Public vs. private school

I am a product of Catholic schools. My husband went to public. (Both were in CA) We decided to send our kids to public school for two reasons. 1)Financial - We struggle just to pay the bills some months and we could not afford 3 tuitions. My parents were not rich and did struggle to put me and my sisters through private school. Although I appreciate it very much and I feel like I got a very good education, it is just not something my husband and I want to do. 2) Belonging to the neighborhood school. This is something I missed out on by going to private schools...having your neighborhood friends at the same school. I lost touch with my friends from the neighborhood after about 1st grade because we went to different schools. I just like the fact that the kids that you play with on the weekend are the same ones you see at school. I have been very happy with the my kids' public school here in Sioux Falls. They have had great teachers and I think that is the most important thing since they have the most interaction with your child.

Our boys will be attending Christian school starting in pre-school thru high school. The HS they will attend is actaully bigger then the public one here in Rock Valley. Tuition may be a struggle, but we believe God will provide. Obviously, raising your children with morals and values has to start at home, but I love the idea of providing them with a Christ centered education. The grade school is actaully right in our back yard, and all of their friends from church will be attending there as well.

Sandra

Healthy Home, Healthy Family, Healthy Income
www.momfriendlywork.com

I think it depends on the child. I cannot stress that enough. Catholic school is very "by the book", and if your chld is not a conformist, you are going to have a hard time. They do not want anyone who is different, or who makes waves. If your child has a "bigger personality"--and by that I mean if your child acts like a child--, and is more of an "out of the box" type thinker..public school is more excepting. I think they allow kids to be who they are, rather than molding them into what they want them to be. I have one in Public high school, and one in Catholic Jr. high. Both kids are doing excellent in their schools. Catholic school was not right for my older son. He likes to know why things are the way they are, and discuss/debate things. Very analitical thinker. They did not like that, and gave him a hard time. My younger son is very self disaplined, and acts far older than his age--O'Gorman is a great place for him. It just depends on the kid.

Both of our kids will be going to public schools. I know what we pay now just for preschool and I also know the prices for private elem school. I had a friend sending her child to a private school, and he needed help with a class, well when she went and discussed this with the teacher, they were not willing to get him the x-tra help he needed, since then, she pulled him from there, put him in public and he is doing 100% better and getting the x-tra help needed!
To each there own, you will know what is best for you and your family:)

Our children go to a Christian preschool, but they will likely attend public elementary, middle, and high schools. It's too early to tell for sure, but having gone to Catholic school myself and, now watching my son in a Christian pre-school, I have a few concerns.
First off, private schools are not bound by the same laws that public schools are. Thus, they can, if they want to "pick and choose" their student population. For example, private schools do not have to admit special education students, or even work to identify/diagnose a learning disability. They can simply decide to expel a behaviorally challenged student, or refuse to admit them in the first place, instead of working with teachers, counselors, and other professionals to address the needs of that student. Thankfully, many private schools DO still work to accomodate the needs of students with special learning needs, but it has always bothered me that they are not required to do so in the same way public schools are. I think it's important for kids to live and learn in an environment that embraces the wide diversity of the world in which we live -- the good, bad, and the underachievers included. This is especially bothersome when a lot of PR advertising for private schools tends to focus on their "higher test scores" and other percieved signs of academic superiority. It's generally much easier for a school to achieve higher testing averages, if they've refused to admit some of the lowest achieving students in any given population. (I'm speaking, by the way, from my experience in Minnesota. I'm not familiar with how things work in the private schools in Sioux Falls. I have, however, seen lots of advertising bragging up those test scores!)
Secondly, my son has started coming home already (at age four) with ideas about gender roles that are reinforced at the Christian pre-school he attends. His teacher is wonderful, and the academic curriculum is great, which is why we keep him there, but he comes home after their religion lessons and tells me "Boys can be pastors, mom. Girls can't" and he's made lots of references to toys only boys can play with, etc. I realize part of this is probably a product of his natural curiosity/exploration of the differences between girls and boys, but it still bothers me. It makes me fearful, however, that Christian schools will teach him to be dogmatic in his understanding of his faith, rather than curious, questioning, and confident enough in his own faith to embrace and understand that different people have different faith practices. I want him to respect the religious diversity of our world, and to understand that it contributes to the richness of human culture, instead of believing that there is "one right way" of doing things when it comes to religion.

My husband went to a small private Christian school and I attended public school. I think we both turned out ok. There are things my kids will learn about in public school that I won't agree with, but I am sure that there would be theology taught in Christian school that I might not agree with too. Even if we had the finances to send our boys to a private school, we wouldn't. Granted we live in SD, if we lived in the ghetto somewhere else, we'd probably reevaluate.

Both of our children attend public school and will continue to. When I was growing up, we never had the option, public was the only option for our town. After moving here and having been friends with people who sent there kids to public and private, I have to say, I am not at all impressed with the attitudes of the people who go to the private schools. When it came to anything that had to do with school, they had this attitude that they were better than everybody because they attended that particular school. It wasn't just one family either, it seemed to be every single one that went to that school. I'm sure that's not the case for everyone and they do it for what they think is the better educations, but I can't stand it when anyone thinks they are better than anyone else.

My son will go to public. Both his father and I went to public, although his father was offered the opportunity to go to a Catholic highschool, and he chose not to.