In the United States of America, the government must provide equitable education for all children until the age of 18. The educational system is made to get kids into the program and through at a constant rate. The most important factor in the system is the child’s age. There isn’t a great deal of variability in programming around the country.
The public has outsourced the education of their children to the government since the 1800’s. The tax dollars we all pay go to fund these institutions. However, the data is showing that public ed in the USA is not performing as well as other methods of educating students. Private schools are a great way to find an educational partner for a parent to educate their children.
I see 5 main reasons why someone should choose to pay for private education:
- Smaller class sizes typically
- An environment of personalized learning
- Nimble approaches to prepare students for post-secondary choices
- Ability to answer specific educational needs and outcomes
- Direct parent access to personnel at the school
When compared with public schools, the class size can be bigger than ideal for students. Private schools are allowed to minimize student-to-teacher ratios and break even on their budget, especially if they are non-profit.
With Private schools charging a tuition to parents, it tends to attract like-minded applicants. This typically creates an educational environment of rigor and personalization for students. When done right, the students at the private school will push each other to succeed and encourage everyone to live up to their full potential.
In a private school, there are programs available that may not be available in public schools. Activities and learning opportunities can be provided based on students’ needs and interests because there isn’t a requirement to follow state regulations for subject and content. Due to the nature of the private schools, they can adjust according to recent research on what is best for students instead of always doing what has been done before. There is great flexibility in responding to data that emerges on what the future requires for students to be successful in college and post-secondary life.
Since parents are paying a tuition fee for their children to attend private schools, there is typically a transparent stream of communication between the families and the school. This is important for data sharing and extending the learning past the school walls. This added communication is good for student outcomes in general. When a common language is spoken at home and in the classroom, then students benefit.
All parents do have a choice in their educational partners for their children, even though it may not seem that way in today’s culture. Some of those choices are government-run institutions and some are private entities. The state of Arizona has just passed a legislative bill that ensure all parents have school choice and I am hopeful that many more states will follow suit. When there is choice given to parents, then all schools can and should benefit from the idea of competition for those dollars.
There are many benefits to attending a private school from personalization, bespoke learning opportunities, and smaller class sizes. When the greater public realizes these benefits than there should be a tidal wave of support to lobby the government to allow vouchers for parents to choose their educational partners instead of relying solely on the school-related to their geographical location.
At Liberty Launch Academy, we recognize the difficulty in paying for a private school and as such we are giving $500,000 in financial assistance this first year to increase the social-economic diversity of the school. Please contact us if you are interested in competency-based learning model that will inspire learning in students and produce humans of great character.
