The 2 biggest differences seem to be that teachers in private schools are able to select their own curriculum (or it is at least done by a committee of teachers/administrators) and private schools are able to skim the cream and set admission standards while publics are required to try to educate everyone.
The first issue regarding curricula could be eliminated if elected officials would stop meddling with public education which they themselves by and large disdain and/or stop pandering to particular base instincts in the electorate. It would also help if elected officials would stop lining the pockets of friends, family, and cronies through testing companies which have made a killing off legislation written by their lobbyists and enacted by their friends in state legislatures or Congress. Yes, I am cynical, but yes, it is also true.
In the “good old days” of US public education, teachers were able to select teaching methods and curricula which could be tailored to a particular group of students, to regional interests, to living standards and conditions of the student population (for example, urban versus rural), etc. What worked in a diverse area of urban Southern California may not have been suitable to a rural, mostly homogenous population in New Hampshire.
One caveat to this, though. I do like the idea of national standards, which is all that Common Core was meant to be. Otherwise, I can guarantee that schools in Texas would not care one iota if certain aspects of science and literature are ever introduced to students. And especially would not care if 10th grade Billy is reading on a 4th grade level and still doesn’t know his times tables, but boy can he run fast with a football in his arms.
US public education would also greatly improve if we moved away from the antiquated notion that every child should be educated in the same way and up to the same age, regardless of interest or ability. I am NOT arguing that any child should be expelled from public schools against his/her or the parents’ choice. All I am arguing for is options for children who do not wish to pursue the traditional college route, most notably like Germany’s system in which usable, well paid trades are taught to youth who are not university bound. Again, I don’t want the government making that decision for children, but it would be nice if the option were there.
Otherwise, private schools can be as much of a mixed bag as public schools. Some are phenomenal and produce great thinkers and citizens of the world. Some turn out “graduates” who can barely read at a 5th grade level (private schools in Texas are very lightly regulated, not usually required to test students based on national norms though many do, and some are just fly by night operations meant to bilk desperate parents).
