Private Schools

Here is an article I got for you folks from the Liberator Online e-newsletter, a service provided by the Advocates for Self-Government.  You can read about it and sign up here: 
http://www.theadvocates.org/publications/liberator-online.html


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"Surprising Facts About Private Schools

Private schools are good for families, good for kids and good for America,
according to the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), an organization
that champions American private K-12 education.

But you may be surprised at just *how* beneficial and effective private schools
are. According to CAPE:

* One in four U.S. schools is a private school.

* One child in nine attends a private school.

* Private schools produce an annual savings to taxpayers estimated at more than
$48,000,000,000.

* Private school students perform better than their government school
counterparts on standardized achievement tests.

* Ninety percent of private high school graduates attend college, compared to
66 percent of government high school graduates.

* Private school students from low socio-economic backgrounds are more than
three times more likely than comparable government school students to attain a
bachelor's degree by their mid-20s, meaning that private schools contribute to
breaking the cycle of poverty for their students.

* Private schools are racially, ethnically, and economically diverse. Twenty-
three percent of private school students are students of color; twenty-eight
percent are from families with annual incomes under $50,000.

* Private secondary school students are nearly 50 percent more likely to take
AP or IB courses in science and math than government school students.

* The participation of private school students in community service projects is
significantly higher than their government school counterparts.

* Private school students feel safer in their schools, and *are* safer, than
students in government schools.

* A study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that more than
three-quarters of private school parents are "very satisfied" with their
child's school, compared with less than half of parents whose children were
assigned to a government school

.. and that's just the beginning, according to CAPE. (The statements above are
fully documented at the organization's Web site, at the URL just below.)

No wonder, then, that -- to cite another CAPE statistic -- a substantial
majority of adults believe private schools do a better job of providing a
quality education than government schools. And that belief, in turn, is fueling
increased demand among parents for alternatives to the government's education
monopoly.

(Source: CAPE report at: http://www.capenet.org/benefits4.html )"

most of those stats can be attributed to the fact the parents have to individually pay for those kids to go to that school, as opposed to collectivly through taxes. this means that the kids are going to be made to go to school and to make use of the school (no one wants to lose their investment). not only that, but if you've got money to send them to private school in the first place, you're that much more likely to be able to afford college in the first place. and because you have to pay to enroll, the number of students from less well off areas wont be able to attend, so voilence and deliquency is down by default. It's filtering out the unwated aspects of public schools through money, and not much else. I'm sure own own presonal physision would be highly benificial to all of us, but we dont have that kinda money, so we go to the hospital like everyone else (and even that is a privilage).