Would You Send Your Child to a Public School?

3.11.11 By Aira Jackson-Sams

Go ahead and answer honestly - this is just between you and the computer screen.  No one will hear your answer and you don’t have to explain why:

Would you send your child to a public school? 

Most of us answer: Well, it depends where I am living?
I say: Boston
You say: No, at least not until my child gets into Boston Latin School.
I ask:  Do you support public schools?
You answer in the affirmative, but: They’re just not for my kids.

Ahhh…here we are. 

And so begins the conversation that I had twice last week with close friends while home on vacation: the ongoing concern that public schools don’t provide the right environment for children to succeed.  So what is the right environment?  “Smaller class sizes, better resources, like-minded families, and a place where I know my child will be successful.”  And what do I say to those answers? “I have 22 students in my class versus 14; I buy most of the supplies for my classroom; and there are varying views of education from my students’ families.”  But I do know that every one of my students’ families wants the very best for their children, too. 

So why is it so heartbreaking when I hear that parents would prefer to send their children to private schools?  Because I know that when a family starts leaving public schools for private schools, we are not only losing a student, we are losing a family and their support for making public schools the best they can be.  Our public school system cannot improve unless everyone with school-age children starts demanding the very best education for every child—not just their own.  We have to be united in our belief that every child should be able to start school with a strong foundation and the knowledge that his/her family understands how and why to support that child’s education.  Because by not uniting together and ensuring that all children receive a high quality education, the class disparity that is already boiling in our country will explode.

Imagine if every child received a high quality education from the age 3 to 18, as well as the community/family support needed to succeed.  We would have a society that has more skilled workers, less teenage pregnancy, more post-high school educated individuals, and less young men in jail, to name just a few advantages.  And we as a country would be more united in our belief that education can do so much more than just make sure that everyone remembers the dates of the American Revolution, or how to convert a fraction to a decimal (or vice versa), and we would understand that education provides all of us with a better way of life.

So… public versus private?  It’s your choice and your reasons are your own.  But if you do choose a private school education for your children, please don’t turn your back on public schools.  We have to ensure that all schools are the very best they can be, and that can only happen when everyone starts supporting and demanding the very best for every child.