Getting Smart

October 19, 2009  
Filed under Feature

It is enforced by law to be in school and get an education until you are at least 16, except the type of school is not enforced.  Public schools, private schools and homeschool each provide a different experience.

Of course, to get your education, attending public school is the popular choice. Public schools are very familiar to the students of Ottawa High School, considering they all attend one. Public Schools are tax-funded. The curriculum is also decided at the state level, yet influenced by the federal government.

Public school also have numerous activities for students to be involved in.

Sophomore Abby Shumway likes the people she can meet, and low cost of public education, but thinks some of the curriculum is below average.

Attending a private school is another option. A private school is any school not funded for by the state. Thus, students have to pay tuition to attend. However, they offer more individualized attention, since a typical private school has a ratio of 10 students to 1 teacher.

Another difference in some private schools is that athletics are not optional. Schools say participating in sports teaches many lessons about competition and building teamwork, as well as the added bonus of physical exercise.

Private schools are also often affiliated with a religious denomination.

“At my school, there is a very small student to teacher ratio and I have teachers to encourage me and care about how well I do in school,” said Matthew Hackathorn, senior at Bethel Christian Academy in Ottawa.

Homeschooling has been at a rise in the United States. In 1970, there were roughly 15,000 homeschooled students. In 2005 and 2006, there were more than two million homeschooled students. Parents often homeschooled their children because they feel they can give their child a better education at home, religious reasons, or a poor learning environment at school. Test results also indicate that homeschooled students score higher than others.

“I liked the hours of homeschooling but not the school. It wasn’t very cool to see only one person every day. Yet, homeschooling doesn’t have any stress whatsoever, and in public schooling there are a lot of things to stress over,” said Levi Parisot, freshman at Veritas High School in Lawrence. Parisot previously was homeschooled before attending Veritas this year. However, some people oppose homeschooling. They argue that there is a lack of involvement with kids of different social and religious backgrounds and that it reduces funding for public schools.

Although there are many types of schooling, the best one is different for the needs of each individual student. But in the end, all that matters is getting an education.

http://client.norc.org/jole/SOLEweb/7338.pdf

Test Scores for Different Methods of Schooling

http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/

—–
Chelsea Jamison

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