Public Or Private Education

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Public or Private Education? As children enter formal education, parents now have several options to choose from regarding where they will be attending school. Most areas provide not only public, but also private charter, parochial and home school alternatives. All of these choices provide required learning standards regulated by the state for each grade level. However they also have a variety of important differences that parents should consider, such as cost, location, transportation, class size, religious preference, opportunities for sports and extracurricular activities. There are various expenses to consider when choosing a private school. Tuition is usually the costliest of these, however in the case of parochial schools, these expenses may be offset by tuition grants, gifts, church membership, and aid based on financial circumstances. Depending on the distance from the school and whether or not the school participates in a buss program, fuel costs must be considered along with latchkey services for working parents. Most private schools have either a uniform requirement or a strict dress code that may add to the cost of education. In the case of parochial schools parents expect that prayer and religion will be taught in the classroom, whereas private schools remain neutral with respect to religion in that there is a wide diversity in religious beliefs. In general private and parochial schools have a smaller teacher to student ratio, allowing for more individualized attention however they offer a limited variety of elective classes, extracurricular activities and athletic opportunities as compared to their public school “cousin” which somewhat limits their spectrum of socialization as the students tend to be in the same classes with the same classmates, from year to year. There are fewer teachers and therefor fewer teaching styles to
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