Comments on: Private vs Public?

By: SharieA

SharieA — Fri, 13 May 2011 05:59:58 +0000

I am considering putting my 5 year old son in a private school. One of them that is on the list of privates schools of interest is Emmanuel Christian School. I also though on the other hand am considering whether or not to put him in a Charter school such as LEARN or CICS if I get a call as he is on the waiting list. Is there a place I can go to where I can get present day reviews from other parents on those 2 charter schools as well as some of the good private schools around here. I live on the south side of Chicago. I appreciate any suggestions or feedback.

By: chimama8899

chimama8899 — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:56:50 +0000

JC,I just wanted to say that not all private or public schools are equal. So it is very difficult to generalize one way or the other. The quality of a particular school really depends on its administration staff. So you can have a real bad or real good public or private school. Good for you that your child attends Andrea Jackson. My friend’s daughter is now is 5th grade in the same school and is doing very well.

I believe some of the conception or misconception of CPS were based on personal experience. I had the misfortune of attending a CPS elementary myself about 20 years ago which was extremely poorly run. They had to keep their academic standard so low to accumulate all the kids in the neighborhood. I remember I was bored to my tear in 7th grade when many of the kids were still struggling with how to add fractions. The scariest part of my school were the kids in the school which was so wild and behaved extremely badly and the school was afraid to confront those kids, let alone their parents.

Because of my poor experience with CPS, I put my
daughter in a private school. So far, she is absolutely loving it. The personal attention and care she gets from her two teachers is like no other. The ratio of teacher to student is 1 to 8 as there are always two teachers in a classroom from K to 5. The school have zero tolerance for any bulling acts. They are also very big on character eduction which is something not always available in public schools. Of course, there will be always be spoiled brats and bullies but that is true in any other schols, public or private. Another advantage I see iin private schools is that I would have the peace of mind and not having to worry about big government budget cuts, teachers’ union, growing classsize and all the work that are involved in pushing the school’s admin to do things right.

By: JC

JC — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:29:07 +0000

Wow – It amazes me how people view public schools. At my school, Andrew Jackson Language Academy, there are unequivically no bullies with 0 tolerance for such activities, large class size with the occasional student teacher assistant, small sized language classes (5 language options), an over abundance of parental envolvement (parents are turned down in the lower grades due to excessive supply of help). My ADHD child has the benefit of a special needs department and resource room. They have a rigorus program – science fair, history fair, algebra, gifted science. An excellent teaching staff that challanges and brings up every student. Out of all the teachers that we’ve had, there has probably been only one that I personally didn’t feel was as stellar as the rest of the bunch but I don’t think that I would have taken a drill to her head – maybe. They were ranked 12th in the State by the Tribune last year. Approximately 50% of the graduating class last year were accepted by the top 4 selective enrollment schools. Unless, of course, they turned it down to attend boarding schools or IB programs. Admittance is a by a lottery system so they are bound to accept any students that apply (there is no testing). I could go on and on. They may not be the typical public school but I’m sure they are not alone. Question to you – I know people attending private schools in the price range that you mention trying to get into public schools because of (1) value for what you get and (2) safety! Yes, even private school kids get jumped after school. Seems like the private schools are options for parents with money looking to place their problem children.