Running head: EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Education in Public Schools

Keyanna Adams

Winston-Salem State University

ENG313-05, Writing in a Digital World

April 6, 2017
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Education in Public Schools

Education is the process of facilitated learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, habits,

skills, values, and beliefs. Educational methods consist of storytelling, discussion, teaching, and

sometimes even training; because of this education has been around for hundreds of years. Every

year there appears to be an issue of some kind in the public educational system. Public schools

are ran differently from private schools but there are a lot of reasons why and there are even

more reasons why the educational system is failing. So why are most educational systems

failing? While both public and private schools focus on education, public schools are financed

through federal, state and local taxes whereas private schools are financed by their own funding

which they obtain from different sources.

Galston (2015) created a remarkable abstract that is capable of giving any parent insight

on the public educational system. Today it would be more accurate to say that there are two

systems of public education and not one. Galston (2015) stated that public schools in many

respects are mediocre, particularly when compared to our international peers in the advanced

industrial nations. But it is not failing its students. This discussion offered readers his opinion

on one half of the educational system and why he felt that it needed to be strengthened. The other

part of the educational system is indeed in crisis. Galston (2015) informed readers that these

types of educational systems were usually based in rural and poorer urban areas, he specified that

Too many of the students in those schools are dropping out well before high school graduation.

Too many are receiving high school diplomas that do not certify academic confidence in basic

subjects. Too many are being left unprepared for the world of work. This issue at hand offered

readers, and parents personal insight on these schools that are indeed in crisis and required

immediate emergency attention. There are actual reasons for why these individuals arent
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finishing school and the number one reason is that they dont understand a purpose. Most of

them are young when they drop out of school, so they dont comprehend the severity of what

they have done until they are older. Although a lot of individuals drop out of school, it doesnt

have to be the end for them. Parents should step in to encourage their children to get their GEDS

instead of giving up on education completely.

Secondly, in his excerpt, Galston (2015) emphasized that money rules around everything,

And money matters in education--there's no getting around that. However, many of the gaps in

per pupil expenditures between urban districts and their surrounding suburban districts have been

closed in the past ten years, not eliminated in all cases, but closed substantially in many cases.

He explained that this is because higher percentage of the expenditures in the poorer districts are

now being picked up by the states or even by the federal government through its compensatory

education programs. In other words, money is not the only thing that matters when it comes to

the concept of education. School safety and discipline matter, teacher quality matters, and the

support that individuals get from the parents matter the most. Public schools differ from private

schools because private schools show more leadership than public schools. Parents shared

opinions on how they felt about both educational systems. Many parents said that they preferred

to keep their children in public schools because it would save money, but many also said they

rather have their child in a private school because there will be no chance of them dropping out

and there will be better possibilities of safety So, while money matters, it's not the only thing

that matters. School safety and discipline matter a lot. Teacher quality matters a lot. Support from

parents and the surrounding community matters a lot (Galston, 2015).

Parents think that just because they put their child in a private school, staff are legally

bound to provide equality in their children. According to Resnick (2006), Private schools, by
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contrast, are not legally bound to provide equality in admitting or retaining students. Nor are

there legal remedies for the wide financial disparity that distinguishes high- and low spending

private schools from each other. This is not always the case because a public school will always

care about a childs needs (special needs) before a private school will. Private schools want your

money more than they want to teach your children. Public schools operate programs for

educationally disadvantaged students and they organize a wide-range of support programs

essential to the education or overall being of the students. By providing public schools, each

student is guaranteed the right to attend a neighborhood school that operates in conformity with

academic standards and other legally required protections relating to the quality of education

students are provided and their well-being during the school day (Resnick, 2006). This

discussion was an eye opener for many parents because it gave them the opportunity to save

money.

Finally, Resnick (2006) created the perfect excerpt to differentiate between public and

private schools and the staff that are consisted. He stated that public schools are providing

students with more choices, both in curriculum options and in the school, they can attend. His

reasoning for this was to express his choices to parents who were still confused on how they

wanted their child to be educated. A lot of people do not know this but Resnick (2006) claimed

that Private school teachers, on the other hand, are not held to the same state certification

requirements as public school teachers, nor to the higher standard now required for public

schools under No Child Left Behind. Meaning not to say that teachers are not qualified, but

there is no public or objective means for people to determine that. In the words of researcher

Resnick (2006), Public education provides an opportunity to proactively teach children to

tolerate, interact with, and, hopefully, enjoy people who are different than themselves.
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In conclusion, education is not going to stop being a huge factor in society. One does not

have to know everything but one has to at least be able to speak and read. Many kids dropped out

of school in previous years because they felt like the only importance of education was learning

how to read and write. If an individual knew how to read and write, they pretty much did not

need much more education than that. Private and public schools will always have a turf between

them just because things are done differently. Although kids are taught differently, it does not

change the concept of education.

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Bibliography

Galston, W. (2015, November 17). Is there a crisis? PBS Frontline. Retrieved from

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/vouchers/howbad/crisis.html

Resnick, M. (2006, April 27). An American imperative: Public education. Center for Public

Education. Retrieved from http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Public-

education/An-American-imperative-Public-education-

Schneider, J. (2016, June 22). Do U.S. schools really need to be disrupted? Americas Not-So-

Broken Education System. Retrieved from

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/06/everything-in-american-education-is-

broken/488189/