Public schools seem to have gotten worse over the years. There are some crazy teachers out there, and fights break out between classes. There are strange happenings at public schools.
Why are public schools so bad? Are they all terrible, or are they just awful in a few locations? Are there specific factors that make them poor for kids to attend?
Why Are Public Schools So Bad?
1. Tax Determines Funding
One of the reasons public schools are so bad is because they depend on taxes to receive funding for their work. Often, public education gets shoved to the side for other items.
Funding powers many things in the public school system. It helps ensure teachers get paid, provides money for extracurriculars, and supports investments in school supplies.
Homeschools and private schools don’t receive the funding that public schools do. The taxes that determine income let them down more often than provide additional help.
2. Teachers Are Underpaid
Teachers are underpaid all around the nation. They are barely paid enough to cover their costs, and many are responsible for investing in practical school supplies for the year.
The average pay in the 2016-2017 school year was $58,950. This pay is not enough to encourage teachers to pursue excellence in education.
The more teachers receive pay and training, the better the education system will be. Teachers don’t have a good enough quality of life to make public schools the best they can be.
3. Everyone Is In One Spot
Public schools cost no money to send your child to, which means you get all kinds of children in one location. While that’s not always bad, it can present a unique set of challenges.
Many locations have kids who all occupy the same area of the world. In cities like Los Angeles, you will find hundreds of children from multiple walks of life.
It’s good to be in a location where you can learn more about things you don’t understand. Unfortunately, differences between children can cause intense fights during the day.
4. Classes Are Boring
Every child can tell you about a day in class when they were bored out of their mind. Although society has advanced, the way we teach has stayed stuck in the past.
Kids transfer from desk to desk for seven hours a day. They sit and listen to a teacher, write essays, and prepare their minds to take tests. There’s nothing made to captivate kids.
Until the system changes, public schools are bad because they fail to engage children. They don’t know what is needed to get kids more interested in critical information.
5. Material Can Be Simplified
Many teachers have little faith in the children they teach. Rather than providing them with valuable information, these instructors dumb down the information for their students.
Students that need extra help mix with students advanced beyond their peers. Each requires a different teaching style, but they are clumped into one group. It can cause stunted learning.
Some public-school teachers manage to split up the education in ways every student can access. Unfortunately, many don’t have the time to provide individual plans for each child.
6. Lack Of Dress Code
A dress code seems painful, but it can help a school system. Students don’t have to worry about what they wear. It also makes it easier for teachers to enforce what students put on daily.
Public schools don’t have a strict dress code. They often have a length requirement for shorts, bans on shirt images, and top strap length. However, that’s where it ends. Anything goes.
A dress code makes everything easier and enforces the idea that a school is a professional place of learning. A lack of these requirements makes it easier for kids to misbehave.
7. Push For College
In the past decade, public school has shifted. The main focus is getting into college and becoming an expert at taking tests. Even kids that don’t want college receive a push to it.
Although college can be helpful, it’s expensive. Some kids are ready to go into their field and would prefer to learn a trade than spend four years at a liberal arts college.
Unfortunately, this change in focus has turned valuable education into something that aims to get success on test scores and college applications. The push for college is an issue for kids.
8. Bullying Is Big
Unfortunately, bullying is a big thing in public schools. You have a mix of students from all walks of life. That mix means there is sure to be some bullying, whether physical or mental in nature.
Many kids aren’t sure who to go to when it comes to bullying in the public school system. It’s an epidemic that will continue as the school starts to fall apart from the inside.
Until teachers and other school professionals act, bullying will continue. It’s not just an issue in public schools – private schools have their share of unkind children walking the halls.
9. Teachings May Not Be Right
Public schools have difficulty regulating the curriculum of their schools, and there aren’t always teachers that have a good mind. Many want to push their agenda on their children.
Some teachers may be inept at their subject. They may teach science or history principles that are wrong. Kids take false information to heart and assume it’s correct. They trust them.
As a parent, you trust teachers to provide your kids with the right information they can take into later stages of life. Many public-school teachings may not be correct or moral.
10. Safety Is Minimal
Safety is not a priority for many schools, and that has led to disaster in the past. There are minimal security guards, unlocked doors to rooms, and a lack of gates to keep people out.
There are some schools, particularly in cities, that have added safety measures. Schools in New York and Los Angeles have metal detectors and locking doors for additional precautions.
Unfortunately, these schools are not the majority. It’s far too easy for a person to break into a public school, or for a student to bring an item that could prove to be dangerous.
11. Technology Is Behind
Technology in the world has advanced wildly over the past few years. Many private schools have updated their systems and adapted them for children. Many public schools have not.
New technology is expensive. A school funded by forms of taxation may not have the money to update a school system meant for a thousand children at one time. It’s pricey for most schools.
A lack of quality technology means children work with systems that don’t always apply to the real world. They lose out on advantages their private school peers have at all times.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why preschool is so expensive, why you have to pay for college, and why college is so stressful.
Conclusion
It’s okay if your child or someone you know goes to a public school. However, they aren’t as ideal as they used to be. There’s bullying, safety issues, and a lack of a quality dress code.
There is nothing wrong with going to a public school, but it’s critical to note that there are some issues. With work, there can be a change brought to the public school system.