Motion for debate: What is best for children today: public or private education?
Proposed by Ana Isabel San José Sánchez
“Public schools are schools that are provided by state and federal funding. Ninety percent of the children today in America attend public school. Private schools include both parochial schools and non-parochial schools. According to a special report published by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 2002, in 1999-2000, approximately 27,000 private schools accounted for 24 percent of all schools in the US and 12 percent of all full-time-equivalent teachers. Clearly, there are many more public schools that provide education to American students than their private counterparts.” When looking at private or public schools, the following factors come into play:
- Academic reputation
- School and class size
- Safety
- Special programs
- Cost
- Religious or moral instruction
- Location
- Ideology
- Quality of teachers
THE QUESTION IS: What is best for children today: Public or private education?
Comments»
I´m in favour of public schools.
I think the purpose is just to find a school that provides your child´s needs.
I went to both a private and a public school and I´m sure there are out there great teachers on public schools .What makes a school better is the background and dedication of the teachers and the background of the students.
Of course, public education. How do you want to educate your children in freedom if you are influencing their opinion in religion, for example? Besides, it’s not fair to compare teachers from public education, who had passed an exam to get this job, to teachers from private education who are there for what everybody knows: influences.
I’m in favour of public education. it’s a oportunity for everyone to study. Knowledge should be to the reach of everybody.
I think that are the parents who have to take the decission. Living in a democratic context they ´re the ones to choose the kind of education for their children.If they want public education, they ´re welcome and if their choice is private one , they´re welcome too.
Pedro, I think that the question is not to evaluate the decision of the parents, of course they can choose what they want, but the question is if public education has more quality than the private one or not.
I think it’s not a matter of quality. In my opinion education is the same in public schools that in private schools, The difference is the money.in a public school nobody helps you. You are like the others and the most important thing: if you want to study you’ll study. You don’t need to go to a private education to be someone. A lot of people pay for their marks in private schools and everybody knows it.
To Pedro:
the thing that angers me is the poorest kids or the more disadvantaged kids who aren´t getting the educational chances, not middle class. So at least the privileged ones are on the one hand those who have the chance of choosing what kind of education do they prefer for their children.
However on the other hand, the privileged (by definition),are only privileged because others are disadvanteged.Parents who pay for private schools are not privileged because they have choices, but because they can afford it.
Generally speaking, I prefer the public system because it is a freer system and the teachers can choose the textbooks, readings and they are not constrained by any idealogical thought.
I think that control over the children is essential, a child that doesn´t want to study, it´s more likeable to do it in a private school than in a public one. And studies are important. probably that one who gave up study, will regret in the future.
al in all what children get in private school and not in public it´s preassure and incentives to study.
Ana, do you really think that it is OK to force children into their studies? If you force them, you can be sure that in the future, they won’t enjoy studying and they will give studies up as soon as they can. The point is that public education tries to teach children enjoying studying because of the pleasure of studying and learning and not because of the marks of an exam or the obligation.
I’m in favour of public schools but I think the State should do more. It has to guarantee a quality public education for everybody with more investments especially in disadvantageous schools; more controls for avoiding discrimination in the classrooms and provide more security not only for pupils but also for teachers. Because differences between students can’t be promoted and we all have the right to a free education.
I think that the more studies a child has, the better for him it will be. And if he is giving up at the end, the latest the better.it`s better havig secondary education than primary one.maybe a child doesn`t thank at the begining but as time will go by, he or she will realise that being forced to study a little more, it was a good idea.
I don´t have a clear opinion about it…I think that it depends on a lot of details.It is not only public or private school,It depends on the school,not only for being private is better than a public one,but I´m sure that there are great public and great private schools;it also depends on the responsability of the student,but as I said I can´t have a clear position about it.
I think I must correct something because I´m getting a bit nervous. “Public” school means exactly the same as “private” school. The word for the first one is “state” school. (Thanks for your attention)
I think state school is the best because the teachers have to pass an exam to work there and private schools teachers get to work there by their influences.
Furthermore, I think state school has more quality because when a child in private school fails a subject his/her father can go and pay the teacher a quantity of money so the kid passes. So the children in state school will have more success in their academic future.
State schools, definitely!
State schools should have bigger support, though. Not only economical measures.
I think nowadays public education is as good as private education, although in the past there was a bigger difference. There are good professionals regardless of the education they got, public or pricate.
I don´t agree at all with the reason Rebeca gives in his first message. Due to the fact passing an exam doesn´t make you a better teacher. In an entrance examination don´t always comes in the best qualified ones. It´s only an exam and teachers can´t be asked all the things necessary for teaching. In addition in a private school the teachers have to give the one hundred per cent in all their classes, as if many students and parents complain about a teacher he is likely to be sucked. What it doesn´t happen in public school, who know they can´t be sucked and many don´t make any effort to teach.
I’m absolutelly for public education and can’t see the point of going to a private school just because it has more level and because your children would be in the future more refined than the neighbour’s.
Public school gives the same chances to any child who wants to learn new things, and that’s exactly my point, it’s not a very strict teacher who have to tell your children what to do but parents who have to motivate childrensince they start school and children in particular who should have an interest, there’s no point on punishing children to make them learn something.
But anyway we all now how public education works nowadays and though of course there are many good teachers who like their work and are very interested on it, there are many who just go there to have a sallary at the end of the month. I think it’s the government’s duty to solve this problems and make public education work properly.
Education costs a huge amount of money, so either the expenses are paid by the authorities or by the pupil´s parents and in this last case we are speaking about elite. There is a certain mistake about this because many people consider private education what actually is education paid by the authorities but ruled by some institution. I am absolutely in favor of publica educaion.
Why we have to decide? Obviously the public education should exist, but , for example, if your parents decide to pay for bilingual education(a type of private education)…what’s the problem?
There are different types of private educaction, not all have religious influence.
And I think that we can’t say that the teachers can work because of thir influences…I know some teachers and they suffer to work in that type of schools.
I haven’t the slightest doubt : from Nursery Schools to Universities, state education.
Education is a right and, just having an excellent net of state schools and universities, not only rich but poor citizens wiil have an opportunitity in life.
I think that education is a right for everybadoy so the parents are the ones who have to take the decission. It depends on the choice of the parents. In our country we ´re lucky because both are good.
Generalize is not a good idea, but in most of the cases private school´s classes are overcrowded and this is not positive for children.
In addition, teachers from public schools have passed oficial exams but teachers in private schools didn´t, so I think they are better teachers.
However, we can´t forget that there are few private schools that offer excelent facilities for their students