Public School vs Private in USA

The public vs private school for elementary and middle school is an easy decision for some families, and for some it is up for review every year.

It becomes even harder to take a decision if parent wants to go a different route for second child after learning from first child's experience.

Cost, commute, having classmates from neighborhood, walkable, exposure to real world, protected environment, options for extracurriculars, opportunities for motivated students.. there are many factors parents consider.

Is it an easy decision for you? A given? Or was it a conscious well-researched choice? Did child, mom and dad have conflicting preferences?

There are also other options like charter, magnet school, but this is more about public (free) vs private (paid) choice for elementary, middle school years.

 

We chose public schools for elementary and middle school years, and not unhappy with the decision. Commute and carpooling to faraway private school plus money were main factors. Plus, we had the approach that we went to regular schools, and doing well in life... it is the genes : ) and home environment that matters most.

In retrospect, yes, researching more options, and maybe moving closer to a more suitable private school would have made a difference. I guess if it bothered me enough, we would have. Didn't bother then, and not now.

Though, I have to confess public schools mostly not having prescribed uniform still puzzles me.

 

The "Let's Fire Up Those Neurons" thread sees discussion on many tangential but interesting topics. Quoting part of a neat post by JAG from there, on the public vs private school topic:

 

Bumping up thread.

Was a long long weekend. Met friends who firmly believe in private school education. Went over entire pros cons list. : )

 

JAG's post, quoted in post #3 above has a good comparison.

In my experience, it essentially comes down to what your friends do, and the inherent opinion of you and spouse about education. Some general factors to compare private/public elementary and middle schools (not high schools) :

Cost - Sending child to public school frees up money to spend on extra curricular activities.
Nearby - Public school is nearer, classmates live nearer - helps kids who find it harder to make friends.
Street-smartness - Public schools have less protected environment, there are kids from all kinds of families. Usually, there will be 1 or 2 mischievous or challenging kids in each class, and kids learn from that exposure. Though, on the flip side, teacher attention and time goes in catering to children with varying levels of interest in learning.

Playground - Extending the streetsmartness factor, public school playground and recess time interactions can provide some skills that protected environment of private school cannot.

%age of time spent learning - In a public school, they may spend precious school hours watching dumb movies, some inane activity, or a politically correct thingie that the principal/district think is important to teach. In a private school, there is much more emphasis on academics, and time less wasted.

PTA in public schools - Aah.. dont' get me started. This is a topic by itself. In some schools, this can be a nuisance. If you are a PTA parent, sorry.

Responsive management - Public schools - getting any accommodation or anything that school is not required to readily provide by law, can be tough.

Common Core - If the state follows it, public schools have to follow it, I think. And it is a big big mess, especially the math.

Teacher turnover - I believe this is higher in private schools, where they try to keep teachers whom they pay least.

That's it for now. Maybe will add more later.

Just my opinions. Many of these are very subjective.

 

I've heard about this too, though more from the very expensive schools. It can also happen in a public school, for example, if there is no prescribed school uniform. As the kids get older, some want to wear and use only expensive brands.

True. Some parents enroll child into private school just one year before the admission is known to get tougher.

Good question. Often, it finally boils down to money. "Is it worth it" is big question. One answer is - how would the money get spent if not spent on private school tuition? How much of a lifestyle compromise is needed to afford private school. Unless the public elementary school options are really dismal, the argument of better to spend on their education now than saving for later stage, doesn't make much sense, IMO.

Then, there is one more factor of whether family has 1 kid or more.