Would you buy your way out of bad public schools by sending your child to a private school?

[lbrtbell]

16. I went to a private high school

A Catholic one, to be exact. I did janitorial work from the time I was 11, to pay for my tuition.

The thing to remember is that not all private schools are what they're made out to be on TV.

We didn't get as much federal money as public schools, so our school was hardly ritzy or elite. We had an old building, very few functioning pencil sharpeners, no air conditioning, and an ancient heating system that often broke down in the winter (I recall many days that we struggled to do our schoolwork while wearing thick winter gloves).

It was a running joke in our city, that our teachers got the lowest salaries. Yet those teachers were the most dedicated I've ever known, and I got a great education as a result.

I went back there 30 years later, and it was like coming home to family. Many of the same teachers were still there. Some of my classmates' siblings hold faculty positions there, including principal. They all remembered me, the moment I said my name. The current students were as polite and respectful as my peers and I had been, because there was mutual respect between us and the teachers. These teachers could have taught elsewhere for more money...but they didn't.

Two or three years ago, when the school was facing financial hardship, the teachers willingly agreed to a pay freeze--a shock to me, given their low salaries!--because they wanted to keep the school going for their students' sake. They taught me by example that people matter more than profits...something every Republican would do well to learn.

Meanwhile, the public schools in that same city were hellholes--the poor schools were gang-infested, the ones in rich neighborhoods were dominated by cruel bullies and lazy, uncaring teachers who let the bullying go on.

In short, it all depends on the private school you go to. There's a big difference between snobby private schools, and the private schools where teachers and students work together.

I'm sure there are public schools like that, too. But none of them were in my area, unfortunately. So I was happy to be able to attend school without having to worry about being beaten up.