Public School / Private School

[Exmortis]

Is one really better than the other? Is it worth the money?

Are you a bad parent if you send your child to a public school?

As a soon-to-be father, I'm really curious to hear from experiences and opinions.

[Frogy]

It would seem that private offer a bit more discipline than public. jmo

[Ken_ver_1_5]

our public schools are broken.
with that said I will always support the public system over the private one.

[Sharon51]

If you can afford it, I would go Private. I have 4 kids they all went Public, but they have a lot less authority over the kids these days. Private are more strict, but all schools have to follow the guidlines from the Ministry of Education. You just have to chose the school carefully. All of mine were on flex boundaries for middle and high school, as the schools in our area were not one's I wanted them to attend. Plus 2 of mine had slight learning disabilities (reading and spelling) and the schools I chose had excellent programs to work with all exceptional kids. The biggest thing you have to do is stay on top of them, keep involved with your children and the school (school council, volunteer, etc) even through high school. Anyway, that is my opinion for what it is worth. Sharon

[reiver]

If I ever have children I'll be going the private school system. The teachers respond better to parent concerns, and seem to care more about your child when you're a paying customer...

[Bogie]

If I ever have children I'll be going the private school system. The teachers respond better to parent concerns, and seem to care more about your child when you're a paying customer...
Deliver or you lose a customer ... simple business sense.

I've been to many schools Grades 1 to 13 .... 12 schools, in fact (army brat). Public, separate, and private.

Private definitely gives more attention to the student's success.

The Separate School system, before gov't started fooling around with it, was good. BTW, "separate schools" does not always mean "Catholic". In fact, the first separate schools were not Catholic. These schools were 1/2 way between public and private. But, alas, a mere shadow of what they used to be.

[Rustynut]

No matter what school system you choose, researching their curriculum is a must. There was a time where kids were taught to read and use phonetic rules to learn to sound out any word by breaking it into sylables and basic sounds certain combinations of letters made.
This was dropped and a new method was adopted > memorizing the words put in front of them! My oldest had a hell of a time with that and couldn't read well until we sat down and taught her the basics to form the words even if she never heard that word before. Also bought her the "Hooked on Phonics" kit from the States, prior it being available in Canada.
As much trouble as it was putting this into her head, it paid off in a relatively short time and now she loves to read and that is attributed to the mere capability to sound out the words she's unfamiliar with.

Do not be afraid to get into the faces of the teachers and staff should there be any issues you may see. Nipping it in the bud saves a lot of difficulty later on.

[Yogi]

I went to a private school from grades 1 through 8 and then public junior and high schools threreafter.

I went to York Mills Collegiate and back when I attended (early seventies), it was known as one of the "stricter" public high schools at the time in terms of discipline. I don't know if this still holds true today, but when I was there, they kept you in line :eek: lol.

If you can afford it, then private is definitely the way to go, but as others have said, not all private schools are created equal. You need to do a lot of research, and talk to the parents whose children are attending the school you're considering sending your kids to. Nothing beats word of mouth testimonials.

[Taz]

If I ever have children I'll be going the private school system. The teachers respond better to parent concerns, and seem to care more about your child when you're a paying customer...


Not true in all cases, just like the schools not all teachers are created equal.
I have no experiance with any private school so can't offer an opinion on them but I can say that the schools that my children have been involved with are very attentive to the students needs. My oldest has ADHD and when she was in Elementary school had several teachers give up their spare time to help her through school (some of them didn't even have her in their class). I have heard the opinion that private schools are in it for the $$ not the kids, I'm not saying its true but something to consider.

[Yogi]

There are good and bad teachers in both systems. Some teachers are passionate about their profession, others are less so. I personally prefer the private system because of stricter discipline.

But to be fair, let's not forget that teachers in the public system today are hamstrung as far as enforcing discipline simply because there are so many laws and rules on the books that if they try to enforce discipline, they can be charged with all manner of "abuse" etc. and potentially lose their jobs.

[Mindfield]

I don't have any kids yet, but in talking to friends that have kids in both public and Catholic schools, most of them agree that if they had their way they would homeschool their kids. Teachers these days don't care about the kids. A good friend of mine's son was in Grade one last year and he had 3 hours of home work each night. When she asked her son what he did all day he would reply, "Nothing, we watch movies." Her son got a note sent home with him evey time his homework was not done, so she went and had a talk with the teacher, who replied with "Well do the work with your son. Its not our problem, it's yours."

Since when did my taxes pay for me to do their jobs?

I know each school and each teacher is different, but once upon a time teachers cared about the kids. They think its hard these days; God forbid if they went back in time and had to teach 3 grades in one classroom.

If I had the opportunity I think I'd prefer homeschooling.

[Shinma]

Depends on which public/private schools being compared...

[Exmortis]

Depends on which public/private schools being compared...

I'm not asking about a specific school. The question is: Which schooling system is better?

Got some enlightning responses, though! Thanks to all who responded!

[BillD]

If you are interesred in slacking off in your responsibilities as a parent, private is the way to go.

[Exmortis]

If you are interesred in slacking off in your responsibilities as a parent, private is the way to go.

Why would you say that?

[Frogy]

If you are interesred in slacking off in your responsibilities as a parent, private is the way to go.




Why would you say that?


My curiosity as well. I would think that there are slack parents sending their children to both schools.