When I did my teaching degree, I was certain I was going to teach in a public school. Here in Australia, a public school is a government funded school, which I went to when I was growing up. I did desperately want to go to the private Catholic girls school down the road but it wasn't in my parent's budget. I wasn't particularly challenged and I think being at a private school may have suited me better - there was a larger focus on academics instead of just getting kids through.
But I digress. I'm not really here to tell my personal story. Just because I went to school, doesn't make make me an expert on education.
Even being a secondary school teacher doesn't make me an expert, though it does give me a bit more background and inside knowledge.
What I want to say is that a public school should be just as good as a private school. It should attract the same level of teachers, the same focus on academics, offer the same opportunities. Money should not the only way to get a good education. In an ideal world, you would distribute education equally to everyone.
I work, however, in an Australian independent school, a fee-paying school with a high academic standard. It's not as rich as some of the private schools in the area (one I worked at for 13 years) but it's a decent school. There's few or no behavior problems. The kids come from good, hard-working families, perhaps just because their parents sacrifice to get them here, grandparents pay, or they are in a higher wage bracket. They come from families who value education and respect teachers. My son was lucky enough to get a scholarship here and it was fantastic for him as the student body was quirky, diverse, and his friends all very academically minded. A lot of them would have been neglected in a public school where behavior can be distracting in the classroom and various social issues can really influence the whole classroom and school dynamic.
*Not the school I work at now. Photo is my own
Working in a private school, you find yourself complaining over the slightest infringement (little Johnny hasn't worn a tie in three weeks or Abigail didn't hand in her essay till the following day) and forget how sometimes working in a public school can mean you're making sure kids have had breakfast before coming to school. Sometimes we check ourselves and remind ourselves to be grateful we work in a school where we can teach, instead of just manage. I've heard the horror stories, and from all accounts, it's becoming harder and harder for teachers to teach in public schools. Teacher retention is terrible.
Sometimes you get pretty angry at how entitled students and parents can be. You're not paid that much extra to warrant being wholly responsible for Jessica's grades when she's barely lifted a finger all term and talks incessantly. 'What are YOU going to do to help her' is pretty much the focus of some parent teacher interviews, as if paying your wage legitimizes demanding the moon on a stick. Don't get me wrong, there's some really lovely parents too, but these days a sense of entitlement can make a teacher's job hard. Sometimes you want to shout at Hamish in Year 10 that he should be lucky that he's going skiing this winter and the least he could do is get his homework in on time as his parents are paying a lot for him to be here.
There's also a lot of pressure to perform from the school executives - they're paying your wage, and you need to get the grades, because that looks good in the paper come results time. It'd be easier to do that if you weren't having to do all the other admin teachers are expected to do. You give a pint of blood every time you walk into work. It's exhausting. Teachers aren't really appreciated for everything they do. In fact, they're pretty much hated, which is unfair, given how much most of us try to do the best by everyone's kids - parent, inspire, motivate, console, support.
I've seen the wonderful things that private schools provide kids with, and the wonderful things that happen at state schools too.
If I was sending my kid to high school, I'd be working out what was best for them.
Every kid is different.
If you're loaded, sure, send your kid to a private school - they'll get a pretty dedicated support team helping them through, whether they're a genius or a struggler. Lucky them. But for most of us, paying fees is out of the question. I wouldn't have been able to afford it even on a teacher discount. I'm so glad he got a scholarship because the private school I sent him to was the best for him.
But there's also some decent state schools around as well - and your kid might thrive there.
As for homeschooling, sure. I know some people don't want their kids 'brainswashed by the system' - but in my experience, schools aren't like that. Teachers aren't like that. Teachers are giving you a government curriculum, sure, but if the teachers are doing a good job they're also teaching kids to be critical thinkers. And if you've done a good job as a parent you'll have already taught your kid to be a critical thinker as well. I don't see a propaganda in the school system. I see teachers trying to help kids be good human beings and try to develop their minds in all kinds of ways. It's really disheartening as a teacher when the message from home is 'don't listen to the teacher, they don't know what they're talking about'. Sure, some don't. In any profession there are people not good at their job. But I see a lot of passionate, hard working, compassionate, caring teachers out there that are getting totally beaten down.
It's a unique profession, really, when everyone thinks they're an education expert by merit of the fact 'they went to school'.
Some kids don't fit in that system. I totally get that. If you have the ability to homeschool your kid right through to university, if they want to go, then good on you. It's a fair effort. I would hope you're part of a wider homeschool network though, because they need diversity in their education. Yours can't be the only voice. Plus, they need a community around them. Mum and Dad and kids do not a well-rounded education make.
Remember I'm talking about my own experiences in the Australian school system here - I believe we're a little different to the rest of the world.
Ultimately, it's a bloody hard choice.
You just gotta do what is best for the kids - if you do that, the kids will be alright.
I think maybe if I was to go back and do it again, I'd do the same thing. Or I'd pull him out of school and homeschool him as we lived in the wilderness or travelled round the world in a yacht.
This post is written in response to @galenkp's question: 'Home schooling, public school or private schooling...which do you feel is the best and why? Use your own photos.' as part of his Weekend Experiences' engagement series.
With Love,
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Funnily I was just thinking of and feeling grateful for my own schooling experience. While we lived in a deprived area, we were lucky enough to have a Waldorf school dedicated to teaching to this deprived area at a price that was affordable, with some donors willing to sponsor children too. Sadly it was shut down a few years ago because they couldn't afford the repairs needed on the building.
With regards teachers in the public school system, I feel like over the years it's become harder for them to teach and the best teachers, who put so much extra time in to be able to teach critical thinking on top of the demands of the compulsory curriculum handed down through the government, often get poached by the private schools. This leaves mostly less capable or inexperienced teachers in the public system more and more. Add to this the current situations you describe that they are having to deal with, it's small wonder they are struggling to keep teachers.
From conversations in a group I'm in, there does recently seem to be concern over public schools, and even some private ones, teaching ideologies that some might not agree with and have nothing to do with academics. Some of the complaints by parents about this seem to be perfectly valid, but just as many come across as nitpicking things that aren't actually an issue. People will be people, I guess.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that kids should have a variety of people they can learn from if you're homeschooling and I think that's a sentiment with all homeschoolers I've encountered. As more and more people turn to homeschooling it's getting easier to have that broader community as well, which is good.
I personally prefer public schooling because it makes one exposed to other components which facilitates collective learning
Yes, everything will depend on our choice. Me too as a student before I wanted to be in private school but my parents can't afford the tuition so all of my siblings and I studied in public schools.
Now that I am a mother, I let my child studied at public school first, but this year we try to face the challenge and send our son in a private school. We are praying to God to meet our financial needs.
I absolutely agree with you @riverflows, every child should have the right to a good education even if parents cannot afford private school fees. Our public schools often are overcrowded, so it's extremely difficult for teachers to control the kids, and the facilities are in a bad state.
There still are some good public schools, but they don't get near enough from the government. To maintain good facilities and employ extra teachers, those parents pay much higher school fees.
I know dedicated teachers often have to work after hours marking schoolwork, it cannot be easy!
I shudder when I hear what parents have to fork out here to get their kids into a decent school!
In Australia there's some independent and Catholic schools that aren't as expensive, but still, it's a big whack out of the budget. It's the age old story where people complain about the problem but no one does anything to fix it.
My son was homeschooled and I wish I could have been. Schools here in the US are more often than not pretty poor, mostly teaching to the test.
Thankyou