Comparison of Advantages and Disadvantages of Public and Private Schools - Research Paper Example

?The Benefits of Private and Montessori School Systems versus the Public School System Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Thesis Statement 4 Argument 4 Counter Argument 7 Conclusion 8 Works Cited 9 Introduction Life is the biggest school in the earth and school is a mere part of learning and developing process of a child’s growth. In today’s world, education is an obligatory factor for them who can afford to go to schools and even for the disadvantaged child of the world. All over the world two kinds of schools can be noticed, i.e. public schools and private schools. In the recent past, one more name has been added to the types of school, which is a Montessori school. Both public and private schools are good for the children, but they have certain differences which can be important factors while deciding the schools for the children. Public schools are those which are governed by the state, where all the decisions regarding the school would be taken by the state and the government. Private schools are those which are privately owned, the owner of the school or the board of trust would decide anything regarding the school and its benefits. Even the Montessori schools are owned by an individual or a group, and which is privatized. These schools have different features, facilities, and structure of the system, and these factors influence the education of the children (Dronkers & Robert, “School Choice in the Light of the Effectiveness Differences of Various Types of Public and Private Schools in 19 OECD Countries.”) Thesis Statement There are certain differences in the public schools and the private schools, regarding the benefits, structures, education system and size among others, primarily due to the difference in ownership. Both the schools are delivering education to the children of the world, and both public and private schools are helpful to them. Both of them have focused on the same objective, but in different ways. In relation to the topic of the paper it can be stated that both the public and private schools are effective and beneficial to the children, and it depends upon the students, their locations, their affordability and adaptability to decide which schools to join. However, the private and the Montessori schools are providing better educational system as compared to the public schools, which can facilitate the students to gain dynamic learning skills. In the paper, the major objective would be to highlight the benefits of the public as against the Montessori and private schools and compare them to show how they are related to the educational system of the world. Argument School is a place where children get their first lessons regarding, the world, its people, life, environment and manners among others. A school is just not for gaining bookish knowledge; it also gives the children a scope to develop themselves in every manner. The more facility a school gives a child the more exposure that child gets. In many places in the world, children are still not getting proper education. In many of the places children are not going to school due to the lack of awareness and due to the less number of affordable schools for them. In few places the children are not getting the opportunity to go to school because of the differences in their nature, color, religion, race and cast among others. These factors are the obstacle in the educational system, and both private and public schools are facing these obstacles. Private and public both the schools are beneficial to the children, but private schools are a little better than the public schools. The public schools are governed by the state, where all the decisions regarding the school, students and exams are taken by the government. In the private school, the ownership is privatized and an individual or a group can be the owner of a private school. Private school has no such direct connection with the government. The owner or the board members are responsible for taking any decision regarding the school and its activities. Both the school has its own benefits, but private schools are more flexible in terms of introducing new technologies, new methods, and various ways of exposure to the children (Coleman & Et. Al., “Achievement and Segregation in Secondary Schools: A Further Look at Public and Private School Differences”). Privately owned schools invest their capital to the school to make it one of the best schools in their territory. They believe in the process of extensive educational program, which involves the books and its knowledge, sports, music, arts, and many other personal development activities. Private schools or the Montessori schools have also focused on the learning process of the children. They have especially focused on the age group of the students and their psychology to use various methodologies and learning instruments. It can be stated that to a certain extent the private schools and the montessori schools are not that formal, they are flexible, and they bring changes according to the need and the situation. Public schools predominantly have a fixed procedure of giving education to the children; they mostly follow the instructions given by the government. The school authorities cannot bring any changes in the process or in the system of the school. Public schools cannot even bring changes in the methods and technologies without the government approval (Forster & Et. Al., “Free to Teach: What America's Teachers Say about Teaching in Public and Private Schools. School Choice Issues in Depth”). Every child is not same, they have different nature and also there are differences in adapting power, rather every child is unique. The school authorities should observe that and take the corrective measures. The schools are supposed to take care of the weak students with greater intensity. In private schools, the system focuses on every individual, their problems, and issues and in the public schools the system is same for everyone, and everyone is treated in the same way. For the same reason, private schools have smaller class rooms, which include fewer students in the class rooms, so that the teacher - student ratio is balanced. In public schools, the class rooms are larger than the private schools where the teachers at times cannot even see the whole class properly. There are certain public schools that tried to follow the methodology of the private schools but they were unable to bring any such changes as the state was supposed to take the final decision, and the bigger the authority the smaller the chance of getting it done through (Figlio, “Does Competition Improve Public Schools? New Evidence from the Florida Tax-Credit Scholarship Program”). Counter Argument The differences in benefits between public and private schools have a huge impact on the educational system. Both the schools have certain positive and negative aspects. Unlike private schools, the public schools are also helpful to the children of the world. The world economy is not the same everywhere; the economical condition of people is not identical even in the same country. All the people of a country cannot afford a same commodity; even if they can, it decreases the quality with the decrease in price. The private schools are maintained by the funding from the trust, and also by the fees from the students. Every student cannot afford to join a good private school due to the fees structure, whereas the public schools are funded by the government, so the students have to pay a lower amount to the schools. There are certain public schools in the world, especially in villages, where the education is free for all. The private schools generally have no such criteria to choose their teachers, they higher graduates and undergraduates both, where in public schools there are a particular process of recruiting teachers and certain qualified candidates can only get the job. The public schools are comparatively strict in recruiting teachers (Tooley, “The Relative Quality And Cost-Effectiveness Of Private And Public Schools For Low-Income Families: A Case Study in a Developing Country.”). Basically, private schools are into competition, due to the large number of private schools in the world. To overcome this competition, the private schools provide ample benefits to the children to attract them. The public schools has no such competition, they are few in numbers and secured by the state fund (Wongsurawat, “Education Reform and the Academic Performance of Public and Private Secondary School Students in Thailand”) Conclusion The private and Montessori as well as public schools have the same objective that is to provide education to the children. But they have different ways of fulfilling the objective. Private schools believe in smaller quantity and better quality and the public schools basically need to cater to a bigger quantity with better quality. The private schools are incessantly competing with each other to get the best position and the best revenue by providing the best quality education. In relation to the above study, it can be stated that if the question is about education both the schools are trying their best but if the question is regarding benefits then definitely the private schools has overtook the public schools long back conceding premium pricing in the fee structure. Works Cited Coleman, James. “Achievement and Segregation in Secondary Schools: A Further Look at Public and Private School Differences.” Sociology of Education 55.2/3 (1982): 162-182. Dronkers, J. & Robert, P. "School Choice in the Light of the Effectiveness Differences of Various Types of Public and Private Schools in 19 OECD Countries." Journal of School Choice 2.3 (2008): 260-301. Forster, Greg. & Et. Al. “Free to Teach: What America's Teachers Say about Teaching in Public and Private Schools. School Choice Issues in Depth.” Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice 40 (2009). Figlio, David. “Does Competition Improve Public Schools? New Evidence from the Florida Tax-Credit Scholarship Program.” Education Next 11.1 (2011): 74-80. Tooley, James. “The Relative Quality and Cost-Effectiveness of Private and Public Schools for Low-Income Families: A Case Study in a Developing Country.” School Effectiveness & School Improvement 21.2 (2010): 117-144. Wongsurawat, Winai “Education Reform and the Academic Performance of Public and Private Secondary School Students in Thailand.” Educational Research for Policy and Practice 10.1 (2011): 17-28. Read More