Public & Private Schools the Essay

Costs

Costs for private schools for elementary, middle school and high school students range from a few hundred dollars a month to over $1,000 per month per child in the more exclusive private schools. The U.S. Government, during the latter part of the 20th century, enacted voucher programs hoping to create a more equitable approach to gaining private education in those regions of cities where there was significant chasms between those who could and could not afford private school (Ward, Clark, 1991). Given the wide variation in costs between private schools and given the fact that public school is free leads nearly all monitories to choose the latter alternative for their children. The debate continues as to whether the high cost of private schools is a form of discrimination or not (Kemerer, Martinez, Godwin, 1996).

Conclusion

Comparing the benefits of public vs. private schools illustrates one fundamental fact, and that is the role of parents in ensuring their children get an excellent education.The role of parents is actually just as significant as the quality of the instructors in private schools. Comparing just costs and the mistaken beliefs that private schools will always have smaller classes, more focused instructors is not the case. Studies suggest that public and private schools are comparable on many other academic areas, with sciences that require an intensive level of abstraction being better taught in private school locations (Ward, Clark, 1991). Across all other subjects there is a high level of commonality of performance however.

References

Kemerer, F., Martinez, V., Godwin, K., & North Texas Univ., D. (1996, January 1). Comparing Public and Private Schools: Teacher Survey Results. North Texas University Press.

Ward, T., & Clark, H. (1991, January 1). A Reexamination of….....