Private Schools Are Better Than Public Schools, Research Paper Example

There are countless colleges in the U.S. where students can apply for admission. However, having such a greater number of options could create problems for college-bound students and parents, who are not sure of which institutions to send their applications to. Parents and students may not be sure how different private and public educational institutions are, and what exactly it means for them when it comes to the process of admission at the private colleges and public versions of these institutions of learning. The choice of choosing between a private and a public college is tricky, and one has to put into consideration several factors while selecting between a public and private college. The discussion considers factors among them cost, facilities, lecture room size, teaching, budgets and the administrative support.

In the U.S., Private Institutions of learning including Colleges often offer an alternative that works most excellent for students. Private colleges in the U.S. are preferred to public colleges when it comes to classroom numbers. According to Martin, a good number of private colleges have small class sizes, and the classes rarely include more than 30 students. “The benefit of this factor is that the small classes promote individual attention and gives both the instructor and students additional one on one time with each other,” says Richard. Therefore, the instructor can observe the progress, weaknesses and problems of the students much easier (Luis, Martin & Richard, 2003).

Alongside small class sizes, discipline encourages learning and often improves consequently in private colleges. Luis mentions “at a public institution of learning, where the size of the classes are much bigger, instructors often get a difficult time controlling a large group of students. With fewer students in a class in private colleges, the instructor/tutor is able to control the students, and they eventually get to have better discipline records.” He then mentions that this translates to more greater and quality teaching time for personal academic concentration to be offered to individual students. With top private colleges like Husson College in the U.S. topping in academics is witnessed, and the exam results speak clearly in favor of the private colleges because a student benefits directly from the additional academic concentration at a private college (Luis, Martin & Richard, 2003).

Modern educational facilities and opportunities, for example, textbooks, learning materials, equipments and furniture among others in most private colleges across the U.S are far much better than those in some of the public colleges. “This means that private colleges have a better chance of providing better learning and teaching environment than public colleges,” claims Neal. He further argues that students from private colleges are bound to perform much better in their studies compared to their counterparts in public colleges. This is one of the main advantages private colleges have over the public ones (Neal, 2006).

Private colleges in the U.S. often offer improved forms of aid. Students in private colleges should not only look at the amount of monetary aid they receive, but also the types of aid that are presented. “Public educational institutions, particularly in difficult financial period, often have fewer resources compared to private institutions of learning,” declares Neal. He further adds that this way, students from public colleges may need to rely more on self help and loans as they meet their student needs. After graduation, students from such institutions may end up to be in more debts compared to their counterparts in private institutions.

In terms of administrative support, private colleges have a lean structure of management and every penny spent has to come from the operating income and endowment. “Those resources are inadequate since most of the private colleges rarely have teacher/lecturer unions to deal with” suggested Franciosi. On the other hand, his argument is that public educational institutions finds it harder to make decisions quickly, because of the bigger bureaucracy. This public education structure is notorious for having outdated work rules and botched administration as a result of political considerations and union contracts (Franciosi, 2004).

Since private colleges do not receive revenue taxes, they do not have to follow the same bureaucratic processes which govern and hinder public colleges. This trend allows several private colleges to be specialized highly and offering advanced curriculum and programs that are geared towards specific religious beliefs since they do not have to pursue government laws about what they should teach.

Private colleges also have the advantage of being careful in selecting whom they admit and who stays away. According to Samarakoon, “Public institutions have to admit everyone who enrolls from the district.” In this situation, he states that the advantage of private colleges is that it easily gets rid away of students who disrupt the smooth running of the institution or who are weak academically. Another advantage is that parental involvement and participation in the students’ academic progress is higher in private colleges compared to public institutions of learning because of the financial stake. Parents do not wish pay a lot of money that will be wasted, therefore, they monitor the academic progress of their children (Samarakoon, 2007).

Conclusion

Private colleges are better than public ones and works best for several college-bound students because they do offer an alternative. Aside from the many advantages they have over their public counterparts, private schooling experience a lower dropout rate, less violence cases as well as much fewer drug issues and problems among others.

Reference:

Luis, B., Martin, C. & Richard, R. (2003) All Else Equal: Are Public and Private Schools Different? Routledge Publishers.

Franciosi, R. J. (2004). The rise and fall of American public schools: The political economy of public education in the twentieth century. Westport, Conn. Praeger Publishers.

Neal, R. G. (2006). School choice after the collapse of public schools. Bloomington, IN:  AuthorHouse.

http://www.greatschools.org/find-a-school/defining-your-ideal/59-private-vs-public-schools.gs

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2002_10_25/noD OI.3557447225994287683