Public vs. Private Schools

Author’s Note:

This is my essay for mine and Abbi’s project Public vs. Private schools.  I am focusing on organization. 

Brookfield Academy costs $16,350 each year to attend.  Private schools all over America are expensive, but also have higher college acceptance rates, higher quality materials, and have small student teacher ratios for better learning environments.  Though public schools, which don’t have tuitions, are still fine schools.  I found that there are major differences between public and private schools academically, athletically, and extracurricular wise.  Though there are similarities too, such as they both start in September.  There are different types of private schools too.  Private schools are better schools than public schools, but they also cost a lot more.

Private schools, while they cost more, are high quality schools.  They have better and more materials in their classes and larger buildings, but less students in each class.  There are many types of private schools as well.  Such as regular private schools, religious, and boarding schools.  The first private school in America was started in about 1610 by Spanish or French explorers.  Now there are about 35,000 private schools in the United States. Lastly, most private schools are worth the money they cost.

While public schools don’t cost as much as private schools, they still are good schools.  Public schools get money from fundraisers, tax money, and the state government.  Normal public schools have larger class sizes than private schools, too.  The first public school was started in 1635 by Rev. John Cotton in Boston.   Most public schools now are just about the same and do not have as many types and private schools.  Finally, both types of schools start in September because, in the old days, American children would work on their family’s farms during the summer and the last part of spring, so schools took the summer part of the year off to make sure that kids weren’t missing school. 

The two types of schools each have differences and similarities and I wanted to know if any of this research was 100 percent correct.  So Abbi and I took a trip to Brookfield Academy for a day.  We were observing things such as their school’s standards, the types of clubs and sports they offer, and the classes.  The two of us found that their school has very high expectations, for instance, how they have to dress, how well they have to do in class and how they are supposed to act.  They are supposed to dress neat, “groomed” and are not allowed to wear tee shirts or jeans.  Finally, their athletic and club options include classic movie club, field hockey and more. 

Since private schools are better than public schools, it isn’t unexpected that there is a major cost difference.  The two schools have differences like cost, dress code, athletics, and academic standards.  Also, private schools have been around for just a little longer and was started by a Spanish or French explorer.  While public schools were started by an American in Boston.  Next, our trip to Brookfield Academy showed us that private schools do have more money for textbooks, extra rooms, and more teachers. Another fact is that private schools have many different types while public schools are mostly the same. Finally, both of the schools are great, both are fun, and both attract many students.

Goals:

1. When working in a group communicate better
2. Stay on track with task list
3. Get meetings set up better

Self reflection:

For this project I think that I did the best on this project than any other.  I think that getting to go on a field trip to Brookfield Academy was an experience that was fun and eye opening.  Abbi and I both worked on finding a time we could go and went in only a week.  Also, I think that I found a lot of interesting research to go with my topic.  Overall, I think that I did a good job.

Narrative:
Abbi and I wanted to go to Brookfield Academy to really see what private schools are like.  Though we had to plan, organize, and sort out all of our ideas for when we got there.  We first asked out parents to make sure it was alright with them for us to go.  Then we emailed the secretary at Brookfield Academy explaining our project, our school, and what Academy 21 is.  Once the email went through all the right people, we were emailed back and they said yes.  The day we went to the school was amazing and we learned a lot more going there then we could on their website. 
Once we had all of our research done, we had visited all the classes we needed to, and we found time, Abbi and I met at my house to write the script for the voice thread.  The next step we did was we recorded the voice thread onto my account.  Finally we published it all on our blogs and finished our project.