What makes private schools ranked so much higher?

[GoldenBear]

At USNews, Berkeley is only ranked 20, but their academic reputation is a 4.8, putting them at about 7th I think..And their Engineering and Business programs (the only ones US News ranks) put them well into the top 5. Is it primarily the size of the university and classes that do it?

 

[WasabiCat]

why? cuz it's all about the $$$$

 

[Scrapster]

$$$$$

 

[SSP]

Money, money and more money.

 

[dvda]

Smaller class sizes. And the networks of rich people that form at the schools.

 

[IcemanJer]

Money, overall reputation, money, better alumni relations, money.

 

[Amused]

Private schools grade K-12, on average spend less than half per child what public schools spend.

 

[RichieZ]

"Private schools grade K-12, on average spend less than half per child what public schools spend."

Thats probably true but they only have to take the students they want to, they don't have to take kids who might need special care or attention so they cut down on costs,.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Money draws the good teachers, keeps the buildings up to date, materials available, alternative learnign styles that can be implemented without answering to the general public or lawmakers, class size is smaller, restricted cut of the population that's allowed in. A lot of reasons.

 

[Darein]

I would say prestige would come into play. No big reporting service is going to be the only service to say bad things about a private school, big ones at least. I think better teachers generally goto private schools because of the money and reputation. And as was mentioned the fact that kids want to be there, not like K-12 public schools where the kids have to be there.

 

[IcemanJer]

are we talking about private universities/colleges or private grade schools..??

 

[Amused]

<< &quot;Private schools grade K-12, on average spend less than half per child what public schools spend.&quot;

Thats probably true but they only have to take the students they want to, they don't have to take kids who might need special care or attention so they cut down on costs,. >>



Why do public schools subject the non-troubled kids to the troubled kids? Why not separate them?

I'll bet dollars to donuts that even if they separated out the bad or special needs kids, and count the spending for the good kids only, they'd STILL spend far more per child than private schools. There isn't anything government can do, that the private sector can't do better, and cheaper.

 

[Amused]

<< are we talking about private universities/colleges or private grade schools..?? >>



Both, I guess. I just made a point about grade schools.

 

[Imported]

Private schools also do things to make themselves look better.. I remember when I used to go to one, they remodeled their buildings three times a year.. No wonder it costs almost $5k a year for second grade! Glad I saved my parents money when I said I'd rather have the freedom at a public school.

 

[tm37]

<< << &quot;Private schools grade K-12, on average spend less than half per child what public schools spend.&quot; >>




The parents are ususally much more involved with the education process in the private sector. Alot of parentss scrimp and save to insure there Kids get a good education. When You are forking out that kind of money parents tend to be much more incolved on average. These children would probobly suceed in public school.




<< Why do public schools subject the non-troubled kids to the troubled kids? Why not separate them? >>



It isn't so much a troubled kid thing as it is a lack of effort thing. We tend to coddle our students in the publiuc sector via social promotion and non-discrimitory practices. By seperating them you are telling them you are never going to be worth anything (the lower half. The problem is the parents should take an active approach in a childs LIFE and many choose not to.

 

[vi edit]

*sigh*

Things that a public school HAS to provide that a private doesn't:

1) Transportation. How much money do you think it costs to fuel and operate a fleet of 25 busses a year? Not a single private school in my area had a bussing option. If you wanted to go to that school, you either drove there yourself, or you got dropped off.

2) Food assistance. The most that a child will pay for lunch at my public high school was $1.25. Almost half of my public school was on some sort of assistance that allowed them to get a school lunch for anywhere from $.75 to free. NO private schools in my area offered any thing remotely similar to a full lunch for this price. In fact, when I toured a private school (Peoria Notre Dame) it cost me nearly $3.00 to get an equally comperable meal. Food isn't free. Somebody has to pick up the tab.

3) Special education. Public schools are required to have special education teachers on hand. My public school of 220 students had 5 special education students on hand. Special Ed teachers are not cheap to employ. They have some of the most intense training out of any of the teaching fields, and have one of the hardest jobs in the school. @ 40,000 a pop for a teacher, you can watch your salary budget skyrocket. None of the private schools in my area offered special education teachers on hand. If you wanted privatized special education, you had to send your child to a &quot;special education school&quot;.

4) Sports. Aside from booster clubs(which in my hometown had dick for support), public schools have to pay for all equipment, facilities, and uniforms. A LOT of private schools receive donations from weathly donors to support their athletics. One more thing that a private school doesn't have to pay for.

As for the college environment, look at that acceptance requirements for a private vs. public college.

I'd guess that on average, you see FAR lower acceptance qualifications at a public school than at a private school. If you only accept better achieving students, then I'd damn well hope you'd produce better scores than the public schools.

 

[MrChicken]

Private schools are BUSINESS. That's why they do better. If a private school is no better than a public school, then they will go out of business.

Driven by that simple fact, they do more with less. Even if they had to provide the same services as public schools, they would still do it cheaper and better, or they would simply cease to exist.

Yes they do have advantages over public schools, such as better students, more involved parents, less mandated services (bussing, etc..), but they succeed because of competetition. They have to be better than public schools, so that parents will pay for their kids to go there.

 

[GoldenBear]

Eek, if you read my first post, where I compared Berkeley to other schools and talked about engineering, business and all, I was referring to universities..

I didn't even realize high schools were ranked..

 

[tkim]

all about the benjamins!!

 

[CattyKathy]

Yea, it's the $$$, I was in one.... :disgust: