Andrew A.

Moreno English 207-03 Professor Lampman December 10 2013 Choosing Public Americas families work hard for many things. Most commonly, one of the largest concerns of a familys life is the well being of their children. According to babycenters.com, it will cost the average-income household over $250,000 to raise one child from birth to the age of 18. With such a large sum, families across the country cannot afford to be wasteful with their money. This includes many choices in regards to education, such as whether to enroll your child in private schooling or to enroll them in public schooling. I still remember my mom telling my brothers and me that we would be switching from private school to public school the summer before my 5th grade year. I was not looking forward to this new change; in fact I was dreading it. I had so many nave preconceived notions of what public school would be like, none of them being positive. My parents also had concerns that were more academically based than my social concerns. Would the switch from a private to public curriculum affect my academic growth and ultimately my future? It is the consensus of many parents that private schooling more so prepares their children for college, thus being the more advantageous option over public schooling. But how true is this actually? With the potentially life-long success of your child hanging in the balance, It is easy to see how many families are willing to sacrifice a $10,000 average annual tuition for a commonly considered superior private education. But do the added

annual investments of putting a child through a private K-12 education actually see factual dividends? Yes, it is true, that a private school education offers benefits that are unique to its characteristics. But after research and close examination, it is apparent that the benefits of public schooling outweigh private education. Public schooling produces just as successful as a student when fairly compared to private students minus the annual price tag, thus making it the smarter and more logical decision. Private schools can still beneficial in certain ways though. With a drastically smaller student body comes a much smaller classroom size, providing more specialized teaching for individual students (Shanker). School size and class size can be correlated to a schools ability to execute on its academic goals, says Grace Chen of Public School Review. Chen goes on to say, Class size is another factor that parents will look into when considering private or public school. How many children will the classroom teacher be responsible for? What is the overall student to teacher ratio? Usually, the smaller the class size, the more attention each individual student will receive. This kind of individual attention goes hand-in-hand with the more rigorous curriculum found at private schools. A rigorous curriculum is another reason parents may choose to send their children to private schools, as it is easy to see how a more difficult subject matter can lead to a stronger preparedness for college-level schoolwork. The Council for American Private Education puts it well and provides a statistical example by saying

When it comes to challenging students to stretch their capacity, private schools do an exceptional job. Statistics from the College Board and NCES show

that for high school seniors, 24.2 percent of private school students took AP exams in 1998, while 9.4 percent of public school students did so. Private schools, which account for only 7.5 percent of all high school students, produced 20 percent of 12th graders who took AP exams in 1998 and 22 percent of those who scored high enough to have the advanced courses count for college credit.

It can be seen here through these statistics that private school provides a culture of high expectation. I can speak from personal experience having spent my first six years of education in private schooling. As were just expected to be the norm. I remember once in the third grade crying over getting a B on a test as though I had just ruined my entire years grade; ridiculous, I know. But when high expectations are the only thing a student has ever known, it produces a nothing but the best mind set. It is also plausible that private schooling is beneficial for the country. In 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that $10,615 was spent on each student by the government in 2010. Multiplying this number by the amount of privately schooled students (4,700,119), private school enrolment saves tax payers a total of 49.9 billion annually. According to the Council for American Private Education, private schools also produce students that give back to their communities:

In November 1999, the National Center for Education Statistics reported on the participation of students in grades 6-12 in community service projects. The report showed a significant difference in community service based on the type of schools that students attend. In public schools, 50% of students in grades 6-12 in

1999 reported participating in community service. For church-related private schools, the participation rate was 72 percent and for non-church-related private schools it was 68 percent

So we are able to see a few ways that parents may think that private schooling could be worth the annual tuition spent. What about the other educational path though? Public schooling carries many benefits and produces just as fine of a student. The first and most obvious benefit of public school is that it is tuition free. The average price of K-12 private school tuition is slightly over $10,000 (Watson). Over thirteen years of K-12 education, parents have amassed about $130,000 dollars worth of tuition. This money can be put forward to many things, such as the rising cost of post-high school education. In the 2011-12 academic year, the average net cost for a full-time student at an in-state public university was about $15,000 for tuition, fees, room, board, books and incidental expenses (College Board). In most cases this is an extremely large sum for a student to burden all by themselves. Debt can quickly amount with loans, potentially jeopardizing your childrens future with the possibility of financial drowning. By attending public school, the money saved can be put towards this $60,000 opponent, lifting the dark financial cloud that looms in the postgraduate sky. So by choosing public school, parents have already saved themselves six figures per-pupil. With such a hefty price tag, one would expect the academic benefits and success rates to blow public education out of the water, But this sentiment is not so, and in some cases it is even the opposite.

Truth be told, there is little to no difference in the testing summaries once the socioeconomic factors of the compared students are taken into account. In a 2006 comparison done by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), test scores were compared between public and private fourth graders and public and private eighth graders. Upon a light glance, the idea of privately educated children out-witting the publicly educated holds true. Fourth grade reading, for example: In the first set of analyses, all private schools were compared to all public schools. The average private school mean reading score was 14.7 points higher than the average public school mean reading score, corresponding to an effect size of .41. And next, fourth grade math: In the first set of analyses, all private schools were again compared to all public schools. The average private school mean mathematics score was 7.8 points higher than the average public school mean mathematics score, corresponding to an effect size of .29. Almost the exact same types of variations were also found in the scores of the public and private eighth graders. So the sentiment holds true, private schools as a whole outperform public schools. But once the NCES took a deeper look at the students being tested, the results told a different story. First again, fourth grade reading: After adjusting for selected student characteristics, the difference in means was near zero and not significant. What the NCES means by student characteristics is the students socioeconomic factors, such as the area the live in or the money that their parents make. Next, lets take a look at what the NCES had to say about the fourth grade math scores comparison After adjusting for selected student characteristics, the difference in means was -4.5 and significantly different from zero. (Note that a negative difference implies that the average school mean was higher for public schools). Amazingly enough and

contrary to popular belief, the public school fourth graders outperformed the privately educated fourth graders. After adjusting to student characteristics of the eighth grade testing pool, the results were again similar. So what can we draw from these next-level statistics? Due to the immensely larger student bodies of public K-12 schools, they are more likely to enroll students with lower-class economic and social factors which brings down there holistic test score average. It is plausible to assume that students enrolled in private schools collectively average a higher socioeconomic status compared to students from public schools (being that there parents are able to afford the average annual tuition of $10,000). With a substantially smaller student body and higher socioeconomic standing, it is easy to see how private school testing results--and ultimately the publicly thought of superiority over public schools--can be misinterpreted. Ultimately, I still believe that the parents have every right and the final say of how they want their children educated. If a family can afford the thirteen years of tuition and choose to send their children to private school then so be it, private schools are still fine institutions. Consider though the statistical data presented and how it could affect not only your bank account but also your childs future. After all, our children are not only the future, but for parents they are their past, present, and prized possession.

Works Cited

Adubato, Steve. Public Vs. Private. New Jersey Monthly 35.9 (2010): 30. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. "Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling." National Center For Education Statistics. (2006): n. page. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. "Cost of Raising a Child." BabyCenter. (2012): n. page. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. "Good for America." Council for American Private Education. (2013): n. page. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. "Trends in Higher Education." Figures and Tables (2013): n.pag. College Board. Web. 17 Nov 2013. Walton, Nina. The Price Of Admission: Who Gets Into Private School, And How Much Do They Pay? Economics Of Education Review 29.5 (2010): 738-750. Academic Search Premier. Web 25 Oct. 2013.