Why Public Schooling is better than Private Schooling Essays

Why Public Schooling is better than Private Schooling Essays Why Public Schooling is better than Private Schooling Essay Why Public Schooling is better than Private Schooling Essay The post industrial period in most of the developed nations witnessed an upsurge of attacks being leveled against public schooling with private schools being hailed as the epitome of quality education.   A close analysis of the situation on the ground however does not indicate any discernible variations in the admission into public schools.   Though private enrolment may have increased over the years, public schools are still the bastion of education in the United States.   Recent research and indeed many scholars are in agreement that public schooling offers a student with a number of benefits in terms of cost, teachers’ certification, special education and a curriculum that is far reaching in addition to many others.Private schools refer to schools which do not source their facilities and finances from the government or the local authorities.   History of private schooling dates back to the colonial era when most of them were operated by the C atholic missionaries.   Such schools are different by structure and have been known to serve a select group of individuals due to the major existing differences from the mainstream.One of the core advantages of public schooling over private schooling is cost.   A comparison between the two demonstrates huge disparities.   Whereas a public college an year costs less than $6,000, private schools is well over $30,000 annually on the lower scale.   This cost could be higher than this as it depends on the prestige of the college.   Private institutions are more expensive as they charge higher tuition fees whereas public schools charge lower rate or do not charge at all.   This is the major factor that attracts most parents to public schools. One of the reasons behind this is that private schools are not supposed to receive any public funding and have to survive on a budget that is completely financed by parents through tuition fees or donations.   Public schools on the othe r hand are financed through tax revenues.   The cost is highly subsidized by the government through the taxpayers’ money.   The amount of the cost that is subsidized depends on the level of education.   Basic education is subsidized more than in the tertiary level.   Community colleges and public universities may charge some amount of tuition fee but still they cost far much lower than the private ones. Private schools on the other hand according to Gormley (45) oblige parents â€Å"to pay twice for their children’s education once for the public schools with their tax payments and again for the private school with their tuition payments†.Another factor that may drive a parent to choose public schooling is the availability of special programs.   The United States constitution broadly outlines the need for all Americans to access education as a basic right.   Such education is to be provided indiscriminately and the public schools respond accordingly t o such a quest.   The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) enacted by the congress ensures that all children have access to a â€Å"free appropriate public education which emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs.† (Imber Geer 146).   Such a mandate is on the public schools only.   Private schools do not offer specialized education and those that do it, do so at the cost of the student.   A look at some of the private schools indicate that rarely do they have a program for students with special needs but some might have programs for gifted students in combination to the general program.   Such discrimination in education provision is likely to put off parents with a child that requires special attention.   There are private schools that specialize in special education, but it has to be noted that such schools do not run parallel programs with the general programs and such specialized attention is more expensive com pared to the one in the public schools (Benveniste 2).A look at the curriculum of public schools in the United States reveals that it is broad and provides an individual with an opportunity of learning broad subjects.   Decisions on the curriculum are made and controlled by the government with the plight of all individuals in mind.   On the other hand, private schools curriculum is structured and controlled to fit a particular view point depending on the management’s whims.   Such control and narrow view of the curriculum can be detrimental to a child’s understanding of important aspects of life.   According to Klein (48) reservations on private education have been expressed that it â€Å"will be used to inculcate the child in the parent’s preferred way of life, thereby frustrating the child’s right to open future.†Ã‚   Indeed, public schools offer students an exposure to a wide range of programs both academic and co-curricular such as arts and music. Private schools may not be able to offer such programs due to cost constraints and when they do they might be accessed discriminately on the basis of affordability (Ingraham 218).Another reason why public schooling is better than private schooling centers on teachers.   The government has outlined specific criteria for choosing and allocating qualified teachers to public schools.   Teachers in public schools must meet certain minimum qualifications and certification of training.   This ensures that students are being taught by trained professionals.   Such strict requirements are not placed upon teachers in private schools.   Such certification is not a mandatory requirement for private schools and hence professionalism may be compromised (United States Department of Labor, 229)Diversity is also another benefit that public schools have over private schools.   As afore mentioned, most private schools target a specific clique of individuals depending on the man agement’s policy.   Such distinctions may be as a result of cost, religion orientation and location.   Some private schools may have a tradition of admitting students that meet certain criteria while discriminating against the rest.   On the other hand, admission to public schools is open and any individual can be admitted regardless of race, color, creed or economic income.   Leaning through the public system hence accords an individual an opportunity to interact with people of diverse backgrounds and learn to understand the larger society better.   There is no legislation to govern the composition of private schools and hence they lack in this advantage (Bacchi 18)In deed there are numerous advantages that public schools have over private schooling.   However, there are certain benefits for private schools that have been identified.   The first one is on performance.   The major argument that dominates this topic is that private schools perform better and pa rents are likely to get a value for their money.   This however is a point that has been put into disrepute by recent findings released by the United States Education Department which claimed that indeed public schools perform well in school â€Å"when difference in students background are taken into account† (Chamberlain).   The same conclusion is reached at by Ladd (170) who does not see any â€Å"positive effects of attending private schools†, claiming further that an individuals performance can only be â€Å"explained by the characteristics of the students, not the performance of the school.†The argument also on the private schools being better because they offer smaller classes may hold some water if it indeed reflects a high academic performance.   However, it fails to recognize the above mentioned benefits of diversity. Education requires a multifaceted approach that encompasses both academic and co-curricular excellence.   Public schools have an opportunity of providing both and hence are better than private schools. In addition, as has been mentioned above, they cost less and their admission is open to all in the society as long as one meets the set general criteria.