Private Schools

[Gooble]

Right, what do you guys thinking of having a private education, and those who attend private schools, or indeed the same about public schools/students.

I personally go to a public school, not the worst but certainly not the best. The majority of my year group pre-sixth form was pretty cool, but the idiots were annoying as hell. I'd say I've had a reasonably good education, certainly not the best, and the teachers weren't the best, but there were a few brilliant ones.

I personally would never have traded it with a private school education. Sure the education itself is of a much higher standard, but from my own and others experiences, the people come out as arrogant pricks, who know nothing about how to deal with people other than those like them (i.e. pretty much everyone else).

For example, my sister used to work at a chocolate shop, and all the people from a local private all-boys school just treated her like crap!

I know this is a sweeping generalisation, but it would be interesting to know your thoughts and opinions, especially of anyone here who attends/attended a private school.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

go to night school and take comunity college classes that actually give college credit. screw highschool. you get to avoid the whole social bullshit of highschool while getting a head start on college where you actually get away from home and get some freedom.

the speed of highschool is geared to the lowest common denomenator of students and most kids don't want to learn anyways. so for me, it was just a boring waste of time and busywork. if i could have done it over, i would have definitely gotten it over with in 2 years to get a head start on the "real world"

 

[sammyfreak]

Well, I guess my opinions are altered by that in Sweden private schools only differ in size and theme from public ones, they all are free. But I can't say I notice a diffirence between these people and those in public schools.

I don't think the problem isn't the schools themselfs but rather that a lot of people who attend them. People who grow up learning that their (parents) money makes them better then others tend to be dickheads, but people who grow up poor with the believe that money will make them better people tend to suffer from the same problem, just less arogance.

 

[bodyklok]

well my friend gos to a private school and he just did all his GCSE's except he did them all about a year before every one else so while he got a better education a lot more was expected from him so over all he will probably do worst than if he had gone to a good public school but I dough he will do all that badly anyway he is very smart. As for the arrogant behavior a good way to solve that is to get them on there own with a bunch of your mates.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

In America, private schools offer a much higher level of education. The problem is that they're all religiously affiliated (usually Catholic). Please mind your generalizations when referring to private school kids as "arrogant pricks". I happen to have gone to a private school most of my life, and I certainly wouldn't trade that for the low-quality public education that is found here (although I'll confess that I can be arrogant). When I left private school in 8th grade and began my Freshman year at a public high school, I found myself only in honors courses and even those were too easy. Public schools have to teach to the dumbest kids in the class to make their test score standards, while private schools don't. I shudder to think that if I had gone to a public grade school and Junior High that I would not have been able to learn as much as I did at my public school and would probably be among the illiterate delinquents of my high school.

The academic differences between public and private schools in America is absolutely astounding. It also separates those who want to go to school and those who don't; giving those who do a proper education (albeit for some amount of money) and those who don't the shitty public school systems, hence why private schools do better in test scores. Occasionally, there will be someone who cares about their education but can no longer afford private schools, like myself. In which case, we get shoved into too-full classes with maybe one other intelligent person out of the lot. We can't get the classes we need half of the time because they're too full. Questions asked fall on the uncaring ears of terrible teachers. Grades are given as long as the project is done, not done well. We are stifled by the slow pace of the classes, and laugh when other people fail despite the answers being handed to them the day before.

Public schools in America are a terrible and slightly dangerous place to be. That said, I couldn't be happier to be out of there. Any potential that one may have going in there is completely smashed because one cannot exceed beyond the limits set by the slowest in the school. There was no challenge to learning anymore; only skating by without effort and still maintaining a 4.0 gpa. I'm rather sure that I came away from four years of high school knowing nothing more academically than I did when I went in.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Grades are given as long as the project is done, not done well. We are stifled by the slow pace of the classes, and laugh when other people fail despite the answers being handed to them the day before.

god, the amount of homework was utterly unbearable. how many times do you have to use the quadratic equation to understand it?

they always over loaded the busywork so that dumbasses could get a C or B in the class even if they failed all of the tests. total utter bullshit.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

People saying that public schools only cater to the lowest denominator- do you not realise that (here in Britain at least) different classes have different skill levels. For example, in the maths department, there were a couple of foundation class for all the thickies, several what you'd call normal classes for normal kids, and one or two accelerated classes for all the nerds. And this was a public, government funded school. The same applies to nearly all departments- English, Science, PE, etc. Perhaps public schools in America are a horrible place to be, but here in England we've for the most part got no reason to complain.

in america they do have classes of various levels however their acessibility is debatable. i scored well on tests but usually dragged my feet through the various homework assignments because i had things i would rather do than repititious crap that i already knew. for that reason a teacher or counselor couldn't reccommend me for advanced placement because i didn't demonstrate a "good work ethic".

overall, i made it through high school with middling grades however i did great in college since college was all essays and test scores, which is what i'm great at.

so they have higher level courses, but unless you can demonstrate a higher level of apptitude within their convaluted system of assessment, then you cannot get into them. you can't just ask to be in an advanced placement course.

you can however, take night courses at an accelerated learning center for adults and take community college courses. a friend of mine completed highschool 1 year early via the night schools in order to circumvent the public school system which had been holding him hostage in English Language Disability classes in order to boost scores in their ELD program.

 

[ThaBenMan]

I went to a private high school. My family is not very wealthy, but luckily I was able to attend for free because my hometown has no high school of it's own. So I was one of the poorer kids there. But even the wealthy ones were mostly nice, my whole class got along really well for the most part. I had to ride the bus along with all the kids from my town who chose to go to a public high school, and if their behavior was any indication (your normal teenaged douchebaggery), I was lucky to have the classmates I did.

As for the quality of the education, well, I'm not sure. I like to think it was pretty good, but I'm a college dropout, so take that as you will.

And there were some little perks to be had - I liked not having to perform the Pledge of Allegiance every day. We had no cafeteria (not necessarily a trait of all private schools, admittedly), so we got stuff like Subway and Taco Bell brought in every week. On the other hand, the dress code was kind of a pain - a button-up shirt, tucked in, no jeans.

So overall, I was glad to have attended private school.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

In my high school, we had three levels of only a couple courses: Basic, Average, and Honors. These only applied to English, Math, Science, and History. So, if you took a language, you were still stuck with the kids who struggled through Basic level courses.

We have a Post-Secondary Education Options Program. If your gpa was 3.6 or higher, you could attend a couple of classes at one of the nearby colleges with the option of earning both high school and college credit or just college credit. I did the first option for three out of my four years in high school, so that I didn't have to be there all the time and I came out of high school with a year of college behind me. The wonderful thing about this program is that if you choose to do both high school and college credit, the state pays for your college tuition and books. It also often worked out that the actual college classes were much easier and the workload lighter than the AP (Advanced Placement) courses taken through the high school.

So, my escape to the nearby University made the load of stupidity found at the high school a bit lighter, but it still doesn't help too much. In America, we ALL are brought down by the lowest student simply because we're judged by test scores. Public schools have to meet a certain standard with test scores, and the honors students barely balance out the failed grades that the basic level students received. I'm rather sure the basic-level teachers were more accustomed to arrests being made in their classes than passing test scores.

 

[Shivari]

Well I'm someone that went to a private school K-6 and then opted out for public education. And let me tell you that while some private schools are very good (the high schools around here are very good, yet WAY too expensive. Expecting over $10,000 a year and rising for high school is fucking ridiculous.) but my grade school was horrible. I honestly went into 7th grade with the understanding of math that I should in 5th grade. It was just a horrible school.

But luckily I'm still very smart and was able to bounce back and am now in mostly honors classes going into my sophomore year. But I won't say that the public high school here is great, but it's above what most of the other posters are describing. One thing I do hate though is how we have so much homework for the people that can't retain knowledge and pass a test. If you need to rely so heavily on homework to even get by, you shouldn't be passing. Anyone can do their homework all the time, but you actually have to retain the stuff to pass a test.

It's worth noting that I don't go to the inner-city Cleveland high school, because if I did I definitely would not be receiving a good education. I truly feel sorry for the kids that go there and get such a horrible education.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

Well I'm someone that went to a private school K-6 and then opted out for public education. And let me tell you that while some private schools are very good (the high schools around here are very good, yet WAY too expensive. Expecting over $10,000 a year and rising for high school is fucking ridiculous.) but my grade school was horrible. I honestly went into 7th grade with the understanding of math that I should in 5th grade. It was just a horrible school.

But luckily I'm still very smart and was able to bounce back and am now in mostly honors classes going into my sophomore year. But I won't say that the public high school here is great, but it's above what most of the other posters are describing. One thing I do hate though is how we have so much homework for the people that can't retain knowledge and pass a test. If you need to rely so heavily on homework to even get by, you shouldn't be passing. Anyone can do their homework all the time, but you actually have to retain the stuff to pass a test.

It's worth noting that I don't go to the inner-city Cleveland high school, because if I did I definitely would not be receiving a good education. I truly feel sorry for the kids that go there and get such a horrible education.

Mine was inner city Toledo; so it's probably about the same level as your inner-city Cleveland one, just for the mental image, lol.

 

[zen5887]

I went to a public high school here in australia. It wasnt a bad school when I left but when I started (in 03) there were fights almost every day, kids smoking in the bathrooms, litter and people running around out of uniform. When this new princible came she reaaaally cleaned up the place - everyone hated her but she done a really good

I now go to a private uni, not religious just privatly owned. Its a small campus.. and by campus I mean building =P but its still a pretty great place..

I know a few people who went to private (catholic) schools and they didnt mind it but no one I've talk to said they followed the religion side of it.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

I went to a public high school here in australia. It wasnt a bad school when I left but when I started (in 03) there were fights almost every day, kids smoking in the bathrooms, litter and people running around out of uniform. When this new princible came she reaaaally cleaned up the place - everyone hated her but she done a really good

I now go to a private uni, not religious just privatly owned. Its a small campus.. and by campus I mean building =P but its still a pretty great place..

I know a few people who went to private (catholic) schools and they didnt mind it but no one I've talk to said they followed the religion side of it.

Nope, I'm happily Wiccan now, lol. And the people I graduated with who I'm still in touch with are atheist. Just goes to show that you can't shove a religion down someone's throat and have them appreciate it.

 

[zirnitra]

I went to private schools for about 10 years, this was originally because the quality of education given specially for dyslexic children was and still is shit in mainstream schools (in england a public school is the ultra posh 50k a year schools) but my parent's later moved my sister into private schooling as well. the most people I had in my year was about 12 (the entire year not just my year group) everyone was friends it was just a lot friendlier atmosphere, far stricter though.

I left in early year ten....well sort of more expelled really, well mutual agreement that I left. the school really went down hill in it's last years, it when bankrupt and shut halfway through term just last week.

yes it does give a tremendously better education on average (their will of course be bad eggs) but it does not really prepare student's for the real world, I found it very hard to function when I first came to state schools.

my sister will be starting a mainstream school in September in year nine it's one of the best in the country, I graduated last year doing 6th form their. but it will be a big step for her .

interestingly enough though teachers of the high school send their younger children to my sister's prep school then send them to high school in year nine, so I think that best shows that the prep schooling is best at least for the first years of a child's life.

 

[isjusterin]

Well, I can give a pretty different American-public-school experience than the ones described so far. I think, considering how college has presented itself so far (starting as a freshman in the fall), I got a pretty good education. I know why this is, though. The school I went to was a magnet science/technology program that was contained within another public school that was in an upper-middle class neighborhood. Despite its being in Texas, which is apparently supposed to make it an idiot school, I got a fairly above-par education. Our different skill levels were something like level-PreAP-AP, with remedial courses for the lazy idiots. I'm not entirely sure about the quality of the level classes, because I was mostly in the upper classes, but in the upper level PreAP and AP classes the class was fairly challenging and the teachers were for the most part competent. Even if they hated me for being a smartass. The magnet program I was in was free/public/whatever as well, and it had some more experienced/better teachers and other activities.

The only two private schools in the area were the generic money-grubbing catholic school for the parents that had to indoctrinate their children, which I didn't even know existed till my junior year, and a $17,000-a-year college prep school that claims to be the only non-religious one in the area, one of the very rare non-affiliated private grade schools. I was better acquainted with the latter because some of my friends' siblings attended and I always got stuck with about twenty of them when I went to local summer camps. I would say that they were a bunch of elitist pricks, but there's two reasons for me not to: one) I didn't meet enough of them recently enough and two) there were a ton of rich kids in my public school, too, so I got a lot of prick-ism out of them as well. As I see it, private schools don't inherently create rude, intolerable, senseless people, they just further the efforts of their parents to make them that way. They're as liable as anyone else to be likable if they have a good head on their shoulders.

I have to say, though, that money in the family is a huuuuuuge risk factor for kids growing up to be unbearable adults. I had some bad experiences on that level with a couple of really superficial students, and it's just a repetition of what they learn with their parents.

Personally, I wouldn't trade in my public schooling for a private school because I think I turned out pretty okay in spite of a slightly lower educational standard. I just don't think going to a private school (if I had ever had the resources) would have been worth the money or social system involved.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

the thing is with the public/private/home school debate is it depends on the school. they've actually shown that either one can be on top, it's as they say in real estate "there's 3 things you gotta worry about location location location"

both private and public can be good or can be bad. depends on what you read which one is better or which one is worse

 

[zari]

In America, we ALL are brought down by the lowest student simply because we're judged by test scores. Public schools have to meet a certain standard with test scores, and the honors students barely balance out the failed grades that the basic level students received.

We're not lumbered with the No Child Left Behind crap here in .au (yet), but to give a perspective from the other side of the desk, even if you're not reliant on test scores for funding classes are always going to be affected by the lowest common denominator and for two reasons.

1) Behaviour. With some kids behaviour management is a very time consuming job, which affects learning for the rest of the class.
2) Whether or not there's school funding riding on it, as a teacher you (should) always want all your kids to succeed - that's what you're there for.

Streaming classes into ability levels helps, but isn't always 100% effective (eg mis-read someone's ability and they get put into the wrong class, then either have to live with it [points 1 and 2 above] or have to get shuffled to a different class again, which has its own problems). Also streaming is not always practical for all subjects due to class sizes and other factors.

School leadership is always going to be a huge factor in how good a school is or not, and that's for any school, so I'll ignore that. Also ignoring the religion part of (some) private schools, they have one advantage which public schools don't, which is more freedom to turf out problem kids (and while I worry about what happens to them, you can't pretend it isn't better for the rest).

Speaking from a public school perspective, every year there is a huge problem with what to do with the students who are not engaged or just not interested in letting anyone else learn anything. Here schooling is now compulsory until you're 17 unless you have meaningful work (ie something career-based) or are involved in courses at a technical college (usually trade-based training) or an apprenticeship program. It is also expected that you attend school until you are at least 15 before taking one of these options. As you can imagine this leaves us essentially baby sitting a number of disengaged kids until they're 15 or more (some parents have incredibly unrealistic expectations of their children and will persist in keeping them at school for the Tertiary Entrance Exams despite all evidence that they're not suited for it).

Every year we have several kids who leave (for one reason or another) one of the local private schools and end up back with us. What can we do with them? The best we can do is try to engage them with the normal teaching program, since there is limited funding available for alternative programs, until they're old enough (and amenable to) to be placed in something more suitable.

I shouldn't really be posting stuff like this while there's a teacher shortage in my state ;P Need to encourage people to teach.

 

[Lord Krunk]

The thing is, the only real difference between the 2 is the fact that one is more expensive and loaded with snobbish pricks (most of them), and the other one couldn't care less.

In Oz, though, Private schools are the same as public schools, as they actually lean on the Federal Government for reimbursement.

Public schools are a bit worse off, as we lean on the State government, and anyone in NSW at the moment will understand by knowing how stupid Morris Iemma and his gang of corrupt loonies are.
Costa and Sartor are memorable ones (as well as the recent Bob Delabosca scandal; he runs the NSW department of education)

Other than the private schools having blazers and dicky haircuts, public schools are actually better.

The best school in the state is James Ruse (Public) followed by Sydney Boys/Girls (Public) followed by PLC (Private) followed by Cheltenham/Epping Boys (Public) and then followed by Riverside Girls (Public).

The worst school in the state is Marist Brothers (Private).

Overall, 8if you want class, and can stand being called a dick in a blazer, go private.

If you want a proper education that focuses less on promoting self esteem and more on facts, go Public.

Although I disapprove entirely of he Department of Education's internet regimes.

(NOTE: The "smartest" guy at my friend's private school actually believes that America won the Vietnam War)