Public Schools and Private Schools in USA - Essay Example

Running head: Public schools and private schools in USA Student’s name Institution Course Professor Date Introduction Public schools are generally those schools entirely owned by the government. Private schools on the other side comprise those schools not owned by the government. That is those schools owned and managed by the private sector, which may include those owned by firms, companies, churches, individuals among other private organizations. Public schools are mainly financed through either the federal, local and state taxes. The public schools are thus a part of government larger school system that functions as a part of government and strictly follow rules, policies and regulations set by the politicians (Bedi,2000). On the other hand, private schools are run without much control from the state hence allowing for flexibility in their programs so long as they are operating within the general laws of the state. The Catholic missionaries in Florida and Louisiana first opened private schools in the sixteenth century, which signaled the start of formal education in Massachusetts. USA to date has greatly developed education wise as seen by the high number of schools and universities it has. Schools in USA are classified as either elementary, secondary schools or K-12 schools. Both stages of schools comprise both private and public schools. Private schools accounts for 25% of the nation’s schools while the rest 75% is accounted by the public schools. The private schools enrolls nearly 10% of all the students (Bedi,2000). Private schools in the USA are classified as Catholic, Nonsectarian, Conservative Christian, Baptist, Lutheran, Jewish, Episcopal, Seventh - day Adventist, Calvinist, friends among others. Enrolments to most of this schools depends on the parents religious affiliations. According to research conducted by the council for American private schools in 2011, 80% of those students who attend, private schools go to those affiliated to the churches of their parents. Public schools on the other hand have no church affiliations. These hence make them to accommodate students of various religious backgrounds (Bedi,2000). Thesis statement In the US, both private and public schools have several advantages and challenges to both the parents and their students. This makes it challenging to parents in deciding which type of schools to take their children. In USA, private schools are better in provision of education than the government owned schools. This is because of the very many advantages students enjoy while studying in private schools as compared to their colleges in public schools. Nevertheless, some scholars prefer public schools due to various reasons (Bedi & Garg,2000). According to the 2009 GreatSchools and Harris Interactive poll, about one in four parents are considering either shifting their child from public to private schools or either private to public schools due to the advantages and disadvantages they consider in either of the type of schools. Public and private schools have both similarities and difference in their running. This difference makes them to be suitable or unsuitable for certain group of individuals. Public schools are financed by public finances while parents themselves through payment of tuition fee finance private schools. The government usually uses collected taxes to finance the operations in public schools. The government usually finances the teachers, books, stationary and other expenses required in the good running of the public schools. This makes the expenses of educating children in public schools for parents to be cheap while in the other hand consuming a greater percentage of government revenue (Bedi & Garg,2000). According to a research carried out by the Center for Education reform, in the 2010-2011 financial years the government of United States of America used a total of $593,061,181,000 to finance public education. This is a great sum of money, which could be invested in other development projects instead of this recurrent expenditure if the parents were all paying for the education of their children. Private schools generate their own funds. This usually comes from many sources: tuition, fundraising from parents, alumni, private grants and the community members. Affiliated religious groups also participate in the generation of the funds. Payment of school fee by parents may be great burden to many parents. This is because there are usually high tuition fee and many a times an exhausting work calendar of parent sponsored fundraisers. National Association of Independent Schools (2009), states that the median tuition fees for their member private schools in 2008-2009 was $17,441. That of boarding schools was $37,017. These fees show the burden experience by parents in educating children in these private schools (Bedi & Garg,2000). Private schools have internal governance means unlike public schools. Internal governance of the private schools means they are able to undertake some programs in a different way or introduce some special programs or the way of doing things. Since private schools do not use government funds, they are not restricted like public ones in their program development or curricula. They are not also subjected to budget limitations imposed by the government. This type of independence and freedom allows them to have improvised curricula. This is implemented as long as the various stakeholders involved in their running agree with the intellectual, philosophical or religious basis brought to the curricula. Various curricula can be started in the different kinds of schools depending on the type or religious backgrounds of students it is meant to serve (Bedi & Garg,2000). This is the reason for the development of different religious affiliated private schools in the USA. These schools hence are able to help parents in educating their children in certain religious teaching they believe in but this may be seen by some scholars as denying children freedom of worship since there are not given space to analyze other teachings before deciding which of them is good. The curricula in public schools is designed and fixed due to the budget constraints and since is designed to suit different kind or types of students. A sense of tolerance in public schools is necessary since no curricula can be suitable to all the type of students. Public schools usually have higher number of students than majority of private schools. According to the government statistics of 2011, 80% of the private schools have less than 300 students. This makes private schools to enjoy a better teacher-student ratio. This a crucial factor in learning science, math and foreign languages, in contrast to the large number of students in a classroom in most of public schools (Bedi & Garg,2000). The higher population in public schools is also attributed to the government laws forcing them to admit all the students in their geographical areas; in addition, they are paid money depending on the number of students available in their schools. These and other laws make expelling students difficult and expensive. This is advantage to some students who could be expelled due to some silly mistakes but costly to the discipline maintenance in public schools. In private schools, the reverse is true (Kahlenber & Richard ,2003). Parents expect rude students to be expelled since they deny their children to enjoy their studies that they have paid for. This makes private schools to have higher discipline compared to public schools. The religious or the curricula of the private schools also help in instilling discipline in the private schools. The high discipline required in these schools can be a challenge to some students whose slight mistakes can result to them being expelled from these schools hence bringing disturbance to their education cycle. The religious discipline might also be difficult and time wasting to follow given the higher expectation of some teachings (Kahlenber & Richard ,2003). In USA, teachers in all public schools in nearly all states and provinces are required to have a form of federal, state or provincial certification with a bachelor’s degree. This trend is not applicable in majority of private schools where additional education qualifications are needed. This hence makes them to have much more qualified teachers. However, actual teacher certifications in the different states in USA vary making it hard to clearly analyze the type of teachers in both the private and public schools in USA (Merrifield,2008). Private and public school administrators, managers and educators try their best in creating efficient learning environments for their students. This can by the presence of both excellent private and public schools. Even though there are good public schools in USA, many of the best overall schools are those privately sponsored. This is explained by the various advantages available in most of this schools while not present in public schools. Some scholars have argued that performance of the individual students does not depend on the school but on the individual level. They argue that majority of the best performance of both the private and public schools if they change the type of schools they attend they will still perform better like before. The higher number of high performing private schools makes it possible for high number of students to graduate from them and graduating with higher grades (Merrifield,2008). Public schools have fewer restrictions on the way students socialize than the private schools. This makes students in public schools to know how to deal with normal life challenges unlike in private schools where students are shielded from facing the social challenges in life like how to deal with sexuality, drugs, alcohol among others (Bedi & Garg,2000). The curriculum of the public schools also tends to be diverse philosophical curriculum, hence enabling students to see life through different angles in terms of ethnic, religious, sexually orientation among other perspectives. Private schools are mainly founded on religious traditions hence not giving much freedom to thing outside the religious teachings. Conclusion The challenge in deciding which kind of schools parents should take can be answered by the parents by studying the challenges and the benefits of the two types of schools. A parent should choose the type of school where the benefits the student will gain outweigh the challenges he or she will experience. The private type of schools has seen above have a wide range of advantages than the public type of schools. The only big hindering factor is the high tuition and other kinds of fees charged by the schools. Parents with good financial income should consider taking their children or child to private schools. They can do an efficient research to know which kind of schools best have necessary teaching standards they want their child to get. This is unlike public schools where the rules, policies and curriculum are constant through the schools hence not giving them options of satisfying various desires of different kinds of students. Studying in private schools will also increase the chance of students getting quality education hence goods grades. References Bedi, A. S., & Garg, A.The effectiveness of private versus public schools, Journal of Development Economics, 2000,p.463–494. Bedi,A.S .Education in USA. Journal of Education Choice,2000,p.245-476. Coulson, J. C. A. Comparing Public, Private and Markets Schools: The International Markets, Journal of School Choice, Taylor & Francis group, LCC, 2009,3: 31-54 Kahlenber, Richard D. Public School Choice Vs. Private School Vouchers,Century Foundation:New York,2003. Merrifield, J. School Choice evidence and its significance. Journal of school choice, 2008, 2(2), 223-259 Read More