Education

Public or private which form of education is it really better for the student and their parents and does cost really make a difference? From the point of view of a student who has gone from public to private schools and as a child of two teachers I believe I have the answer. The American system is damaged and every year our kids are falling behind children in other countries. Yet every year we are spending more money on public and private schools and are our children improving? The answer is NO our kids are actually falling behind, and the system in which they most often fall behind in is the public system. Is it the students or the teachers is money or desire lets take a look at the private school system first.
In a private school a student is not just another name on a list the student is a part of the teachers paycheck and therefore is of a high importance. The teacher and the school knows that if the student does not receive a superb education then the parents will take their child and money elsewhere. So the teacher puts foreword his or her best work in the hope of keeping his job and gathering more money. The school looks into teachers to make sure that they are paying for people who are making the most money by providing the best skill. Greed is the motivation for the school to put out the best student as this will ensure the most cash. Now not all private schools are better some have horrid teachers and administrators yet children in private education do better than kids in the public sectors why?
While in private schools I was able to see both sides of the spectrum yes the students were more motivated yet some teachers were uncaring. The teachers that did not care lost their jobs and were replaced by better people and so we were always taught by the best. The private school is forced by competition to perform at its best or to simply go out of business and by replaced or taken over by the better school. The same is true if the administration is flawed if the flaw harms the school then less money will flow in and the administration will either be fired or the school will go under. So the school that is part of the free market is better for the student because it is forced to do its best or it will fail. Each year the private schools spend less on students than do the public schools even though there tuition is high the parents know that they are getting there monies worth.
In my private high school which I had to leave due to economic problems we did and they still do have a flawed administration. They have had it since I went there as a freshmen and each year we have lost students and money so it can be seen that this idea of free market regulation is true. Harvard Westlake in California has a high tuition yet look at what you get for your money a better educated student, a better teaching staff, and a safer environment. What allows the private school to be better is that choice is involved in where the child is sent unlike in the public system. Now lets look at the public system and what it is doing to the intelligence of the American student.
First the teachers pay is set by a contract which does not allow them to be paid less if they are incompetent for three reasons the Ratchet effect, the Union, and the aforementioned contract. The Ratchet effect is the principle that wages are downwardly inflexible well this is only true because in the public system the teacher is not paid based on how well they do. They are paid based on the time they have spent in their school district which is a poor way to judge a teachers effectiveness. The Union's do all they can to blast the school districts attempts to regulate teachers with their strikes and sit downs or whatever. They care more about being right and getting their way and less about the level of education received by their students. The contract is upheld by the Union which has placed so many rules on changing a teachers salary that it is not worth the time to lower the pay of a teacher even if they deserve it. It is even less worth it to try and fire a teacher because that takes even more paper work and more time.
A teacher does not even have to worry about being fired because his Union will jump in a save him and if he does get fired he gets to go to what is called a "rubber room" where he just sits around and does nothing and that's where your tax dollars go. More money from the government for the students is not the answer the public system needs to be privatized. This will ensure that competition will choose the best and make sure that all people benefit. The teacher does not try as hard as he should because he does not need to he is safe and free from the market.
While in public school and lets look at my current high school semester at Montebello High I can see that public education is the path of no return for students. In my AP Physics since I arrived I have not been forced to do one homework assignment and I feel that if it were not for me efforts at home to study I would do worse than people in the class and not one of them feels that they have passed tyhe test. In all of my classes students are texting away the teacher does not even pretend to care and this is in the AP classes. Kids are coming to school drunk and stoned out of their minds and not one person in the school cares and here again are our tax dollars at work. Private schools are the only way to change the falling level of intelligence of the American people.