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425 Comments
- robbh66, on 05/28/2008, -19/+209Wow. Kindergarten through 5th grade. Why don't they try measuring the ones that actually matter: 9th through 12th.
- renemartini, on 05/28/2008, -5/+60I always thought reason private school does better are the following:
1. Parents are forking their own money so they will be on their kids ass making sure they don't screw up
2. Private schools do not waste time with ***** and kick them out right away, weaning out the bad
3. Don't they beat you for not doing your homework?
4. If you think about it employees at private schools actually more worried about their job unlike public school since its easier to fire private school teacher than public.
Those are my opinions from being half public and private schooled. - inactive, on 05/28/2008, -56/+108Lame attempt to promote government schools which are in general, by any other definition, horrible compared to private schools and homeschool environments.
See, the problem here is that these people have an agenda - to control what gets taught to children. They cannot really do that in private and home school environments. They have full reign in public, government-run schools. Alas, this...study, if you will.
The bottom line is that students in private schools, even more so in home schools, do far better than their peers in government-run, bureaucracy-driven, public schools. This is no secret. And LIVESCIENCE trying to push this is a lame attempt too. - LP88, on 05/28/2008, -2/+39Wow, I don't remember anyone ever doing BAD in kindergarten - 5th grade, regardless of what school they went to.
- JFitzpatrick, on 05/28/2008, -0/+36That would explain why when I taught 9th grade English the composition of the Honors class was almost entirely the incoming student body from the local private K-8 school and the remedial class was almost entirely students from the local district.
The real elephant in the room however, that nobody wants to talk about, is that it doesn't actually matter. Parents reading to their children matters. Parents investing time in their children and making good choices for them when they want to make childishly bad ones, matters. Before a child even sets foot into a school he or she has already had half a decade of education from their parents. The education from their parents tells them things like whether or not books are important, whether or not asking questions is valued, whether or not learning is to be cherished and fostered.
Returning to my earlier point about the composition of the classes: I won't even make the argument that it was the private school that led those kids to an honors class later on down the road. I will make the argument that having parents who saw the value of education and were willing to invest additional time and money into that education produced children better suited for success. - hmmmok, on 05/28/2008, -1/+31Because those grades supported their conclusion better. a) Start with a conclusion, b) find figures to support it.
- lovedunks, on 05/28/2008, -3/+30All the statistics show that the U.S. public education system actually works fairly well in those early grades. It's in in middle school to high school where they start failing. This "study" is simply government propaganda.
- dblespresso, on 05/28/2008, -7/+33Next question,
- How are they able to do it with lower $ per student?
Why cant we have vouchers? - sfrench, on 05/28/2008, -24/+50I think I turned out just fine with my public education.. thank you very much.
- buba1243, on 05/28/2008, -1/+25That is a very good scientific study there you and another guy.
- cheerio, on 05/28/2008, -14/+38Not surprising when you're looking at an adjusted controlled demographic. Sounds like someone is pushing an education agenda, public schooling in America is horrid. Cant teach them ***** because you have to have everyone up to speed at the same time. Even if they cant pass, they'll accelerate them because their parents feel bad that they didn't fulfill their obligation as parents to help their child through school. Also if schools aren't 'doing good'( a qualification their state decides on making it useless ), they don't get money. So is it surprising that numbers get fixed? No child left behind alone would dismiss this 'study' as false. At least in private schools can afford to teach their kids with the latest materials and can afford teachers aids to help with the burden that NCLB has placed on our public education system.
- inactive, on 05/28/2008, -3/+26I did well in my public education only because my parents gave a ***** what I learned. Plus I was a nerd and hung out in the library more than the gym or street corner.
- Asheis, on 05/28/2008, -4/+25Honestly... this seems like a load of conspiracy theory to me.
- Ocelot13, on 05/28/2008, -10/+30i aint got no idea whatcha talking bout. i done did go to publik skool and i can reed and right. we even threw a graduaten partee that went wif my 21st bday partee.
- sparql, on 05/28/2008, -1/+17Anecdotal evidence FTW!
- AManWithNoName, on 05/28/2008, -44/+60Suck it, preppies.
- roadtripper, on 05/28/2008, -6/+21there are good schools and there are bad schools. public or private.
- SpykerSpeed, on 05/28/2008, -2/+17Surprising, considering just a few hours ago Digg featured a story saying 1/3 of all high school students drop out and 50% of all minorities never graduate.
Heh. - Mononuclear, on 05/28/2008, -1/+15It depends on which state and even school district you are from. Some states the public school system is quite good for elementary age children. Other states it is horrible and unless you want your kid to be a complete moron you have to go with private school. I would be interested to see a state by state comparison of public vs private school test scores. Also how did they determine which schools to use? Did they just take the best public schools and the worst private schools?
Also while elementary school is critical and sets good habits in a child's education the real important education starts in junior high and high school. - lordmike, on 05/28/2008, -0/+14My catholic grade school was considered one of the best in the area, yet we were still doing fractions, long multiplication, and long division in 8th grade (as we had been repetitively doing for the previous 5 years--didn't learn anything new, mathematics-wise after 3rd grade) and barely a hint of algebra. Had I gone to the public school in my area, I would have already completed Algebra 1 and been taking geometry in the 8th grade. The idea that private schools are automatically better than public schools are a myth. It all depends on the individual schools and school systems.
- str1fe, on 05/28/2008, -1/+15So the entire study is based on the math scores of kids in grades K-5? Awesome.
- wynja, on 05/28/2008, -25/+38I call BS. The one glaring difference is that in private schools you make all the right allies for moving into the upper crust, and we all know that it's all about who you know and not what you know.
- TheOneKen, on 05/28/2008, -2/+15Everyone knows K-5 in the US is pretty good. They should measure public schools against private at the 6-12 level, that's the level that needs improvement. Kids get much harder to teach as they get into their teenage years.
- pintomp3, on 05/28/2008, -7/+20because it's harder to separate out factors such as the home environment. that's why they used math instead of reading in the first place.
- patpl22391, on 05/28/2008, -2/+14Maybe some are better or worse. I attended a public school for preschool-eight grade, then I went to private school my freshman, sophomore, and junior year, and then I went back to public school my senior year. I can say that the private school was much more challenging and a lot more difficult then any time I attended public school.
- rmxz, on 05/28/2008, -1/+13I learned a surprisingly large amount of math in. Somehow my 4th-grade math teacher (at a public school) made math more fun than any I had til college. A number of us from her class ended up so far ahead our jr-high had us skip their math classes and go to the high-school's math class instead. Young kids have an amazing ability to learn if they have teachers that can make things interesting.
- ItsMyWii, on 05/28/2008, -13/+24Because K-5th is the time where you build the foundation for learning. Addition and subtraction, reading and writing, and so on. K-5th is what is most important actually.
- BXRWXR, on 05/28/2008, -7/+18Wrong again - it's who you blow.
- ryno35, on 05/28/2008, -4/+15The reason we don't have vouchers is the powerful public teachers union and dummies like rmzx.
Vouchers give the poor an opportunity to go to private schools which they can't afford now and bring a level of competition to education that is not present today. Thus we have teachers unions that are to powerful and tenured teachers that aren't worth a damn. - vinnyvenus, on 05/28/2008, -1/+12Lets compare Sat scores and college admission rates between public and private schools.
- inactive, on 05/28/2008, -1/+10You work for a bank. He wins.
- DiscoLando, on 05/28/2008, -3/+12I don't have a problem with public schools, having spent all of grade, junior high, and high schools in them. However, I know three separate people who were home-schooled - all three have graduated by the time they were 16 or 17 and are headed to top colleges on scholarships. They have a big head start on their eventual careers and will undoubtedly be successful in life.
The bottom line? It's up to the individual student to determine their own educational destiny, but there is a distinct advantage and opportunity available in home schooling. I certainly would love to know how things would have turned out differently if I were home schooled, and I will seriously consider it for my own children. - stix213, on 05/28/2008, -1/+10But the point of the study was to determine if there is a difference between going to school in public and private schools. In K-5th you don't get to see much difference because you can't drop out of school legally, and you aren't likely to be around gangs, and pregnancy isn't much of an issue.
Put any inner city public high school against a private high school and I'm sure the differences will be very clear. - Hetman, on 05/28/2008, -1/+10Has anyone ever been to a private school that had gang problems, and a high rate of violence and drop outs? You are misleading yourself if you really believe that public schools are as good as private schools.
- Y0tsuya, on 05/28/2008, -1/+10One makes an honest living, and another scams investors using derivatives that blow up in their faces. Who's the better person now?
- greendalek, on 05/28/2008, -5/+14And who FUNDED this study? Why bless my soul, it was the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the (gasp!) U.S. Department of Education! Is anyone surprised that a government-funded study would arrive at such a conclusion?
Come on, folks. Don't stop with the sound bite. Take the time to learn who's bankrolling this fluff. - lordtyros, on 05/28/2008, -0/+8welcome to digg.
- mentalone, on 05/28/2008, -0/+8It depends on where you live.
I grew up in Cleveland Ohio and went to both public and private schools there.
The public schools were a breeding ground for wannabe thugs and drug dealers. I watched (sophmore year) 20% of the females in my class get pregnant and drop out due to it, drug deals int he class room, people carrying various weapons and a complete disregard for education as a whole. The only reason i learned anything there was because i taught myself.
The private schools were far better. You still had wannabe's there, but in far fewer numbers, and the classes were actually full of kids that wanted to be there. Furthermore, I was able tot ake honors and AP courses that simply were not offered in the public system. I also felt safe at the school wher as in public school I felt like I needed a bullet proof vest and a gun to be safe.
Now i live in Overland Park Kansas, and the public school my son goes to is as good, if not better than the private schools i went to. He is learning advanced topics for his age and they take the time to ensure if he falls behind in something that they will put forth an extra effort to be sure he doesn't fall behind.
The whole public vs private argument is moot. The better quantifier for a good school would be to look at the region the district covers. If the school is pulling kids solely from a ghetto, your going to have a crappy school environment for the public schools, where the private schools in the same area will be better. In the same regards, if you look at a public school from a middle to upperclass area, you will still have some problems, but no where near the amount of problems you would have from the lower class area.
Of course, this is just a generalization based on what I have observed between multiple cities and states, and may not accuratly reflect your situation, but it is my opinion.
- toppgun, on 05/28/2008, -2/+10As someone who went to a new england prep school who had close friends that came from public school I can safely say that they felt like they had a much better education at prep school than public school. The teachers cared more, they were made to think more and they worked harder.
My dormitory neighbor came from a small public high school where he had never had to write a single essay that challenged his critical thinking skills in his entire time there to our school where he had to write one every week. At the beginning of the year he had no idea how to present an argument, let alone write a paper, but by the end he felt better equipped to go onto college and to perform coherent presentations that had solid logic to them.
Although this was high school and not K-5, it is safe to say that private school gives a better education than public school. - SocialPoison, on 05/28/2008, -1/+9Oh lighten up.
- inactive, on 05/28/2008, -1/+9Whatever. Public schools are lowest common denominator, the stupid kids set the pace. Not to mention they are not as safe as private schools. They should do a study of inner city public high schools vs the suburb schools. I'm sure they would find a huge difference.
- Ocelot13, on 05/28/2008, -0/+8take a joke man. i went to public school and i turned out fine. one of my good friends went to a private school, he turned out fine too. the only difference i can see is that at a private school, everyone has money. for the most part, if you cant get a good education at a public school, its your own fault. try hard and put effort into it, and youll learn what you need.
- amoro99, on 05/28/2008, -4/+12You might be right about some of these but
2. Private schools do not waste time with ***** and kick them out right away, weaning out the bad
Often private schools are made up of rich ***** that got kicked out of public school. - shoeberto, on 05/28/2008, -0/+8Agreed. I went to a public school and once you get to middle school on, the majority of my teachers didn't make people do any work. It was only the teachers that kids hated that really taught you anything, and kids hated them because they required their students to actually work.
I don't think measuring K-5 is a good show of how public schools on the whole are performing. It's really just a cop out. - lupka, on 05/28/2008, -1/+8I've gone to public schools in both Maryland and Arkansas. You can't generalize the quality of public schools. Things differ from place to place, believe me.
- fleischner, on 05/28/2008, -0/+7Yeah -- what he said. Lighten the eff up. The person was obviously joking. Or at least it's obvious to the people who don't play the "hate" card against anyone who disagrees with them.
- CiXeL, on 05/28/2008, -2/+9Yes, lets. Honestly I know for a fact that public schools are garbage. I went to redondo union high school in redondo beach, ca and was jealous as hell of the education friends of mine received at bishop montgomery- a local private school. In addition my girlfriend went to punahou school in hawaii which sounded like an amazing experience.
I am definitely gung-ho on private schools, especially after moving to miami and noticing that the only decent schools here AT ALL are private schools, otherwise your child will learn spanish before they can understand what the teacher is saying **I AM NOT JOKING!!**
in addition apparently schools here in miami nowadays only test for the FCAT test and the teachers slack off for the rest of the year. that and a few years ago they busted all the bus drivers for selling drugs to the kids.
if you were forced to raise your kids in miami DEFINITELY HOME SCHOOL! - SubjectiveC, on 05/28/2008, -1/+8What good are those neurons if you stop using them in high school?
- ultra80, on 05/28/2008, -1/+8Private schools also have the option NOT to educate those who cost more. Think the mentally and physically handicapped to start. Also factor in the cost of legal compliance for everything from desegregation to the liability insurance needed to provide protection when someone cuts off a finger in the wood lab.
I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement, but the district in which I teach spends just over 85% of our annual budget on salary for staff and our Admin/Teacher ratio is not top heavy with administrators. We, for instance, run our technology department with 1/3 of the staffing levels in employee size equivalent white-collar corporations. - ultra80, on 05/28/2008, -1/+8Buried for an apparent failure to apply basic research methodology to your comment. The only valid way to evaluate a hypothesis is to control for every significant variable except the one being tested. It would be false and misleading to test public school inner city black children in Houston against an upper class white private school in Manhattan.
Adjusting for income level, demographics, et al yields a better picture by comparing apples to apples. -
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