Student

The debate over public and private schools has been a debate that has been going on for many years. Many parents and students battle over, which option of education is better: public or private. Public schools are available to more students because of the cost of receiving an education is relatively cheap, but are many downfalls, and whereas private schools "offer a better education and opportunities," the cost of a private education in Illinois is extremely expensive, costing as much as some colleges and universities in Illinois. While there are many differences that separate public and private schools, we plan to discuss and illustrate the differences in discipline, moral issues, funding being allocated to both public and private schools in the state of Illinois, and compare and contrast how the necessary requirements to teach in both settings differ. By conducting this analysis, the hope is to gather information, to better understand the differences between private schools offering better educational opportunities than public schools. Continuing to raise other arguments private school education provides better discipline and morality, which in turn leads to a better education according to certain individuals. Through research, we will address not only factually information between public and private institutions, but will also discuss and analyze the differences in public and private education from personal accounts and experiences as students in each system.

When discussing the quality of education between the two school systems it is important to elaborate on the differences among the structures in both academic settings. In an article titled "Things that Matter to Teachers" by Robert Kennedy, he asserts that there are more advantages to teaching in a private school than that of a public school (Kennedy). Kennedy's logic claims that private schools offer a more ideal teaching environment than public schools. The component in which Kennedy uses to illustrate this claim is private schools are generally a lot smaller than public schools. This means the class sizes will be smaller, and there is a thin management structure compared to public schools.

Private schools operate as their own individual body. In terms of structure, the school's staff, administration, and department head often govern private schools. According to Kennedy, the thin management formation makes it a lot easier to deal with issues (Kennedy). However, private schools tend to cost thousands of dollars to attend. This means, parents or guardians are sending their child to specific school's having an invested interest in their children's well being.

Lack of parental guidance is the root of many public school disciplinary problems. Public schools are free of cost due to the fact that federal, state, and local tax dollars are used in order to provide funding. By law, public schools are responsible for educating all children. Since the government funds public schools, they must abide by the rules and regulations set by the government. Public school classrooms tend to range from 25-30 students. Kennedy believes larger class sizes tend to prevent teachers from being most efficient. Kennedy also makes the claim there is a better quality of teachers found in private schools because of the flexibility in the methods of teaching found in private schools. For example, private school teachers do not have to appeal to the board of education, if they want to compare and contrast or discuss creationism and religion. In the public school system, discussing religion can be bias and highly confrontational. Public school systems hold students from different backgrounds that vary in culture and religion. If religion and prayer were allowed in the public schools, it would interrupt the classroom settings because religion is difficult to understand, and everyone who studies or believes in a particular religion, feels as though their religion is the correct way to go, and other religions are wrong. So, in order to prevent the problem, public schools are prohibited from discussing or teaching the religion. Kennedy presents the idea that kids are sent to private schools in order to receive the best possible education, and teachers that teach at private schools are the best teachers (Kennedy).

When determining whether public or private schools offer the best quality of teachers, it is important to look at the requirements needed to teach in academic environments. According to the Illinois board of education, in order to teach in public schools in the state of Illinois teachers must be of good character, have a bachelor's degree, and have student teaching experience. Some other mandatory requirements are that teachers must have completed coursework that addresses the psychology of identifying methods of instruction, a college major that is aligned with the particular kind or certificate being sought, and a basic skills and content test, which must be passed, in order to teach in public schools in Illinois (Illinois Board of Education). For private schools there are no requirement or certifications in which teachers must pass or obtain in order to teach. All that is needed to teach in a private institution is a bachelor's degree according to the State regulation of private schools. Considering the mandatory requirements to teach in public and private schools in Illinois, public school teachers are much more qualified to teach than private school teachers.

According to Valeriano Blackburn, (who is an East St. Louis High School Alumnus from a Public school) teachers in East St. Louis did not care about the academic well being of students. As a result, Blackburn witnessed in this kind of environment the majority of students were not motivated to excel. This began the period when the students who were not doing their work were held back, until they performed at a certain level in the classrooms, academically. Blackburn recalls having kids in class 2 years and over older than him, while being in junior high school, which is considered "old." Although, a small amount of students were in "honor classes," the majority of the students were attending regular classes, pushing a vast amount of his friends to drop out of school at a very young age. The classes required a lot of work from the students that they were unable to comply with, and by the students dropping out, it created other attendance issues and unattainable disciplinary problems (Blackburn).

The level of respect a teacher has, constitutes how well the class will perform. While being a student at East St. Louis Senior High School, Blackburn witnessed cases of teacher student physical confrontations, cheating academically, and sexual relationships among the administration and students (Blackburn). This kind of learning environment made it difficult