Private Shools vs Public Schools

I went to Catholic school from KIndergarten -6th grade.
 
I loved it, I liked having a uniform, much easier then picking out clothes every day, and it had very small class sizes, which I also loved.
 
 Everyone in the class were freinds, not to mention we were in the same class from K-6th grade...so we got to know eachother really good. The class size was about 15.
 
It was very expensive....It was $700 for my sister and I a month...and this was in the early 90's.

ORIGINAL: huskymom

Thanks Denise.  I'm wondering though, if the schools in TO are still up to a standard.  I mean if your kids were 'normal kids' ( I mean just in the middle of the spectrum not needing to be  pushed or anything) would the public system have worked for them?  You said you second son is an over achiever.  Do you think a public school would have been detrimental to him?  Held him back in any way?

I know that Thunder Bay would probably fit into one square block of TO, so thats why I'm wondering.  Is population a huge factor up here as it seems to be in the states?  I know that Ontario has a high standard for education.  Do you know if it is held down there? Or can it get overlooked in the denser areas?

ARE TO SCHOOLS UP TO STANDARD?
Well it depends on the school. Most high schools in TO have their own 'specialties'. Some focus on high acedemics, technical skills, the arts, sports etc. It used to be common practice to shop around for the high school that best fit your childs needs/interests. Now because of cut backs and population density it is nearly impossible to find a spot other than your home(local) school. So if you are fortunate to live close to a good school, the average student will do well. If however your local school has a student population of 2,500 (ours), or is in an rough area with families that have social issues for example, you can easily get lost in the crowd or find that the standard of teaching is reduced to the lowest denominator.

As for the standards themselves, Ontario has 'on paper' some of the highest. However, meeting those standards has become a bit of a joke as far as I'm concerned. Last year in my sons math class (public school) 20 out of 31 students were being tutored outside of the school. When my son was selecting courses for the following year, his councillor advised him to get his Gr. 12 math and physics credits from a private institute at $800 a crack! Does that sound like they are able to meet the standards?

WOULD THE PUBLIC SCHOOL BE DETRIMENTAL TO AN OVER ACHIEVER?
I believe my son would have graduated sucessfully from the public system - no doubt. I do not however believe he would have been as well prepared for post secondary as he was. He started Gr 9 in private and did extremely well. After 2 years he found that because the students all came from different areas of the city, he missed the after school socializing thing. He had great friends at school, but little contact outside of that environment. He wanted to return to the public system - which he did. What he found was the Gr 11 curriculum was the same as he had taken the previous years. He had read all the Gr 11 english books in Gr 9! He was getting higher marks for much less work. So as a result he focused on the social aspects of school and got lazy on the acedemics. By March he was begging to back to private.

I think school population has a lot to do with students reaching their potential. Some kids are just naturally good students and will excel in any system. But generally being in a class of 10 students as opposed to 35 students is an advantage. Also, and I don't want to bash teachers, I found that the teachers in private schools are far superior. They are there for the kids - first! Teachers that are not up to the schools standards are fired. In the public system it is virtually impossible to get rid of a teacher and equally as hard to transfer out of their class. Been there!

The Principal.
 
A good principal is vital.  Our elementary and middle schools are attached and serve the same town, same kids and they are night and day.
 
In our elementary the principal is amazing and she pushes/promotes/enforces---pick a word[]---the idea of "Differentiated Instruction" which is a fancy way of saying "teach the kid where they are."
 
So if your child is right on target with writing, ahead of the class in math and struggling with reading, the instruction is geared/directed so it matches the child's level. The whole class may receive instruction together in some things, but then they break down into groups and each child's level is addressed. And no, this is not tracking so that one kid is in the "peacock reading group" and another is in the "buzzards reading group."[] The groups are flexible and the teachers don't single kids out.
 
Asking a school how they address a wide range of learners in one classroom is an eye opening experience. If you are looking at schools this is one of the top five questions to ask IMHO.
 
This year my oldest went from the fabulous elementary to the nightmare middle school. OS is very bright in some things and the teachers at the ES challenged him in the areas where he excelled AND in the areas where he was weak. He was never bored, always learning and growing.
 
This year he is in a "one size fits all" school---and it never fits. In the areas where he needs help he wasn't getting any and in the areas where he is advanced he is bored out of his skull. Actually he's bored in the areas where he needs help, too because the teachers repeat things in a desparate attempt to raise standardized test scores for the lower performing students.

The Principal has a hands-off attitude and allows the older tenured teachers to run the show and what works for them doesn't work for many of the kids.[:@]
 
 

ORIGINAL: jenhuedepohl

 They showed with the Chicago school system that parental involvement was more relavent to success than the school or its budget.

 
You'll love this: a teacher at our middle school told me that parental involvement was the subject of heated discussion at a recent faculty meeting. Sending info. home to parents is practically unheard of there---if your kid hears something and remembers to tell you you're lucky and a new teacher was upset about the lack of parental involvement.
 
The response to her was :
 

Kids this age are separating from their parents and don't want their parents involved in what they are doing. It is part of growing up and gaining independence.

 
Yes, the middle school (grades 5- staff decided that the kids really want their parents out of their lives so they deliberately decided to hold back on communication and leave it up to the kids what they want to tell their parents.
 
[sm=flamethrower.gif]
 
 
 
 

but there should be a basic needs met accross the board.

isnt this what the "no child left behind" program is supposed to be about?

i realize its effectiveness is highly debated, but  i thought the intent was to provide the same level of teaching and education to all public school students.