You can get exceptional pastoral care at some public schools and appalling treatment at some private schools, but on balance, these quotes above tend to hold true.
Agreed. Union rules in my province prevent elementary public school teachers from offering extra-curricular activities to students after-hours. Can you imagine that?
The average wait time for psychoeducational assessment, depending on indication and specific locale, is between 15 and 24 months. I was speaking with a consulting pediatrician recently, who lamented that it is not uncommon for children to age out of eligibility for early assessment for several presenting issues. Her practice often triages cases that have been neglected through other standard channels.
To mithawk's point about explicit vs implicit contracts, I'd say there's also the challenge of explicit vs implicit payment under different school models. Despite the fact that average premia for housing in high-performing school neighbourhoods and private school tuition are roughly comparable (from my rough numbers upthread), the latter nets FAR more bargaining power at the school level simply because the payor is more easily discernible (or concentrated in its advocacy), and teachers are attuned to the fact that they have a responsibility to use the resources at their disposal effectively.
The funding is virtually the same, but the institutional attitude is light years apart.
