an essay on public school

• Arts & Culture
• Civic Engagement
• Economic Development
• Environment
• Human Rights
• Social Services
• Water & Sanitation
• Foundations
• Nonprofits & NGOs
• Social Enterprise
• Collaboration
• Design Thinking
• Impact Investing
• Measurement & Evaluation
• Organizational Development
• Philanthropy & Funding
• Current Issue
• Sponsored Supplements
• Global Editions
• In-Depth Series
• Stanford PACS
• Submission Guidelines

The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools

The following is an excerpt from the preface and from chapter seven of the book, "Reconsidering Choice, Competition, and Autonomy as the Remedy in American Education."

• order reprints
• related stories

By Christopher A. Lubienski & Sarah Theule Lubienski Dec. 9, 2013

Christopher A. Lubienski & Sarah Theule Lubienski

304 pages, University of Chicago Press, 2013

Buy the book »

There has long been a perception that public schools are second-rate—that anyone who can get their child into a private school should do so. Such desires for private education are so strong that in some districts we’ve even allocated public funds—through voucher and charter programs—to allow those who can’t afford private education a chance to. But what if our underlying assumption is wrong? What if private schools aren’t better? That is the stunning conclusion of The Public School Advantage. Eschewing most ideologies in favor of empirical data, it argues, via evidence, that our longstanding but much-beleaguered public education system is still the best choice we have.

Of the many competing plans to improve America’s schools, one overall agenda distinguishes itself in terms of its logical potential for fundamentally changing education. The innovative strategy of giving parents more choice of schools, of encouraging competition between those schools, and of granting schools more autonomy to satisfy parents—in short, “incentivizing” education—has taken hold as perhaps the most prominent and promising idea for improving American education at its core. This approach is evident in efforts such as charter schools, vouchers and tax credits for private schools, private management of schools, and privatization. All such “incentivist” approaches draw on market mechanisms modeled after the private sector, including the private education sector.

The reason reformers look to the private sector is obvious. The beauty of the logic is its simplicity. Governments and the bureaucracies they generate are thought to lead to overspending and ineffectiveness—whether the U.S. Postal Service, military procurements, or public schools. This is because governments typically administer enterprises on a monopoly basis, setting up barriers to potential competitors in order to protect their own entities in areas such as education. Hence, virtually all public funding goes only to “public” schools that are traditionally regulated by government bureaucrats, run by administrators who have obtained an official endorsement from the state, and staffed by teachers who have been certified by state-approved teacher training programs. As with all monopolies, this may lead to complacency, and even disincentives for employees to innovate or otherwise respond to the needs of their “customers.” But the private sector, driven by choice and competitive market incentives, is thought to produce better outcomes, such as those associated with FedEx, eBay, or private schools. There, school employees have built-in incentives to work harder, or at least more effectively, at providing a better education, for fear of losing students, losing tuition funds, losing their jobs, or even seeing their school “go out of business.”

At least that is what we thought. Indeed, that is the narrative of the market and, increasingly, public policy in the United States and around the globe. Yet the evidence we have found tells quite a different story than what theorists and the current crop of self-proclaimed reformers assert. Specifically, it points to a new, emerging view of the academic performance and impact of public schools in contrast to the outcomes of their more autonomous counterparts in the charter and private sectors. And the question of the impact of different types of schools, or schools in different sectors, is paramount in this era of choice, charter schools, and vouchers for private schools.

Yet, despite the significance and timeliness of this issue, this topic was not really on the research agenda for either of us. We were each happily ensconced in our own work—one studying mathematics instruction and achievement, the other examining school organization and innovations. While the question of achievement in different types of schools had occasionally appeared on the radar of the wider research community in recent years, it was usually around the hotly contested voucher debates—often vicious arguments that seemed to be geared more toward personal acrimony than enlightenment when it comes to social policy. Indeed, like many researchers, we believed the question of a beneficial private school effect on achievement had been essentially settled by the seminal studies of the 1980s and ’90s, and we had virtually no inclination to delve into that area. And then, while examining data on mathematics instruction from the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Sarah added “private school” as a control variable, and some surprising results appeared.

We were both skeptical when we first saw the initial results: public schools appeared to be attaining higher levels of mathematics performance than demographically comparable private and charter schools—and math is thought to be a better indicator of what is taught by schools than, say, reading, which is often more influenced directly and indirectly by experiences in the home. These patterns flew in the face of both the common wisdom and the research consensus on the effectiveness of public and private schools. Immediately, we checked to see what had happened in the analysis, whether “public” and “private” had been “reverse-coded” or some other such error was involved. But after further investigation and more targeted analyses, the results held up. And they held up (or were “robust” in the technical jargon) even when we used different models and variables in the analyses. We eventually posted a technical paper on a respected website and published a short article, which received some attention. And then, like any good researchers, we applied for funding to study this issue in more depth using the most recent, comprehensive databases. The results across datasets are consistent and robust—indicating that these patterns are substantial and stable, regardless of changes in the details of the analyses.

These results indicate that, despite reformers’ adulation of the autonomy enjoyed by private and charter schools, this factor may in fact be the reason these schools are underperforming. That is, contrary to the dominant thinking on this issue, the data show that the more regulated public school sector embraces more innovative and effective professional practices, while independent schools often use their greater autonomy to avoid such reforms, leading to curricular stagnation.

There is an old joke about an economist walking across a college campus with a student. When the student notices a five-dollar bill on the ground, the economist is dismissive: “It can’t be a five dollar bill. If it were, someone would have picked it up.”

While not exactly a rib splitter, this joke illustrates the inherent, if underappreciated, limitations of assumption-driven disciplines such as economics in understanding the world. Too often, people not only interpret evidence through ideological assumptions, but ignore facts that fall outside of, or run counter to, those assumptions. Particularly in areas such as a market theory of education, surrogate evidence on the quality of organizational options based on presumptions of how rationally self-interested individuals would act is often privileged over actual evidence of how organizations are really performing. That is, ideological assumptions often trump empirical evidence.

Such is the case with education. If families—and especially parents with defined preferences for better schooling—are avoiding public schools and are instead competing to get their children into private and charter schools, often paying substantial amounts of their family income toward tuition or other costs, then this must indicate that such independent schools are better, according to this narrow economic logic. Indeed, such a conclusion is constantly affirmed in the media and in reports from countless think tanks and blogs. Yet as the data indicate, those behaviors are not an accurate reflection of the reality of school effectiveness. So why would people pay for a product or service when a superior product or service is available for free? Such was the perplexity expressed by one prominent economist when faced with unexpected patterns such as these:

This result is quite surprising, because it appears to violate simple price theory. Public schools are free; [independent] schools often charge substantial tuition, making them noticeably more expensive than the alternatives. Yet some percentage of parents systematically chooses [independent] schools despite high cost and mediocre performance. Is this real? 1

According to this logic, public schools are known to be inferior because people are willing to pay for an alternative; if they had real value, we could tell because people would embrace them … just like they would have embraced the wayward greenback.

Yet the evidence presented here on mathematics achievement — the subject that best reflects school effects — in nationally representative samples of elementary schools suggests otherwise. Despite what many reformers, policy makers, media elites, and even parents may believe, these public schools are, on average, actually providing a more effective educational service relative to schools in the independent sector. In fact, the limitations of our data, if anything, likely underemphasize the notable performance of public schools, given that factors not measured in our data sets would favor private, independent schools—public schools are doing something right that overcomes these factors. While this challenges the very basis of the current movement to remake public education based on choice, competition, and autonomy, our analyses indicate that public schools are enjoying an advantage in academic effectiveness because they are aligned with a more professional model of teaching and learning. Meanwhile, attributes such as operational autonomy championed by the market theory of education—or, as it is increasingly a belief system rather than a policy theory, we might use the term “marketism”—may actually be hindering or even diverting schools in the independent sector from higher achievement as they use their freedom in embracing stagnant, less effective curricular practices.

Reprinted with permission from The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools, by Christopher A. and Sarah Theule Lubienski, published by the University of Chicago Press. © 2014 University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.

SSIR.org and/or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and to our better understanding of user needs. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to otherwise browse this site, you agree to the use of cookies.

20 Public Schools Pros And Cons

Dalia Yashinsky (MA, Phil)

Dalia Yashinsky is a freelance academic writer. She graduated with her Bachelor's (with Honors) from Queen's University in Kingston Ontario in 2015. She then got her Master's Degree in philosophy, also from Queen's University, in 2017.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Chris Drew (PhD)

This article was peer-reviewed and edited by Chris Drew (PhD). The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU.

In most developed countries, school is mandatory for kids between the ages of 6-18, though the exact age range depends on the nation, state. or province.

Public schools are government-run and funded learning institutions that are free for all students to attend. By and large, the vast majority of students attend public schools, and there are many reasons why this is the case.

Public schools are free for students to attend, transportation to and from the schools are often provided, and the public education curriculum is regulated and vetted by the government.

Despite all the advantages that come with public education, many parents and their children still opt out of the public education system so they can teach their kids either at home, through homeschooling, or at private schools.

Some parents prefer to homeschool their children so they can more closely monitor their child’s education and progress; whereas other parents might prefer to send their kids to private schools that are more capable of meeting certain learning needs that their child may have, or provides a more tailored education curriculum.

Public School Pros and Cons – Summary Table

Read Also: Public Schools vs Charter Schools (Key Differences, Strengths, and Weaknesses)

Advantages of Public Schools

1. public schools are free.

Public schools are funded by federal, state, and local governments, which means that parents and kids can enjoy the benefits of an education without having to face heavy financial burdens.

For many people, paying for their child’s education is not a viable option, so keeping public education free is necessary to make sure all kids have the opportunity to go to school and receive an education.

2. Public Schools are Accessible

Regional governments and school boards are usually in control of their region’s public education. That means that regional and municipal governments are responsible for delivering the specified standard of education required, and determining when there is a need for new schools in a particular area or neighbourhood.

For all kids to be able to go to school, public schools have to be accessible for each child to physically (or virtually) attend. Geography, and the physical location of public schools relative to where kids and their families’ lives plays a big role in determing the overall accessibility of public schools.

3. Transportation is Often Provided

Though schoolbusses depends on the region and local funding, most public schools offer transportation for kids to and from the school by the yellow school bus. Ontario alone transports over 833,000 students each day to and from school.

Schoolbusses are better for the environment, all things considered, since they help reduce the number of vehicles on the road by providing transportation for kids so parents don’t have to. They also make attending school easier for many kids that would otherwise face difficulty getting to school. Understandably the availability of bus routes can be a huge advantage and reason to vote in favour of public schools that provide transportation.

4. Teachers are Certified

Governments require that teachers be certified, licensed professionals in order to teach at public schools. People that go onto become teachers are expected to go to teacher’s school, or a program that provides them with the relevant credentials and skills to teach public education in a public-school setting.

The process that teachers have to go through to earn their teaching credentials ensures that certain standards are being met, and that these teachers are qualified in their teaching competencies and subject matter (at the relevant grade level.)

5. Public Schools Offer a Range of Supports

Each kid is different, and some require additional educational support, or personalized education plans to reach their learning goals. Since public schools educate students from all sorts backgrounds, and kids with different learning styles or disabilities, it’s necessary for public schools to have resources and a range of supports to meet the learning needs of all students. This is why public schools offer Special Education classes, or English as a second language (ESL) classes, and other types of student supports.

6. Public Schools are Diverse

On average, public schools tend to have a much higher degree of diversity in their student population than private schools. By attending public schools, kids become aware of cultural backgrounds that are different from their own. The diversity that exists in public schools allows kids the opportunity to become friends with other kids from diverse backgrounds and can create a more inclusive environment that goes beyond just the classroom.

7. Public Schools are Heavily Regulated

Since public schools are funded by the government through tax-payer’s money, they face a significant amount of regulation and oversight by the government to ensure that the curriculum is being taught to the relevant standard.

For example, in Ontario, public school students from K-12 are required to take the EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) test. The EQAO is a government-run test that assesses student’s literacy skills and numeracy skills at key intervals in their elementary education. These types of academic assessments exist to make sure that schools and teachers are meeting the standards outlined by the education curriculum, and that students are actually learning according to their grade level.

8. Public Schools Won’t Permanently Close Down

Unlike public schools, charter schools and private schools are privately run-and-funded, which results in a much higher rate of private and charter schools closures compared to public schools. When private and charter schools go belly-up, this seriously disrupts a child’s education and places the burden on the family to find schooling in the middle of their child’s school year.

Public schools face significantly less closures than private or charter schools because they are not privately-run, capitalist insitutions, and face regulations on an ongoing basis.

9. Public Schools Often Perform Very Well

There’s no question that schools vary in academic performance between one another, and in some cases private or charter schools do perform better than their public-school counterparts. That said, numerous studies have been done that show how on average, public schools either match or outperform private and/or charter schools. The Public School Advantage is a book written by Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Lubienski that look to debunk the myth of private schools out-performing public schools due to the fact that private schools are commerically run. Lubienski argues that the better-performing students at private schools should not be attributed to the private school providing a better education, but because these students come from more affluent backgrounds that are better able to support the child’s education.

10. Public Schools are Consistent and Uniform

Since private and charter schools are privately run and for-profit, there are extreme disparities in the quality of education provided at some private schools than others. Public schools, on the other hand, operate on an entirely different structure.

The curriculum is provided to them, and regulatory bodies oversee public school performance to ensure a standard of quality is being met across the board. As a result, parents can depend on the quality of public education to be more consistent, reliable and inclusive of each student and their diverse set of needs.

Get a Pdf of this article for class

Enjoy subscriber-only access to this article’s pdf

Disadvantages Of Public Schools

1. public schools have less access to resources.

Public schools face funding shortages that can impact the school’s ability to access important and relevant school resources that kids need.

Private schools, and in some cases charter schools do not face similar issues with regards to school funds because they are for-profit organizations and collect student tuition. Kids that attend private schools may come from more affluent economic backgrounds, and so the parents of these kids are oftentimes better able to support the school through financial contributions or volunteering.

2. Public Schools have Bigger Class Sizes

The vast majority of students attend public schools because they are free for students to attend. With the amount of students enrolled in public schools each year, classroom sizes on average tend to be much higher in public schools than private schools.

Classroom size is a significant consideration because the more students there are in a classroom the busier the teacher is, and this could result in less one-on-one time between the teacher and individual students in the class. According to the NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) the average classroom size in public schools is 25, compared to 19 students per class in private schools.

3. Public Schools have Fewer Curriculum Options

Public schools are required to stick to the government-mandated curriculum that has been instated by the ministries of education. Parents that want a more focused or specialized curriculum for their child may find public schools lacking in that regard.

Private schools, on the other hand, offer various educational programs, curriculums and specializations that may focus on some academic areas more than others. For example, there are private schools that focus their curriculum more on the arts, STEM, sports and so on. For students that demonstrate an interest or talent in a certain area, private schools can be a good option so kids can focus more on the areas that interest them.

4. Public Schools are Less Specialized

Gifted students, or students that demonstrate a proclivity for some academic areas more than others should nurture their abilities by attending a more specialized school. Parents with gifted kids, or kids that excel in a particular area might opt out of sending their kids to a public school so that they can better meet their child’s education goals.

It’s important that kids feel challenged and motivated to keep stretching their skills and competencies. When students are bored in class, or do not feel they are being challenged, this can negatively affect their academic performance and interest in education overall. Private schools that have a more focused education curriculum can therefore be a much better fit for some students given their individual talents and interests.

5. Public Schools have Fewer Extracurricular Activities

While this is not true for all private schools, some private schools have more extracurricular activities, clubs and sports teams for students to choose from than public schools do. Since private schools collect tuition, and sometimes receive additional support from parent in the form of donations, certain private schools have the funds to provide outstanding extracurriculars and sport programs to their students.

6. Public Schools have Less Parental Involvement

Compared to private schools, public schools see less parental involvement in their child’s education and with the school in general. Parents that send their kids to private schools, on the other hand, tend to be much more involved in their child’s education and school as a whole, since these parents are paying for their child’s education. As a result, they have a bigger stake or feel a vested interest in their child’s education that parents of public-school kids might not feel as intensely.

7. Public Schools have Frequent Testing

Under the neoliberal education paradigm , students that attend public schools must take ongoing, standardized tests throughout their K-12 education so governments can better assess school performance and ensure the school is delivering the curriculum appropriately. Standardized tests are stressful for students and put immense pressure on them to perform up to grade level. Lots of kids don’t do well on tests, and experience extreme anxiety in preparing for them. For many students, the thought of having to take these mandatory standardized can be a drawback of the public school system.

8. Bullying is Supposedly more Prevalent in Public Schools

The NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) reports that roughly 20%, or 1 in 5 kids experience some form of bullying throughout their K-12 education.

Though there is limited research on the prevalence of bullying in private schools, by comparison, the numbers show that public schools tend to have more incidents of bullying, with more students being ostracized as a result.

No parent wants their kid getting bullied at school. To shield kids from being bullied, some parents pull their kids out of public school in the hopes that they will not face these problems in private school.

9. Public Schools can be Overcrowded

Overcrowded classrooms, limited workspaces and a lack of one-on-one student-teacher time can significantly impact student achievement and progress. Classrooms that are overpopulated with students face greater distractions, behavioural issues and as a result, students can fall behind on their learning goals and grade level.

Teachers with classrooms that are overpopulated find themselves stretched thin, and may not be able to meet the needs of each student in the class. This makes it easy for some students to fall behind or slip between the cracks of the public education system. Overcrowded classrooms raises a big issue that dissuade many people from sending their kids to public schools.

10. Issues with Public School Infrastructure

Education Week spoke about the dismal state of school infrastructure in an article they published in 2021 . Public schools have been seriously impacted and student education disrupted because of issues in the public school’s infrastructure. In Connecticut, a public school had to shut down because the ceiling collapsed and caused flooding. There are numerous examples of public schools failing to provide safe and inhabitable environments for students, which leads to closures and an interruption in student education.

Every school is different and face their own set of unique challenges that depend on a variety of factors. Overpopulation, lack of resources and funding can result in a myriad of issues for public schools that sometimes impedes on their ability to provide quality instruction. Public schools are the most popular and widely-attended form of education, and as we have seen in this post, there are many reasons why people choose to send their kids to public schools. While public schools are far from perfect, for the most part, they can be relied upon to deliver quality educational instruction to all students, no matter their individual learning style or grade level.

• Dalia Yashinsky (MA, Phil) #molongui-disabled-link Third Variable Problem: Definition & 10 Examples
• Dalia Yashinsky (MA, Phil) #molongui-disabled-link 20 Standardized Tests Pros And Cons
• Dalia Yashinsky (MA, Phil) #molongui-disabled-link 15 Double Standards Examples
• Dalia Yashinsky (MA, Phil) #molongui-disabled-link 15 Examples of Inclusive Language

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 23 Achieved Status Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Ableism Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 25 Defense Mechanisms Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Theory of Planned Behavior Examples

1 thought on “20 Public Schools Pros And Cons”

Thank you for your article.I can also say about it helped me improve my writing skills such like an essays

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Entertainment
• Environment
• Information Science and Technology
• Social Issues

Home Essay Samples Education Public School

Public School vs. Private School: Argumentative Comparison

Table of contents, public schools: accessibility and diversity, public schools: limited resources and class sizes, private schools: specialized curriculum and resources, private schools: affordability and socioeconomic disparities.

• Baker, B. D., & Welner, K. G. (Eds.). (2017). School Choice: Policies and Outcomes. University of California Press.
• Henig, J. R., Hula, R. C., & Orr, M. T. (Eds.). (2019). Educational Inequality and School Finance: Why Money Matters for America's Students. Harvard Education Press.
• Kahlenberg, R. D. (Ed.). (2013). The Future of School Integration: Socioeconomic Diversity as an Education Reform Strategy. Century Foundation Press.
• Ravitch, D. (2013). Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools. Knopf.
• Van Dunk, D. D., & Taylor, S. S. (Eds.). (2020). Global Perspectives on School Choice and Privatization. Information Age Publishing.

*minimum deadline

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below

• College Experience
• Academic Freedom
• College Education

Related Essays

Need writing help?

You can always rely on us no matter what type of paper you need

*No hidden charges

100% Unique Essays

Absolutely Confidential

Money Back Guarantee

By clicking “Send Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails

You can also get a UNIQUE essay on this or any other topic

Thank you! We’ll contact you as soon as possible.

Persuasive Essay Outline: Public vs

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Guest Essay

School Is for Everyone

By Anya Kamenetz

Ms. Kamenetz is a longtime education reporter and the author of “The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children’s Lives, and Where We Go Now,” from which this essay is adapted.

For the majority of human history, most people didn’t go to school. Formal education was a privilege for the Alexander the Greats of the world, who could hire Aristotles as private tutors.

Starting in the mid-19th century, the United States began to establish truly universal, compulsory education. It was a social compact: The state provides public schools that are free and open to all. And children, for most of their childhood, are required to receive an education. Today, nine out of 10 do so in public schools.

To an astonishing degree, one person, Horace Mann, the nation’s first state secretary of education, forged this reciprocal commitment. The Constitution doesn’t mention education. In Southern colonies, rich white children had tutors or were sent overseas to learn. Teaching enslaved people to read was outlawed. Those who learned did so by luck, in defiance or in secret.

But Mann came from Massachusetts, the birthplace of the “common school” in the 1600s, where schoolmasters were paid by taking up a collection from each group of households. Mann expanded on that tradition. He crossed the state on horseback to visit every schoolhouse, finding mostly neglected, drafty old wrecks. He championed schools as the crucible of democracy — his guiding principle, following Thomas Jefferson, was that citizens cannot sustain both ignorance and freedom.

An essential part of Mann’s vision was that public schools should be for everyone and that children of different class backgrounds should learn together. He pushed to draw wealthier students away from private schools, establish “normal schools” to train teachers (primarily women), have the state take over charitable schools and increase taxes to pay for it all.

He largely succeeded. By the early 20th century all states had free primary schools, underwritten by taxpayers, that students were required to attend.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

Public School vs. Private School Education Essay

Introduction, the comparison of public and private schools, works cited.

The choice of the best school is the eternal problem for all parents. Many debates have occurred on this basis. Public and private schools vary in numerous aspects. Nevertheless, the most significant reason for parents’ choice of public schools is the cost of studying at private schools. Although public schools are free for all students, private schools are better for pupils because of the profound approach to studying and the effective environment for education.

The determination of the best type of school can be rather a challenging task. There are both advantages and disadvantages in the public and private sector of education. It is necessary to compare the schools on the basis of several significant factors.

Quality of education

The school program and teachers’ qualifications predetermine the quality of teaching. Thus, public schools should follow the standards defined by the national curriculum. Private schools can offer a wider choice of subjects to be taught. For instance, some schools include specific topics in their programs such as sexual or religious education of children.

Some parents may choose the particular school because its basis meets their principles and understanding of the world. Besides, the teacher in private schools is free to choose thy ways of presenting new material. However, some subjects such as mathematics, history, and science are obligatory in both types of schools.

Private schools demonstrate the better quality of education because of their admission standards. Private schools accept students who pass necessary tests and prove that they have the desired level of knowledge. Such a selection enhances the quality expectations. Public schools have to accept all students regardless of the level of their knowledge. Very often, this fact impedes the achievement of good academic results (Kennedy par. 6).

Exposure to violence

The level of violence in public schools is of primary concern to principals. There have been many cases of shooting in public schools. Consequently, public schools have to work on their security measures. It is also difficult to monitor the intentions and activities of all students in public schools.

On the contrary, private schools are considered to be safer than public. It can be explained by several facts. As far as private schools do not have to accept all students, the risk for dangerous behaviors is lower. Also, it is easier to supervise pupils in private schools because they are less in number.

The number of students who are taught is significant for the efficiency of education. In public schools, almost thirty students go to one class. Teachers face difficulty in approaching and engaging every student. The time devoted to the lesson is not enough for providing all pupils with opportunities to express themselves and answer.

In private schools, the class is comprised of no more than twenty students. Thus, teachers have the possibility to monitor the academic achievements of every pupil in the class. During the lesson, the teacher can approach every student and evaluate his or her knowledge. Consequently, the teacher notices students who need more attention and can help them to catch up with others.

Social development

The school environment influences the social and moral development of students drastically. This environment includes the social support, the educational programs, relations with other peers, and teachers’ approaches to the presentation of new material. Strong relationships are essential for the efficient social development of the child. Thus, students are more likely to greet each other or help with different activities when they have positive feelings (National School Climate Center 1).

It is rather difficult to define the type of school that is the best for the appropriate social development of children. The social development of children depends on the school environment. One cannot say that positive school environments are typical for private or public schools only.

Public schools can be helpful because pupils have the possibility to communicate with many people. They can find many friends and develop positively. However, there is a risk that the students may find friends who will influence them negatively. Also, an enormous diversity of public schools’ society provides the opportunity to learn how to behave and communicate effectively in society.

Private schools, at the same time, may have the better environment for the social development because of the limited number of learners. Administrators and school personnel can do their best to create the most efficient environment for pupils while it is not always possible in public schools.

The primary disadvantage of private school is their cost. They are much more expensive than public schools. The necessity to pay for private education limits the number of students whose parents can afford paying annual fees. Public schools are funded by local authorities and provide all students with the equal opportunity for studying.

A variety of aspects influences the choice of school. Private schools provide students with better academic opportunities in comparison to public one. Despite the fact that public schools require no tuition fees and can be useful for the development of social skills, private schools are better because of the high quality of education, a limited class size, and a low level of violence.

Kennedy, Robert. Comparison of Private and Public Schools . n.d. Web.

National School Climate Center. School Climate and Moral and Social Development . 2013. Web.

• Lessons on Higher Education Finance
• Motivation in Higher Education
• Teaching of English in Primary School
• Is Class Size Crucial to School Improvement
• Teachers’ Expectancies: Determinants of Pupils’ IQ Gains
• Important Topics in History of Higher Education
• George Washington School
• Why to Go to College
• How Higher Education Prepares Students for the Business World
• Frankfurt School of Science in Information and Communication
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, June 3). Public School vs. Private School Education. https://ivypanda.com/essays/public-school-vs-private-school-education/

"Public School vs. Private School Education." IvyPanda , 3 June 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/public-school-vs-private-school-education/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Public School vs. Private School Education'. 3 June.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Public School vs. Private School Education." June 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/public-school-vs-private-school-education/.

1. IvyPanda . "Public School vs. Private School Education." June 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/public-school-vs-private-school-education/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Public School vs. Private School Education." June 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/public-school-vs-private-school-education/.

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

• Basic site functions
• Ensuring secure, safe transactions
• Secure account login
• Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
• Remembering privacy and security settings
• Analyzing site traffic and usage
• Personalized search, content, and recommendations
• Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

• Remembering general and regional preferences
• Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .