private schools

stupidquestion wrote:Excellent point. Once public school teachers get tenure (at many districts it is granted automatically after 5 years), it is nearly impossible to fire of them. Many of them pretty much stop doing work. Private school teachers lose their jobs pretty regularly if they mess up in any way(unless they are successful coaches).

They have to get tenure first...

My state has strong tenure laws. After 3 years it's essentially impossible to fire a teacher. Meanwhile I've got to work my butt off every day for the rest of my career.

What's even worse is that in my state teacher AIDES even get tenure.

Mr. Price wrote:

They have to get tenure first...

And that is incredibly easy to get at most public schools in this country.

Also, back to the OP...

if you want to know whether or not your parents wasted money on your education, simply compare yourself to how you are now doing compared to the students at the public school you would have attended if they hadn't sent you to private school. If you are more successful than the majority of those students, then I would say your parents certainly did not waste their money. Comparing your private school experience to the average public school experience of your college classmates will not help to answer your question.

i think the idea of tenure is ridiculous.

the idea that someone basically has to either sexually assault a student or plagiarize (like ward churchhill) or something else illegal is just crazy. if someone sucks at teaching, they should be replaced. i don't see how someone could think that if someone is a terrible teacher for whatever reason, that they should be allowed to continue to teach.

It seems like alot of people here are in the same boat im in. I went to a community private school for K-8th then went to a bigger all guys private school in the city for high school. My family doesn't have alot of money. But they made it work because the public schools in my district were a piece of shit. My high school was college prep and in college now I've been extremely prepared. I think if I would have been able to go to a good public school, I would have received the same great education I did at my private school. I just didn't have that type of public school in my area.

It all depends on the kids motivation to work in school. You could have a kid in a public school that doesn't give a damn about anything and is just "going through the motions" until he graduates. You could have this same kid at a private school, he just has to pay to do it.

Same thing with running, i mean it helps to have a great program to run for, but if someone wants to really get faster they'll learn the training, read books, etc. Although it does help, They don't necessarily need to have this amazing program to run for. If they're motivated, then you'll go out and run.

I agree with the notion that certified teachers are not necessarily being more qualified than non certified private school teachers. I actually think in most cases they are less qualified. This country almost requires you to be an idiot to be public school certified. If you score well on your SAT and had a descent GPA chances are that your first impulse was in some more challenging field than education. However, after a college education in fields such as the humanities or social sciences many people consider a career in education, but the public schools make you jump through so many hoops almost as if to punish you for not majoring in education. In some places you practically have to go to college another 4 years. Its just not worth it. So these smart people who have the highest SAT scores and went to the best colleges end up not going into education at all or they teach in a private school. Meanwhile, the people who score low in high school most often major in education because they lack confidence in their abilities and probably are a little lazy and want an easy major followed by a career with ridiculous job security. And these people are protected against the smart people b/c of all the hoops that are construct and the fact that the school you went to means very little in the public education hiring process.

I teach at a very good private school. In my state, public schools are pretty bad. Some private schools are not much better, but, to a certain extent, you get what you pay for. My school charges enough to pay for good teachers, good facilties, etc. The earlier posters have a very important point about the quality of family background. The best public schools serve neighborhoods with high property values full of families that value education, disicipline, and excellence. A private school can create that same kind of "neighborhood." I'm no better a teacher where I am now than I was when I taught in the inner city, but I have a very different starting point. As for the value of a teaching certificate, it's terribly overrated. I took the necessary coursework to earn my certificate in a single semester following my MA in my subject area (history). The courses were a joke, and I can honestly say the only good the license ever did was that I was legally able to be hired. Moreover, when the government changed the rules with No Child Left Behind, my wife suddenly became "unqualified" to teach a class she was currently teaching quite well until she jumped through hoops to get a different certificate. Finally, where I work now, my only job security is teaching my butt off every day (plus coaching). Knowing that every pair of eyeballs on you in class belongs to a paying customer has a real impact on your daily effort. My school has a 100% college acceptance rate, averages right at 1300 on the SAT, and I have numerous former students at Ivies, Duke, UVA, Stanford, service academies, etc. Not all private schools are comparable to this one, but there are some that are dwefinitely not a waste of money.

public school now ivy league

sucks to be you OP

I'm currently at a private Christian school. I'm definitely glad I'm there.

i was at a private christian school too.

at mine, there were plenty of drugs/alcohol, just about as much as public school (percentage-wise).

my parents overpaid wrote:

i was at a private christian school too.

at mine, there were plenty of drugs/alcohol, just about as much as public school (percentage-wise).

Mine is very different from public. I ran for a year with my local public school, and could tell a huge difference. may I ask the name of yours? or atleast the state?

Ah, excellent use of weasel words, my friend. "Many", "a lot", etc. But you can't back that up, since you just made it up based on things people say all the time (which aren't really true). There are always some bad apples, but in my experience at public schools at least 90% of teachers really care about their students. I can think of a few that were bad, but then so can anyone at any private school.

I'm really happy with the education I got at a public school. I came out with 17 college credits and a strong background in math, science, english, and history. And this was a small school. Another school near me offered almost every AP class and routinely had 10+ national merit finalists per class.

t345345345 wrote:

I'm currently at a private Christian school. I'm definitely glad I'm there.

Christian school? They still do exist in 3rd world countries?

Sorry guys, you are kidding, aren't you?

I'm about to finish my senior year at a large public high school. I've taken every single AP/honors class possible and have rarely, if ever, felt challenged. This year is the first time i have had to go home and do work and that is because i am writing essays for every scholarship i possibly can so that i can have a better college at a better (most likely private) college. High school has been an alomst complete waste of time. I have a 33 on the ACT yet do not feel prepared for college because i've forgoten how to work. I went to a small private school K-8 and looking back, i am so thankful i did. I learned more about writing in MS than HS and actually had homework more than twice a week. oh, and the running program is practically nonexistant at my school despite haveing over 1800 students

I went to a private high school in middle and high school, and am now attending a public state university. I am extremely thankful to my parents for paying for me to attend private school. I would never argue that a person at a private school learns more, or is better educated than a public school student, although I'm sure that can be the case sometimes. We all know that school is what you put into it, and a bright and driven student will succeed in getting a good education at either a private or public school. Like others have mentioned, other components of the school are what made it so good for me: Spiritual, Athletic, extracurricular activities and opportunities only possible through a private school. My school required people to do a "sport" or at least something active at the end of the day, even if it was going to the Y or something. There was chapel, advisory groups, holiday events, etc. that I enjoyed a lot. The Christian environment was great for me. The athletics and the facilities were top notch and helped me achieve without a doubt what I was capable of in running. Classes were geared specifically to college prep. All in all I think I would have been just fine at a public school, but I am thankful my parents had the means to provide me with a private school experience, where the student body was smaller and felt more like a "family".

I do agree with the above poster. I went to an all male boarding school for six years, 7th-12th grade. Most of the families there don't mind dropping that money annually. I believe my tuition was 28k a year.

I do believe it helps one get into colleges. Im sure it looks more desirable than just another Jo Schmo high school. But later down the road, I am not sure how much it will help an individual. Contacts do certainly help and Im sure the discipline, leadership, etc does emerge over time.

Perhaps it can also be a downfall due to the restrictions found in those school which in my case included strict rules, etc. Also not having females in the same school for 6 years kind of was interesting.

I just switched my 8 year olds to private school in Dec. Having 12 kids in their class versus 30, and a percentage of whom don't speak English as a first language, has made a huge difference in the amount of attention focused on teaching them....it is already worth the money I am paying.

t345345345 wrote:

my parents overpaid wrote:

i was at a private christian school too.

at mine, there were plenty of drugs/alcohol, just about as much as public school (percentage-wise).

Mine is very different from public. I ran for a year with my local public school, and could tell a huge difference. may I ask the name of yours? or atleast the state?

Kentucky.

The local Catholic high school is full of both as well, if not even worse.

Foldem wrote:

Ah, excellent use of weasel words, my friend. "Many", "a lot", etc. But you can't back that up, since you just made it up based on things people say all the time (which aren't really true). There are always some bad apples, but in my experience at public schools at least 90% of teachers really care about their students. I can think of a few that were bad, but then so can anyone at any private school.

I'm really happy with the education I got at a public school. I came out with 17 college credits and a strong background in math, science, english, and history. And this was a small school. Another school near me offered almost every AP class and routinely had 10+ national merit finalists per class.

I'm not just going off of what my teammates told me, I lived with/around them (my teammates who went to that school) for an entire year. I saw what they acted like, and what they did