Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Public vs. Private in the US

The topic of schools is always a hot one at family gatherings. So everyone we encountered had their own set of beliefs about public and private schools. I heard the following:

" I know you are a Catholic. Don't you want your child taught in a Christian atmosphere?"
" You know they have a lot of those ( name your racial group) in public schools."
" If you ever want your child to go to college you better look into a private school. You know private schools do better on all those college tests."

I bet you have heard similar comments especially from relatives and friends.


So here are some of the factors why we chose to put our son to public school:


- I first looked at price - I wanted to estimate just how much it would cost for my son to complete elementary school.

- Not all schools offer full day kindergarten - my son's school does which could alter the tuition costs for that grade.

- Student/Teacher ratio in public school are 18. In private or parochial school are 20 (some of them are less).

- The cost of public school FREE. In private or parochial school range from $4,752 - $8,500 a year. And they increase about 5% every year (accdg to my source).

- Speech therapy, hearing and vision services, classes for students with limited english proficiency are all provided at no charge in the public school while in the private, speech therapy costs about $2000 per year.

- Private and public schools do not give the same tests so there is no way to compare them in the characteristics that counts the most.

- Some of the schools ( private) restricted visitation which made us feel suspect as to why they would not allow us to look.

- Public schools offer free bus service. In private you have to pay $650 per family and some parochial school does not offer bus service.

- Public school has a very diverse population with students of various economic, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The private schools were much less diverse. - I want my son to have early exposure in other ethnics and other religious backgrounds.

- Traditional schools and many regular program schools do not offer advance program classes for gifted and talented students. Many of the private schools do not offer them either.

- In fact, many students from private and parochial schools come to public school during the day to access their special education services because they are not available at the private school or are cost prohibitive.

- It is true that my son is not being taught religion at school. He is being taught values ( honesty, respect, perseverance, etc.) and how to be a good person. My husband and I cover the rest at home. I actually prefer to be the one who tells him about God and our faith.

- Paying huge tuition rates does not guarantee that my child will be immune to the dangers of the world.

- School is for academics and church is for faith. My son is with "the right kinds of people" and in the best academic setting possible.

- I am not convinced that paying tuition here in the US is the better choice especially if you have more than one child. And don't forget, there is college to pay for and it doesn't come cheap.

***This blog is not to criticize any private or public school or the people that choose them. School choice is a private issue best left in the family. We all make decisions for the best interests of our children and what works for one may not work for another. To use a trite old saying: " different strokes for different folks".

I do criticize those people who look down their noses at parents who choose public schools. Their elitism reveals their ignorance about the facts of public schools. Sensible people know that not all public schools are equal. There are good and bad schools in both the public and private sectors. The Catholic priests scandals of late show that no school community is immune. Knowing the facts is essential. Keeping our children the top priority is our responsibility as a parent. By the way the quality of public schools that are paid for here in the US comes from the property taxes. So if you live here in the US and you are paying taxes , your taxes goes to the school etc. So there you go. There's a big difference of what kind of public school here in the US and in the Philippines. I just want to make that clear. Same with the private school.

Public or Private? Which is right for your child read more here.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Weekend Trip to Chicago


We recently took some time off our mundane schedule by going to Chicago, probably the largest
city in the Midwest equally famous for its scenic views and world class restaurants. My husband
had previously gone to Chicago with some friends but their trip was to visit the two baseball
parks, Wrigley Field (home to the Cubs) and Cellular Field (home to the Chicago White Sox). The
trip itself was a good five hours of driving thru Indiana.



The weather before the trip was pretty cold in Kentucky and most of us had colds at one time or
another. Byron was also having some dry throat (hoarse) at the time so before on our trip, we set up an appointment with his pedia, she said that Byron was OK for the trip and did not exhibit any signs of being sick, so with that in mind we decided to proceed with our vacation.

I have a couple of friends in Chicago, who have visited us here in Kentucky, needless to say they
have been petitioning us to visit their place and also they had a couple of baby stuff that they
did not need and they were giving it to Byron.

The drive was uneventful but tiring, it was also Halloween and it gave a chance for Aidan to get
some sweets, unfortunately we arrived in Chicago too late as most of the malls had used up their
supplies of treats for the kids. We ended up buying Aidan some candies. We then proceeded to Lot's house were we ate home cooked meals of Adobo and Chinese food, exhausted we made up our bedding's and were soon fast asleep.

The next day we went around the city visiting some of the locations that you see in the pictures,
again since this was just a weekender we did not go into any museums, this trip was more about
taking the sights in and going exhibits would have used up most of our time not to mention we would need to shell out some cash.

So for the next two days we toured different places in Chicago and on Sunday we ate at an authentic Japanese Market/Restaurant Mitsuwa. It seemed more like a cultural center to me but the food was very good. We drove back that Sunday and my husband returned to work on Monday.



Byron got some coughing owing to the fact that all of us had some colds, so we ended up bringing him to the Kids Hospital in the area. They asked him to stay for two nights as they wanted to monitor him in the end the docs said that he probably contracted something from us 3. He is feeling better now but he still drinks his meds.



Well that's all I have for now until next time.