Private versus public education: a Toulmin argument analysis

Public VS Private Schools

This work will argue in favor of private or school choice programs as a better alternative to public school education in the U.S. The work will include in the argument both private schools that are traditionally run by wholly private entities as well as charter schools that run at a fraction of the cost of public schools, partly paid for by public school funding but able to function mostly independent of public school mandates. The work will argue that school choice is an essential aspect of diversity in education as the fact that private schools offer students lower student to teacher ratios, higher levels of personalized and student directed learning and often a better more tailored educational environment that stresses community and service learning, both in and outside the school.

School choice has been a highly debated issue at least for the last two decades. The concern on the part of public school entities is that private schools will seek out and retain a caliber of student higher than those who have no choice but to attend public schools. This problem historically has been kept in check with the fact that many private institutions are far more costly than public institutions on both a primary and secondary level, high tuition and high secondary costs such as additional fees, transportation and supplies. Yet, as school choice became a more and more heated topic other alternatives began to prosper across the nation, first as benchmark schools and then as public schools with alternatives, i.e. charter schools that are sanctioned by and partly funded by public school monies. It has just been over the last decade or so that public and independent charter schools have become a part of the mix, creating an alternative for students with more limited resources to attend schools that do not have high tuitions that would have priced them out of the market previously but offer an environment and curriculum that is closer to that of a private school. (DiPerna & Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice 2012) Though charter schools and private schools vary greatly it is widely held that such schools are a better option for students than public schools, with their cookie cutter curriculums more and more focused on teaching to the test.

Argument