Public and Private Education

Exercise

As you come in, take out a sheet of paper and write a short paragraph (5 sentences) answering the following question:

If you could afford either, would you rather send your children to public or private school?

Make sure to include a clear claim answering the question and grounds explaining why.

Public and Private Education

Public:

Generally funded by the state/taxpayers.

Generally free or comparatively low-cost

Designed to educate as broad a quantity of students as possible

May suffer from lack of funding for facilities or teachers and overcrowding

Private:

Generally funded by a private organization or individuals

Generally fairly expensive, may require poorer students/families to shoulder debt

Designed to provide as high quality an education as possible to a select number of students

Can potentially obstruct social mobility, not designed to level the playing field (usually)

Education in the United States – Public Primary/Secondary

Public primary and secondary education is free and mandatory in the United States

Funds largely come from state and local governments, with some from the national government

Quality varies widely – wealthier neighborhoods generally have better-funded and better-performing schools

Curriculum is highly standardized with frequent testing, with some exceptions (charter schools).

Education in the United States – Private Primary/Secondary

About 10% of US students go to private school.

Average annual tuition is about $10,000.

About 80% are religiously-affiliated.

Curriculum is generally less regulated.

Students are more likely to be successful on national exams and attend college (prep schools).

Problems Facing US Primary/Secondary Education

Funding: State governments frequently cut funding for public education.

Achievement Gaps: Students in poorer public schools are much less likely to attend university than their counterparts in wealthy public or private schools. Racial achievement gaps exist.

Standardization: Evaluation of students is increasingly done by standardized tests, leaving the teacher little room to adapt to individual need.

Lack of good teachers: Public school teachers in particular require extensive credentials, are paid very little, are frequently blamed for problems in the system, and often work long hours.

Education in the United States – Public University

These schools receive funds from state government, allowing them to offer lower (but not free) tuition to state residents.

Average annual cost: about $15,000

Split between 2-year community colleges with vocational degrees and 4-year universities

Wide range of quality, some are world-class

Education in the United States – Private University

Funded privately, often by wealthy graduates and investments.

Includes the most famous US universities (Harvard, Yale, etc.)

Very expensive and selective, though the wealthiest often offer considerable financial aid.

Average annual cost: about $33,000

Also variable in quality, though the best are some of the world’s top universities.

Problems Facing US Higher Education

Funding: State governments also frequently slash funds typically given to public universities.

Cost: Most American families cannot pay the full price for university, meaning they rely on scholarships or loans, or they may not go. Average student debt is $29,400, and 7/10 students graduate with debt.

Brands/Selectivity: A small number of colleges with name recognition tend to get students jobs, while many other students graduate unemployed.

Priorities: Facilities, sports programs, and administration sometimes take precedence over academics.

German Higher Education in Comparison

Free for all students, better funded by German government

Much more focus on academics over student life Fewer non-academic buildings

No sports facilities

Few dormitories

More focused curriculum – no general education followed by a major

Little administrative guidance

Possible Research Questions

How can the US education system deal with its current problems? Can it learn something from the German example, or will Germany regret its decision to go a different direction?

Is the Moroccan education system well-constructed as it is? If it were to make changes, should it do so on the American model, the German model, or some other option?

Is it better for an education system to be predominantly public (free, open) or predominantly private (selective, expensive)? Which better serves the country as a whole?

Grounds

Claims provide a starting point for an argument, but how do we verify their validity?

The key question: What do you have to go on?

Grounds: specific facts, observations, statistics, previous conclusions, or other information that support a claim

Not general theories about how things work but specfic information

Common Ground

Facts can only work as grounds if both people in a debate agree that they are facts.

Otherwise, the argument becomes an argument about the validity of the facts, not the validity of the original claim.

If both people agree on the facts, then they can have an argument about what conclusions should be drawn based on the facts

Questioning Grounds

While some grounds may be agreed upon as true facts, others may themselves be claims that need further investigation.

Example:

C: Real Madrid is a better football/soccer team than Barcelona

G: Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s best forward.

But is Cristiano Ronaldo really the world’s best forward? If this is true, it supports the original claim, but it is itself a claim that must be proven with statistics, anecdotes, etc.

Visualizing Arguments

This seems simple at the moment, but it will get more complicated.

Grounds (F1, F2, F3)

Claim

Argument Chain

Ground 2Grounds 1 =

Claim 2Claim 1

Evaluating Claims Based on Grounds

Even if grounds are true, they may or may not be sufficient to prove the claim.

They may be too few. One Real Madrid player being good does not necessarily prove the team’s superiority.

They may be irrelevant. Team chemistry may matter more than the individual skills of the team’s players.

Types of Grounds

Legal: If a person’s actions break the law, then they serve as grounds for that person’s guilt.

Predictions: If certain events have transpired that are indicative of future events, then they serve as grounds that those future events will come to pass.

Artistic: If a work of art contains certain features that can be agreed to be beautiful, then those features serve as grounds for its merit.

Exercise

In groups of 4 or 5, look at the following claims from the article on Moroccan education. Decide what grounds would be necessary to prove each claim.

1. Problems in Moroccan universities stem from problems in the overall economy.

2. Grouping universities together (“hubs”) and more science research will improve university education.

3. Problems in Moroccan universities cannot be addressed before making reforms at the primary/secondary level.