size can affect students. For instance, when a school gets too big, it can become very hard to manage the class. Students and programs may just turn bad. Obviously, the smaller the class size is the more attention each individual student will receive. Usually public schools are bigger since they have to accept as many students

who live in the area. On the other hand private schools have the right to refuse any student, so they have the opportunity to have smaller classes. (www.dpi.state.wi.us)

Another important factor is the safety reputation of the school. Parents use this to decide whether or not to keep their children in public schools or move them into private schools. Many public schools have perfectly safe environments, yet in some school districts, children may be safer in a private school. Some of this may have to do with the fact that private schools may pick and choose who they enroll. Therefore keeping their classroom environment safer.

A hardest factor is the cost. Private schools charge tuition fees whereas public schools are offered free of charge. For many parents this factor is very hard and they would think twice before to make a decision.

Some parents would