Education

The topic of education is obviously one of the most relevant aspects of the Nonprofit Sector that we will encounter in this class being that I am currently a student. The kind of education that you have will have a significant impact on the rest of your life. In general, there is a positive correlation between the amount of education that you acquire throughout your life, and the quality of life that you enjoy (usually meaning salary and other assets and/or social status). Obviously this is not always the case, but the statistics support this argument quite favorably.

The first thing that I want to address in regards to the topic of education is the contrast between public and private. I grew up in a small town in which there was only one high school, so the choice between attending public or private school was not an issue for me. However, there were a decent amount private schools located in more metropolitan areas that I competed with in sports because they had similar enrollments and thus competed in a similar classification. These schools were kind of annoying in that they didn’t really fit the profile of schools like mine because they could recruit students from densely populated areas to join their teams, while we had to work with what was available. My team was still successful, but it was always kind of annoying to see teams like this excel. A little bit off point, but relevant in my eyes nonetheless. I always thought of schools like this to be somewhat elitist, that is why I was surprised to read that salaries for private k-12 teachers was actually significantly lower than that of those at public schools. If you are a parent paying extra money to send your child to a school like this wouldn’t you want them to learn from the most highly qualified educators? It just seems strange that the quality of education is considered better at private institutions given these discrepancies in funding.

High school wasn’t my last experience with private institutions as, ironically enough, I enrolled at a private college out of high school (Linfield). A factor that played a part in this decision was the hype that I had heard surrounding getting an education from a private school (with the other part being that they allowed me the opportunity to play basketball). As the book says students and parents have been found to be more satisfied with private education. I only went to Linfield for one term before transferring to the U of O, but in all honesty I really didn’t see what the big deal was. In comparison to my 2 years at Oregon, I really didn’t feel I was gaining any better of a learning experience being at a private school. My reasons for transferring really had nothing to do with education and I was even prepared to experience a downgrade in the quality of my education, but I really haven’t felt that. So in conclusion, my opinion is that the differences between public and private schools are fairly overblown. I realize that you are in smaller classrooms with more individual attention available, but the fact of the matter is these differences can be negated. I truly believe that what you get out of your education is determined by how much you put into. If you put in enough effort you will be rewarded intellectually no matter what type of school you attend.