Public School Reforms: A Hybrid School

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Recommended: public education versus private education

Mark Twain once said, “I have never let school interfere with my education” (Twain). Although both terms, school and education, go hand in hand, the effects on students vary tremendously. School, defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an institution for instruction”, implies the organization runs the school system for ulterior motives such as finances and personal gains ("School."). Adversely, education is “the action of teaching someone”, which focuses on providing knowledge and understanding to the students ("Education."). The education American students receive appears to be corrupted by the politics of the public school system. The failure to educate America’s youth forces these individuals to invest in other schooling options, endangering the wellbeing of each student and the future for the public schools. To accommodate the diversity of students’ learning styles, the American public school system should improve the quality of education, pace students’ learning, and apply personal interests using the most pertinent attributes of private schooling, homeschooling, and unschooling.
Many aspects, unique to the private school system, including preferable teachers with “subject area expertise”, smaller class sizes, and a superior curriculum, allow it to provide a higher quality of education for the students who desire more than the public schools can produce, according to a study by Greatschools.org ("Private Versus Public"). Ralph Heibutzki writes in an article for The Global Post, “Thirty-six percent of private schools averaged student-teacher ratios of 10:1 or lower” (Heibutzki). Better teachers and smaller class sizes warrant more individualized attention for the student. Because the schools are not government funded, ...

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Madison, Kylie. Personal interview. 29 Mar. 2014.
"Mark Twain." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore, 2014. 27 Mar. 2014.
Minter Hoxby, Caroline. "Do Private Schools Provide Competition for Public Schools?" Nber. National Bureau of Economic Research, Dec. 1994. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
"Private versus Public." Great Schools. GreatSchools, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Ray, Brian. "Research Facts on Homeschooling." Nheri. National Home Education Research Institute, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
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