Educational Focus: Private Schools

For our educational focus this week, I want to look at private schools. Private schools are an alternative to public schools. There are private schools at every level of education, from private pre-schools and kindergartens all the way to private high schools and universities.

Public schools are funded almost exclusively from taxing residents in various ways. Private schools, on the other hand, derive their funds from a variety of sources, including tuition, grants, and endowments. Sometimes private schools accept money from the government (in the form of grants, for example). Usually, though, private schools avoid accepting public money, because they consider it an invasion of liberty. If a private school accepts money from the government, then the government could take more control over what is taught in the school, and even how it is taught. Therefore, to minimize government interference, private schools tend to avoid taxpayer funding.

Different private schools have different motivations for being private. Many private schools are affiliated with a church or other religious group, providing religious education and education from a religious perspective. Other private schools are strictly secular, but wish to educate children according to an alternative teaching philosophy. Still other private schools focus on providing an elite or rigorous education, with an emphasis on preparing its students for admission into a top-ranked university such as Harvard or Yale. Some schools are military academies, which teach discipline and respect alongside academic subjects.

Just as there are many different motivations for operating a private school, so parents have different motives for sending their children to private schools. Some parents want a religious education for their children, or want their children to be educated in accordance with their religious beliefs. Other parents are concerned that public schools do not provide enough of an academic challenge. Some parents don’t want to expose their children to negative influences like drugs, violence, or other anti-social behavior. Still other parents may want to send their children to a military academy to help the student learn discipline and self-control. And yet other parents may want to send their kids to an elite school to give the children an edge when it comes time to apply to college.

Although each state has its own regulations governing the qualifications of private schools, in general the education at private schools tends to be as good as, if not better than, that of public schools. Scores on college admission tests such as the SAT and ACT demonstrate that the quality of a private school education meets or exceeds that of public schools.