More teacher OT, mindmeld, RE: BTW, teachers in private schools make more and it probably wouldn't surprise you that they are more capable teachers. I went to private schools when I was growing up and the education I received was top notch. Most of my teachers had at some point in their career been university professors. So they were stacked with good teachers. Public schools can't bid high for teachers, so they are stacked with low quality teachers.
Interesting. My experience is just the opposite; I see more excellent teachers in the public schools, and more teachers just skating by in the private schools.
The logic I see here is twofold. First, since teacher pay in very low no matter where you're looking, public or private, the only people on the "excellent" side of the spectrum are usually the idealists. And the idealists will tend toward public schools.
Secondly, there is no question in my mind that teaching in the public schools is much more challenging than teaching in the private schools. That is because the private schools can weed out the truly hopeless causes and the kids with serious problems. The public schools get no such breaks. Because of this dichotomy, the teachers that are just passing the time will prefer the private schools more because there is much less challenge to the job there.
And before I get emails from private school teachers, yes, I know that they're idealists in the private schools, and I know that there are great teachers in private schools. I just don't see as many of them. |
