First Draft Argumentative Essay

Madeline Allen

Megan Keaton

English 112

24 April 2013

Argumentative Essay

            There is an ongoing argument among parents, teachers, and even students. It isn’t about state testing, or where the next school will be built, it is about private school and whether or not the benefits outweigh the costs. A private school on average can cost $12,000 to $30,000 a year. However private schools offer a much higher exposure to arts, have a much smaller student teacher ratio, and can almost guarantee their students admission to college (Kennedy n.p.). Public school on the other hand, can offer a more common culture and give each student an equal range of opportunity. And they just so happens to be absolutely free. If each parent had the funds to put a child into private school, they would. If each private school had the room to accept every child, they would. To avoid putting students in a school in which they feel like they cannot excel, or one in which parents cannot afford, we as citizens should propose a law that helps any child attend a private school, even if their parents cannot afford it. Also all public school funding should be raised to equal the amount of money put into the average private school per district. Each child in our country deserves an unlimited amount of education, should they wish to have it.

Because private schools and public schools are so different, I wanted to dig deep into the subject. At first I wanted to know if there truly was a difference in private school. Did they really have distinct teaching methods, and smaller class sizes, and elaborate art programs? Twenty minutes into my research I started questioning just how much I possibly missed out on as a child. I attended every public school the district assigned to me, and I loved it. However I am an adult now. I know the importance of education because without it, it’s impossible to survive in the real world. In an article written by Robert Kennedy he lists the immense amount of benefits private school has for children. Things like smaller class sizes, higher exposure to arts, community service and sense of values taught to each child are among the many benefits (Kennedy n.p.). Needless to say, my little fire for public schools was slowly burned out with each word my eyes read, until I came across another article written by Julie Mack, Back to School: Why Public Education is Awesome. Using an incredible amount of pathos, she tells a story about an “adopted teenage boy from Central America who has to adjust to life in Michigan” (Mack n.p.). He comes from a place where educational options are almost non-existent. “The child could hardly believe his good fortune is being able to attend high school for free, a school that offers a broad curriculum and even provided textbooks”(Mack n.p.). Thus, a little boy from Central America relit my fire. Except now I have two burning flames: one for private school and one for public school. Which flame is bigger?

“Many private schools require that their students complete a mandatory number of community service hours”(Kennedy n.p.). Students are taught to respect the community and find and importance of contributing to society. They could also find themselves possible career opportunities like political aid for counseling of teens. The importance of this is to teach students that learning is not just to be done in schools (Kennedy n.p.). However, it is hard to compare being forced to help out in a soup kitchen as an assignment, to sitting next to another student in class who doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from. There is something very humbling knowing that children are placed into one classroom of different socio-economic backgrounds, and are able to learn together, and to learn from each other. For example, finding out your best friend has little money for new shoes, can teach you a little bit more about life than stirring up soup in a bowl.

Community service in private schools, can be compared to a different cultural aspect offered in public schools, however the art programs in private schools stands alone. “Private schools have the ability to create their own curriculum” (Kennedy n.p.). Of course they must provide their students with the same basic courses as other schools; they have the extra funding to take it a step further by adding a much higher emphasis on the arts. I took a few art classes in high school, and I always thought of them as an escape. This is because I am a creative person and sitting in cookie-cutter math class rarely kept me interested. I know for a fact that I am not the only student like this. Opportunities like these are what make private schools worth the extra money. “Government regulations on public schools prevent them from spending more than a certain percentage of school funds on the Arts. Private schools, however, are not subject to the same regulations and they have more freedom to expand these programs as they wish” (Kennedy, n.p.) Students can participate in elaborate plays and musicals. They even have filmmaking or video classes. Where students cannot express themselves by clothing of choice because of uniforms, they are able to make up for it through art. How are private schools not all they cracked up to be?

 Inspired by the tribulations my childhood best friend faced, I found out every detail of her experience in private school. She attended a Christian private school from pre-k to seventh grade. After spending every moment she wasn’t at school begging her parents to switch schools, they pulled her out, mid-semester, to join me at our local public school. At the time, I was just excited to be going to the same school as her. As a child it is hard to notice other people’s problems aside from your own. Looking back now, I can fully see the effects private school had on her. Now, at the older age of 20 I decided to sit my best friend down to stir up old emotions on private school. Most of her classmates were extremely wealthy. She for the most part was able to blend in due to the fact that everyone was in uniforms. However, even ten years later she remembered a girl making fun of her hand-me-down tennis shoes from her older sister Katie. Getting new shoes and new clothes was not exactly something Logan was accustomed to like her peers. Her parents didn’t make salaries even comparable to other parents. They saved up each year to pay the tuition bill because they wanted “what’s best” for Logan (Williamson, n.p.). The bullying got worse once she reached middle-school age. “The words they used against me started defining my confidence. I felt like I was less, because my family had less. I know it affected my parents too. They wanted to seem rich, which was the entire reason I was forced to go to private school in general. They wanted to be a part of that crowd… I hated going to sleep because that meant I would have to wake up and go to school again” (Williamson, n.p.).

The problem comparing schools academically is that all students are forced to take the same tests. This makes it a little bit easier for the government, and even the parents to believe that the schools are equal, because they take all the same standardized tests, when in fact students in public schools spend much more time focusing on them. “Increasing charter schools, giving public schools letter grades, abolishing teacher tenure and piling on new standardized tests- all moves that have been passed or proposed by the state legislature- are false reforms that hurt kids and enrich corporations” (Doss, n.p.). This is equally affecting all of our students however not equally affecting teachers at public schools. Private School teachers are able to breathe easy when it comes to standardized test because they are what they say: written at standard level. Private schools are usually much higher. Public schools on the other hand have children who aren’t on equal levels as their classmates and test scores hurt teachers and their pay. This is a huge problem starting to occur, however no one seems to be talking about it or even fully understanding it. Diane Ravitch spoke at UNC Charlotte on the issue. “What it comes down to is a handful of people with a huge amount of money versus the American people. Parents are the sleeping giant, but when the students awaken everything changes” (Doss, n.p.) Standardized testing is another issue, however it is affecting public schools and private schools in different ways and it needs to be changed.

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian education scholar has a love and hope for American education. He believes “in a cultural frame, we take advantage of a minimum of freedom to amplify that freedom”(125). We have the right to fight for something we think we deserve. Exactly five decades ago Martin Luther King made a speech fighting for equal rights for not only him but for his children and other generations to come. He was fighting for the desegregation of schools. Are we as Americans, taking advantage of the hard work our founding fathers put in to give us an education system? After all “one of Americas gifts to the world has been the democratizing of schools…It helped turn the US into the most powerful country in the world, fueling the American dream and the vision of a Land of Opportunity”(Mack, n.p.). We are lucky to live here, and more importantly we are lucky to have the right to say and do, and change whatever we like.

Logan’s story with private school is heartbreaking, however when she entered public school her life took a turn for the better, she became on fire about going to school as did the child’s from Central America. No child should ever hate coming to school. What is it that we as a society can change? We need to change the difference in our schools. No longer are our schools segregated by race and no longer should they be segregated by socio-economic level. This will lower bullying and give a better experience and opportunity for students who do not have the money to put towards school. If everyone shared a love for school like Paulo Freire, Julie Mack and Robert Kennedy, we could change the way America learns, thus changing the way America thinks. We have the rights and the ability to do whatever we feel. In the words of a little Central American boy “what a privilege, what an opportunity, what a country” (Mack, n.p.).

Works Cited
Doss, Ann. “Education Advocate: NC On The Wrong Path.” Charlotte Observer. 21 March 2013: 2

pages. Web.

Freire, Paulo. Teachers As Cultural Workers. Colorado: Westview Press, 2005. Print.

Kennedy, Robert. “Why Private School.” Private School Review. N.d. 20 May 2013. Web.

Mack, Julie. “Back to School: Why Public Education is Awesome.” MLive. 01 September 2012.

Williamson, Logan. Personal Interview. 3 April 2013