Is a Public School Education Worth It?

Thanks for sharing this and congratulations to Nee on her accomplishments.

My opinion on public/private/home school is that parents need to make an informed decision based on the individual child’s needs. There are pros and cons to both environments and in either situation the parents must be actively engaged for the child to be successful. The school is but one part of the education of a child. My son is in Catholic school. It works for us because it is small and provides him with a comfortable learning environment. He loves school and the process of learning. For my daughter, once she has a more apparent learning style we will seek out environments that nurture that style and help her to grow and have an enthusiasm for learning.

My wife works at a public school, and we know have a kid. So needless to say, we’ve had this exact conversation.

In my experience, the individual teacher makes all the difference in the world. The schools you want to stay away from are the ones that are infested with apathetic teachers, whether public or private.

I think it is awesome that she is excelling in public schools! I went to public schools my entire educational career while my husband went to both public and private. He had some bad experiences at public schools, but I think it was because of the area he was living in at the time. I think each parent should make the decision that is best for their child, and should do it for their child … not for themselves.

on another note, I love how you mentioned that science and religion can co-exits. As a Christian working in scientific research, I often feel not accepted by either side. I honestly believe they play off each other.

My mom is a public school teacher, and I hope to be a teacher one day as well — teaching science! I’m glad you could make a decision by focusing on what was best for your daughter, not what everyone else is doing.

I say public school all the way because if you are doing your part as a parent it will help the child if there is anything lacking from the (lazy) teachers we may have to deal with. My husband and I both came from public schools and we both turned out ok so we are going to give our children that same education opportunity.

I’m so glad your daughter is having a good experience with public education, and that it’s helped her become more confident. But–and I hate to sound cynical and disagreeable–I think you got lucky. Many public schools are in fact excellent places to learn and grow as a person, and many teachers in even the worst public schools are inspired individuals who truly have a passion to teach and nurture students. However, for every good public school, every good teacher doing things right, I would venture that there is at least one coinciding bad school or teacher, perhaps more. I just finished my junior year in college, so the horrors of public education are still fresh in my mind. To be fair, I had several wonderful teachers throughout my experience, but I also had teachers that were essentially mean, small people who did little more than scare kids into being quiet and still for a few hours a day.

At the end of my public schooling experience, I was left with the impression that I had succeeded in spite of the schools I went to, rather than because of them. I learned that many opportunities afforded to children at other schools were not available at mine, and as such it was unlikely that I had any chances of getting into the colleges I most preferred. I arrived at college with no idea how to study, take notes, retain information, synthesize and understand concepts to apply them to tests. All I had ever learned was to regurgitate facts, and it has made my college experience more difficult than it had to be.

However, it does sound like you found one of the good ones, and I hope your daughter has an amazing experience that she can look back on with pride and fondness.

I have so many thought on this…. I am a product of public school, I’m a former public school teacher, and I now have taught in private schools for almost 8 years. And my two oldest children are private school children. There are many benefits to private schools and parents settle on a school for various reasons. For me, I loves the smaller class size, and religious aspect. Plus, here in Atlanta, I didn’t feel like private schools would have the same discipline issues that public schools have. Generally speaking, we’ve been pleased with the education our children have received. We are now looking into public charter schools for our children because we want to give them an opportunity to be involved in more extracurricular activities such as band, chorus, athletics, etc. (many of which our private school does not provide due to finances). I’m happy that your baby girl has thrived at her new school and hats off to Mrs. Scott and the other teachers who have made a connection to her. Isn’t it a great feeling when your baby makes straight A’s. Good luck to baby girl and let her know that next year, she’ll win that student council election.

I’m very happy the public school in your area worked out for Nee. It is heartwarming to hear that your daughter is blossoming in her school.

I’m very sorry that Nee had such a horrible experience in her previous school. There is no excuse for racism anywhere, nor for making a child feel invisible.

Congratulations to Nee on her accomplishments!

I am so glad that you daughter is thriving in a public school. It is good to hear some good stories because there are a lot of bad ones. Nonetheless, those need to be told as well. Your daughter is lucky that her teachers recognized her abilities/talents and has an environment where she can express and explore them. Believe it or not, I am in the reverse situation: I spent the past 2.5 years homeschooling my oldest child (now a 10th grader) and I am searching for a school option for him. I love my child but it’s time for us to go our separate ways! LOL! Private school is not an option right now and I am struggling with placing him back in public schools, especially one with 2,000+ students. I have worked in a high school so I know how easy it is for a child to get lost, overwhelmed, and become a victim of bullying.

Again, great story and thanks for sharing!

Monise

I’ve had two children in public school.

For my oldest, my daughter, it was great. She was an honor student, was well liked by her teachers and classmates, excelled in academics and athletics, and was graduated with highest honors. She is pursuing a degree in Sociology at FSU and continues to be an honors student.

Public school for my son, four years younger, was hell on earth. He is also a special needs students. While he was demonstrably extremely intelligent, because his teachers and school administrators were ill equipped to deal with his specific issues, he eventually failed to thrive, and in some cases was subjected to what can only be described as emotional and verbal abuse. We permanently removed him from public high school in his junior year. This past spring he took and passed his GED at 16yo and is planning to attend tech school in the fall.

Two kids, same family, but two extremely different experiences with public education.

I don’t know if private school or even homeschooling would have had a different outcome, but it certainly couldn’t have been any worse.

Aw, good for Nee! So happy to hear that switching schools made her feel more confident/social/happy. I think making a decision on public vs. private schooling depends largely on the resources available to each and the “culture” each has. This is something my husband and I have had to keep in mind while we’re house shopping. Not all public or private schools are created equal. I started at public school in Chicago and actually like school much more after we moved to Indiana. Most of our teachers had grown up in the northern Indiana/southern Michigan area and came back after college to teach locally, so we got to hear stories of how they grew up and kind of got it in our heads that if our teachers were successful that we could be as well. My brother and I had friends that went to catholic school, montessori school, and other private schools who also enjoyed their experiences. But there was one non-religious private school in particular that was more closed off from the community than all the others – no social activities, sports, music or art lessons. I don’t think it served these children well when they got pushed into public high schools and then went on to college. We could always pick out the kids who went to this other school because they lacked social skills and couldn’t function well in groups. Sure, all the kids were very intelligent but what are book smarts if you didn’t learn other essential life skills? Kinda sad.

Congratulations Nee on all of your achievements!

F&K, I’m so happy that your decision to move Nee into public school has helped Nee and by extension, your whole family.

My first reaction is to applaud you and your wife because no matter the educational choice, you did the main thing that makes any choice work – you got involved, or more appropriately were always involved in her education. The most important aspect is not the place, but the parental guidance that always prioritizes the child’s ability and responsibility first. I live in all three worlds – I taught public school for 8 years, my oldest is graduating from public school, I’ve homeschooled my other two children for 5 years, and I teach classes at a private preschool. I’ve seen huge successes and miserable failures in all three areas. The common denominator in all the successes was the parents’ refusal to be content with a simplistic, one-size-fits-all view of the education their child receives. Even in homeschooling, which I do feel offers the greatest opportunity for a child-centered education, parents can become blinded in trying to reproduce a super-school at home without recognizing their child’s specific needs. And though our public school system has systemic flaws from its foundation, I was content to leave my now graduating senior in public school when I left the school system because I knew it afforded him the best opportunity for success. Every parent must realize that while there may be several other teachers and role models that your child may come across, their respect for education, or lack of it, will come from their perception of how much value you place on it, no matter where it takes place.

I agree greatly with Allen. My son just completed his first year of public high school after being home schooled all his life. No, it wasn’t a perfect school (one doesn’t exist), but he was prepared with a foundation needed for any formal education and we, his parents, were very involved. Once the teachers realized our son’s education was a priority, they worked with us as a team. Did he make honor roll? No, he didn’t but grades don’t define a child. I’m more concerned with character. At the end of the day, they get the same diploma and I’ve met alot of disrespectful straight A students.

My youngest is still homeschooled, but will going to public middle school next year. It’s funny how our parents sent many of us to public school, but we don’t think it’s good enough for our children.

I agree with many of the above Commenters, it must fit the child and parents must be actively involved and it differs from school to school. We too had a horrible experience at a Catholic private school. The kicker, it was MY Catholic private school. The same one my brother and sister attended. We all did fine at the school. So, it just goes to show you over time how places change and my son needed something different. He thrived at the public school and all ended well!

Awesome for Nee that she’s blossoming in school and that you recognized what she needed.

I’ve had mixed experience with public schools but I’m still a staunch advocate of them. I grew up in Detroit and the schools there were terrible, lacked resources, social environment was very detrimental. Then we moved to the suburbs and while the quality of instruction was probably better, I wasn’t a child who loved school by that time. I did have quite a few public school teachers who tried to reach me and get me to do my best, and who had endless patience with me.

My oldest is the product of public schools and he had excellent experiences there for the most part. The only time he had a subpar experience was when I let him attend a magnet school in the Heights, I was appalled at what passed for teaching there. But that was only one year out of his whole school career.

I have no problem with private schools and I know from experience that for some families they are the best option. All public schools are not equal, though they should be. Because of my own belief that ALL children deserve a quality public education, I support public schools and will be sending my 5 year old to one in the fall. But I agree with everyone else that the most important element in our children’s education is the parents. Reading to our kids and instilling a love of books and learning is invaluable. I was a horrible student, dropped out of school at 17 and got my GED. But I am a lifelong reader and have learned so much from books, it’s incalculable the value that reading has to a person’s education.

That is wonderful!! I think that supportive parents also help My kids are all products of public school and are A honor roll students. It is all about the home life in my opinion. Congratulations Nee on a job WELL DONE!! Keep it up….

Congratulations to Nee on her accomplishments, that is excellent. I’m sure it was not an easy decision for you and your wife to make, but I’m pretty sure you know in your heart that it was the right move.

I went to Catholic school until 8th grade, then public high school and a small private business college. My wife went public school all the way through to her doctorate. Even though our local school district is has been maligned in recent years, we will more than likely send our children to public school. Although, if we can ever sell our house our first priority will likely be to move just over the border into South Carolina where the schools are much better. Regardless, we believe that it is our responsibility to be involved in our child’s education, so we can’t logically accept that if our children don’t do well in school that the responsibility solely lies with the institution.

The power of a strong and caring teacher is immeasurable. Having switched my kids form public to private and back again, I can say with confidence that there is no edutopia. There are so many factors to balance. I do wish more parents would give their public schools a try rather than opting out from kindergarten on. I think the system loses a lot of solid families based on assumptions. I’m so happy it’s been a great year for your daughter!

I think the most important thing is that the parents are aware of their choices and decide what is best for each individual child. My oldest daughter is just finished 11th grade and has always been homeschooled, and got a great education. My middle daughter just finished 8th grade at public school. Her public school is ok, some teachers are good, some are not, and she would get more out of it if she tried harder. But right now it is the best place for her. My son is still homeschooled, but I’m not sure how he’s going to finish up, maybe he’ll end up in private school and we will have tried all three.

I am definitely sending our son to public school. We have a few terrific options in our town. Unfortunately all pulbic schools aren’t created equal. It sounds like your experience proves that private schools aren’t perfect either.

I would like to say that I believe science and religion can co-exist too. I personally know there is a God. I also know as an engineer that science makes a lot of sense. I am lost most of the time as to how it works together, but I believe it does. Unfortunately I won’t ever get the definite answers.

I am so happy to hear this!!!!! And her artwork is very clever. I can tell from that huge grin that you made the right choice. VC has been in public school since kindergarten. He will be attending Charter school next year (which is still technically a public school) – for the reasons you mentioned about the schools being huge. His middle school had 1,200 kids for just 3 grades!! VC is tired of all the chaos, but I will say that he has gotten a quality education despite it all….

This is fantastic and quite the lesson. I remember my mother pulling me from public school due to my introverted nature, and I have been leaning that same way for my eventual children, but this has given me a new perspective and renewed hope. Many congrats to Nee for her great accomplishments!! I LOVE the artwork btw.

I am a public school teacher and I appreciate this commentary. Yes…the system is not perfect. Is there such a thing as a perfect system on this Earth? No. Much of the criticism fired at public education and the hardworking people is unwarranted and it is basically scape goating. Thank you for sharing a positive story and I am happy your daughter has hit her stride. As a father, there is no greater satisfaction in life.