Public vs. private schools

Since my opinion on this subject is based largely on my personal experiences, I would like to comment on this thread by providing a little background and experiences of my own. The other threads on this subject seemed to be getting rather long, so I’ve started this new one. One warning, this is rather long winded.

I was born and raised in San Francisco, probably the most liberal city in the nation, if not the world. My father was a blue collar worker and we lived in the Mission and Excelsior districts which were relatively low income areas. I attended public schools in San Francisco until I entered a degree program at the University of San Francisco, a small Jesuit university. I can tell you that the difference I saw in public and a private education is, in my opinion, phenomenal.

Although the majority of my public school teachers were adequate, and a few were exceptional, I was continually amazed to find teachers of marginal or poor quality that continued to teach, year after year without so much as a question of their performance. My high school English teacher was one such case. Each day as the students entered his classroom we would find him sitting at his desk reading. The assignment for the day was written on the blackboard and was to be turned in the following day. We would spend an hour in this class quietly performing the task on the board while the teacher sat and read his book. He never once lectured. He had been a teacher at that school for more than twenty years, and continued to teach there until he retired. Anyone student who questioned his teaching practices would see their reprimand in the form of a poor grade. I can give at least half dozen similar examples. To say that these examples typified public school teachers would be unfair. There were probably as many teachers who were remarkable.

Nevertheless, my English skills were not up to par after high school. Even though I had graduated in the top 5% of my class and won the school’s second largest scholarship, the $50 it provided forced me to consider other options for my education. The #1 scholarship was a whopping $100 won by my senior prom date. I enlisted in the Army under the original G.I Bill program. After my tour in the Army I attended a public community college while working full time in the computer field. I ran into similar experiences at that school. While taking a class in COBOL programming (no comments on the age aye ;-) ) I discovered that my professor had worked as a programmer at the same firm in which I was working. She had been fired for lack of technical aptitude. Throughout my career, I can name at least two other individuals with whom I’ve worked who have been terminated due to lack of performance and yet went on to teach at a local public schools.

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My experience at USF was very different. At the beginning of each class, each student was provided with the professor’s curriculum vitae. Each professor was required to have a minimum level of professional experience. During each class we were provided with each professor’s home telephone number for any questions we needed answered. At the end of each class, each student was required to complete an evaluation of both the professor and the class. During the entire program, I experienced only one new professor whose performance was somewhat questionable. He was terminated after his first student evaluation.

For those who don’t know, the Jesuits are very fond of their sports programs, especially basketball. USF was no exception. The Don’s are revered by many in San Francisco. One year, when some of the USF Don’s academic performance came into question, it was discovered that the head coach had been “helping” some of the players with exams. USF responded by both terminating the head coach and suspending the basketball program for an entire year. Even so, they continued to honor the basketball scholarships that had been awarded. Their focus on academics was impeccable.

My children have attended public schools all of their lives. My wife, who had attended only Catholic schools throughout her life had served as a teacher’s aide during my kids grade school years. Although we now live in one of the best school districts in No. CA, she is astounded at the inadequacies and wastefulness of the public school system. We would have sent my kids to a private school had once existed in our local area.

I see many of the same issues as I had seen growing up under the public school system. It seems each new class is a new social experiment with little focus on the basics such as sentence structure, basic math skills etc. The main difference today, is that parents are expected to teach their children the basics. Our children are told that, should they need help with their homework, they should get it from their parents, not the teacher. Now, perhaps this is OK. I have no problem teaching my kids, but it is very different from my experience growing up. My parents did not have the education that I now have.

Of course, I value my public school education. It is, after all, an education. I don’t necessarily consider it a poor education, simply inefficient. I wonder whether we are doing the best we can with our public schools. I’m also becoming weary of the answer “more money”. I’m now teaching my children, and I’m continually asked to increase the amount of money my state spends on education. At the same time, I’m asked each semester to donate supplies and purchase books. Where is this tax money going? Can’t we be a little more efficient at it by at least evaluating the performance of our teachers, or would that somehow be unfair?

Mike,
As for the YMMV, I agree and should have made the same note in my post.

I'm curious as to why the history teacher was allowed to remain on? By the way, when I said my English teach read from a book, I didn't mean that he read to the class. He read to himself while we read to ourselves. He was totally disconnected from the process. he might as well have not been there at all.

One note I should have made was that I attended USF as an adult and I was fully footing the bill, which was not small. I'm sure that has a lot to do with the treatment as well. I don't believe there was any favoritism because the tuition costs are pretty much the same across the board.

Also, you are correct about Amsterdam. I've been there.

Joe,
i attended catholic schools (grade, HS & college.)

As grade schoolers, we looked down our noses at the public school kids down the street. It was an general attitude among those in our system -we got it from our teachers, older sibs, upper graders, and our parents... we were told we were superior.

The PS down the street was actually a rather good school... the neighbourhood was upwardly-mobile middle and working class and the general attitude of the parents was one that valued education. Academically, things were more equal than not. Our superiority at catholic school was largely mythical... we did not have the facilties to match the PS, and our teachers were mostly unpaid nuns who were in many cases barely qualified to teach -they weren't required to be "certified." The only subject we were therefore "superior" in was religion.

My HS was rather good... the teachers there were pretty tough, and we did cover the academics thoroughly, BUT what was lacking was any serious career counseling. We were expected to go on to college -most of us (~95%) did - but there was not too much help and advice available if one chose to leave the system (i'll note here that my HS was a catholic seminary... if you stayed in that system, all you had to do was show up at their college -provided you had the grades. If you wanted to go elsewhere for college, you had to find your own way there.)

i eventually wound up at a Jesuit-run university... no better or worse than any other private U, i guess. College is what you make of it... actually i saw no difference one school to the next among students of similar calibre. i have other opinions about Jesuit-run schools, but chose not to elaborate here... (continued-)