User:Bruss004

Written by: Betty Russell

Public schools vs. Private schools.

Public or private schools; do student do better in private schools than public schools? Do you think your child would do better in private school or public school? I can’t afford to send my child to private school, what can I do about this? Some say that private school students tend to do better on standardized test than children in public school, but also some say that public school children do better in math, than in private schools. What would render your decision if you had to pick one over the other? How much do you know about the difference between the two? Public schools cannot charge tuition. They are funded through federal, state and local taxes. When you pay your taxes, you are paying for your child’s education and the education of other children in your community. Public schools admit all children, by law they must educated all children, including students with special need. To enroll in public school you simply register your child by filling out the necessary paperwork. Public schools must follow all federal, state, and local laws in educating children; such laws usually include specifics about funding, program development and curriculum. Public school teachers also are usually state certifies or at a minimum, working toward certification; certification ensures that a teacher has gone through the training required by the state, which includes student teaching and coursework. Private school teachers may not be required to have certification and instead often have subject area expertise and an undergraduate or graduate degree in the subject they teach. Private schools are not subject to as many state and federal regulation as public school. Private schools are funded independently; they are not subject to the limitations of state education budgets and have more freedom in designing curriculum and instruction. Private school cost money, they do not receive tax revenues, but instead are funded through tuition, fundraising, donations and private grants, and also private schools are selective. They are not obligated to accept every child, and in many private schools admission is very completive. Sarah and Christopher Lubienski, education professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign did a recent study that concluded that when it comes to math, students in regular public school do as well or significantly better than comparable students in private school. Many private schools will allow students to transfer in even after the school year has begun. School vouchers, also known as scholarships redirect the flow of education funding, channeling it directly to individual families rather than to the school districts. This allows families to select the public or private schools of their choice and have all or part of the tuition paid. Scholarships give parental choice and competition between public and private schools. School vouchers may not be for private schools, because once private schools start taking government funds, the government is going to tell them how they have to spend those funds. They are also going to put all kinds of condition and standards on private schools to keep getting those funds. A school voucher system would lead to the elimination of private and religious education. The different between private schools is that they run on private money and public schools run on public money. Once a private school gets hooked on public money they will slowly lose all the freedom of being a private school. Private schools are called private for a reason – they can exclude the poor, disadvantages, troublesome, disabled, and other undesirable classes of kids that bring down the averages. The students that attend private schools are from families that have more money and are willing to spend it on their children. Are these the things that make private school better schools? President Bush called school vouchers a “great victory to parents and students.” “He said vouchers give “freedom to parent,” If the lesson of history can be distilled to a single observation, it is that the institution of public schooling is not, after all the best system for advancing our ideals of public education. After 150 years of experimentation and decades of disappointment, is it not time that we consider alternatives to the public school system? (Coulson) Public school or private school, the choice is yours. I believe either can beneficiate a child that is willing to learn.

Sidebar:

Questions 1.	Who said that school vouchers give victory to parents and students? A.	 Bill Clinton B.	President Bush C.	Bill Cosby D.	None of the above

2.	Private schools can exclude what type of people. A.	Blacks B.	Poor’s and troublesome C.	Disabled and undesirable D.	Both b and c E.	All the above 3.	School vouches are called A.	government funding B.	scholarships C.	freedom for parents and students D.	welfare

4.	Sarah and Christopher Lubienski are educators from A.	South America B.	ODU C.	University of Illinois D.	Pittsburg

5.	Public school teachers are required by law to A.	Be state certified B.	Only be certified in the subject area they are teaching C.	Attend 2 years of college D.	Have a drivers license

Essay Question: Do you feel that the government should offer school vouches for children to attend private schools? Also should private schools have the right to pick who attends their school even with a school voucher?

Answers: 1. B, 2. D, 3. B, 4. C,  5. A

Work Citied Page Andrew J. Coulson – Are public schools hazardous to public education? Greatschools.net Derrick Z. Jackson – Boston Globe - Common Dreams new center(The Realities of school Vouchers) MSNBC – School debate: Public vs. Private