Public Or Private Essay, Research Paper

In today s world, our society has created the idea that private institutions for elementary to high school levels are better for kids than that of what the state has to offer known as public schooling. In public schools there is a wide range in variety in the quality that schools offer the students. Opposed to private institutions, most of them found in the valley are of the same caliber not leaving much room for the difference in educational quality. Factors such as the social environment that the schools are found in, the types of curriculums offered, and the religious emphasis placed in school will be analyzed in comparing these two ideas.

Why is it that parents are turning to different education sources? The truth is many parents are turning to private schooling as an alternative to public education. The environment in which public schools are located in play an important role in a parent s decision to whether their children should attend a private or public institution. Attending public schools means that the child will be exposed to many more realities in life and will be faced with overcoming more obstacles. Obstacles that a student is more than likely to face are stereotypes, drugs, violence and peer pressure. Kid s self-esteem and confidence are either built or destroyed during a student s middle school years in my experience. If it is destroyed, they will turn to drugs and gangs in order to find what was lost to them or to find a sense of belonging. Perhaps because there is too much violence and crime, and too much exposure to issues that parents feel their children aren t ready to deal with. Violence and crime in public schools have increased immensely within the last year. With all the shootings that have occurred, there s no wonder why parents are taking their kids out of public schooling. Crime is also an issue. Teenagers are constantly stealing from their fellow peers. It s the whole issue about clothing and name brands. This is where the issue of stereotypes comes in. Always being in fashion, having the top of the line items, being a materialistic teenager, leads to the stereotypes between peers. Those who have the monetary means are the popular ones, as to those who can only afford enough to be clothed which are looked down upon for not being hip and cool. A kid will see someone whom has the newest shoes out there, but unfortunately that kid can t afford them. Consequently, that kid that eyeballed the shoe will fill find some way to get those shoes off the other kid. In a private school these stereotypes can easily be eliminated for the reasons that uniforms are required as the dress code and even then if they are not, most of the students who attend private schools fall under the same income level therefore not creating this stereotype. Private schools also eliminate a lot of the violence that occurs due to the fact that most private schools are based on religion.

Private schools that are religion oriented are more disciplined. Living in an area where Catholism is practiced widely, it can easily be inferred that students will have a better understanding of the religion while attending a private school. In public schools, teachers are scared and are prohibited to even speak the slightest about religion therefore denying a huge part of the Mexican-American culture to the students. The other difference is that private schooling eliminates many of the negative influences such as gangs, drugs and sex. This is done through the tight discipline that is enforced. It s almost as if student are surrounded by a more positive atmosphere. Students should be able to be exposed to the realities of life instead of being sheltered from them. If the child is raised with the concept that he or she knows right from wrong, then there should be no problem attending public schools. It is better to learn as one is growing up instead of being taken by surprise when one thought they knew everything there needed to be known about life. Being a private religious school means that it tends to lean more to the conservative side not allowing exposure to the real world. Sexual topics, for instance, is one that very open to be discussed in public schooling yet, it is very hush hush in private religious schools, although among the students this topic is discussed often enough.

Another example, is the curriculum that is taught in private schooling to be a more intense and stricter type of learning. The classes offered are more challenging than you find in a public school. It s because the number of students that attend pubic schooling don t have the teacher to student ratio that a private school has to offer. There is not enough time to give each individual the attention that they need and deserve. The language usage in private schools is more elaborate in being advance and not just an everyday type of slang talk usually used in public schools. Statistics have proven that children that attend private schooling have higher GPA s and better TAAS scores.

Overall there are greater differences than similarities in public and private education. Living in such a competitive society in the work force, it is important that as a parent one should research what would best for their child s education. It s obvious why parents who can afford private schooling are turning to this as an alternative to public education. Yet public schools offer wider variety of everyday life skills.