The Rise of Private Universities:
Public schools teach “students to think about joining the commanding heights, not to become a junior partner in a firm,” says University of Illinois economist Salim Rashid. “They [are] misfits when they get out into the real world.” Many new private schools, on the other hand, offer practical courses, top teachers and accountability. “If you pay for education, you keep a much closer eye on it,” says Rashid.
MSNBC is running a couple of interesting pieces detailing the stark differences between public, state-run educational facilities versus the burgeoning market for private academies in the developing world. Not only are the statistics intriguing, but so too are the realizations that economic laws do in fact penetrate the world of education.
- Do-It-Yourself Education
- Free Marketers
Via Joe Dunsmore.
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I was just thinking the other day about how Newsweek is fair, relatively-speaking… unlike CNN/Time and much of the major media.
It is helpful to have a magazine that is viewed as mainstream, and yet is relatively balanced. MSNBC is also my favorite of the television news stations… Some of my colleages may wonder why it’s not Fox News – but I think most of those here would understand.
Thank you for sharing these mainstream news reports, on this very important issue. (It is also neat to see someone from U of IL quoted here.)
Newsweek is fair? Relatively speaking? I think not.
I agree with you, however, about MSNBC being your favorite news channel. I hate Scarborough, Olbermann, and Tucker much less than I hate most of the other talking heads. After the CNN debate, I hate CNN the most (even more than Faux News).
When I went to private schools, there were a few things that struck me as interesting. First, the private schools didn’t have a drug problem, or if they did it was a very private isolated thing rather than out in the open – like in the nearby public schools. Second, at the time, my parents were paying about 2500/yr to send me to a highly rated boarding school. About 30 miles away were the schools in east LA, costing the tax payers about 3000 per student. The raging issues about privacy rights, busing, school location, religion in schools, attire, and homosexuality were not even issues in the private schools. Most of my classes were at about 35-40 students per teacher, but were still far better than the public school equivalents at 15-20 per teacher. Many of the teachers at the private schools could, or were earning more in the public school system, but specifically choose to teach in private schools anyhow. Large numbers of my peers had parents who were teachers in public schools. Options, like skipping the PE requirement and adding computer programming classes took about 10 minutes worth of negotiation instead of several months worth of bureaucracy. The public schools had modern new facilities, but the private schools were doing better on old and run down ones. The desks at the private schools had far less graffiti. The private schools were often charitable, they subsidized and waved tuition in special cases. At the private schools, students did more work on maintenance and upkeep.
The administrates of the private schools that I went to made (est) about 50% more than the teachers, where the nearby public schools paid 150% in many cases. At the private schools, the administrative offices were always at the school, where the public school ones were often miles away. The private schools far less harassing about things like doctors appointments or days out for personal/family issues. Even though academically, I was considered average, in the real world and at work, I am often called a genius and peers and employers often treat me like I’m way above average. I don’t know if that is because of the schooling, but I do know that I have always had difficulty with verbal and grammar skills while I did extremely well in areas like math. My perception is that the private schools let me take calculus, physics, and computer programming in spite of my poor English performance – which at the public schools would have held me back in all areas.
From my personal experience with public, private, and homeschooling methods, as a student and teacher, I see great opportunity for expansion of private education in all parts of the world.
I have found self-paced cirriculum-based private schooling to be especially effective in cost and performance for K-12 in both developed and developing countries.
I think it would be fantastically beneficial to students of all ages if Austrian economics were applied to such a model.
Of course private schools are the best option. Everyone – teachers, students, administrative staff, etc. – feels the obligation to fulfill their duties as best as they can because everyone knows that they can be replaced/expelled without a court case. How could it be possible to insist on high standards in a public school when a student has to be virtually criminal before he or she is expelled? If I remember correctly NYC has a system of a few application only public schools. That’s a step in the right direction, and so are vouchers. A question we should ask all proponents of government funded education: Has mandatory, public education improved the situation of American youth, or not?
My experience includes attendance and employment at both private and public schools.
Overall, I would say that education in the private sector is superior, with one exception. When enrollments in private schools drop–which may occur during a recession–private schools have been known to cave in to the demands of the paying customers; i.e. the parents.
Rather than run the risk of losing the tuition needed to stay afloat, private schools may pressure teachers to pass students, despite their failing grades, in order to dissuade parents from pulling their children out of the school.
Should the private school survive the recession and the financial picture improves, it can once again become more selective about student enrollment, and passing grades are awarded only after the satisfactory completion of course requirements.
I went to both public and private schools from 1978-1991. I noticed the differences when I went from private to public–the kids were dumber and ruder, the classes larger, the facilities were mostly lower quality. But that was at the elementary level. Secondary public had better science programs and better teachers where I went in CO, and I did get a good education out of them because I put forth the effort to get it. The kids ath that level were still rude and mostly dumb, but the academic elites in the school, of which I was a part, were polite, friendly, and ruled the roost, even over the jocks. But when I college-shopped I looked at only private, part from financial aid issues and moreso from not wanting to be a number in a 40K+ student body at a state-run party school.
I plan on doing what my parents did: no matter whether the school is public, private, or home, I will be very actively involved in my son’s education. He will learn what he needs to be an active and independent and functioning member of society. If I don’t, then I have failed as a parent.
I just hope and wish that all parents would do the same.
I also wish we had full tax credits for private or homeschool education costs…
I am a private school brat, although I did go to public school before, and I can attest that private schools, at least in my experience, are far superior. They do have their problems, but they deliver much better service on the whole. And in addition, provided they have a good enough intake of wealthier students, they can subsidize poorer talented students via scholarships.
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