Personally, I attended a private school and must've missed the warm fuzzies, because they drove us academically. No one cared if you were better at soccer or football; it was all about educational successes.

Every private school is different from public/state schools, but there are a lot more of the latter. The problem with many public schools is that they teach in a cookie-cutter fashion. If you learn differently (faster, slower, hands-on, visually, etc) you get left out--they treat you like there is something wrong with you. But it's not the student, it's the system. Many private schools can offer the specialized environments needed for those ahead or behind the curve.

In my specific case, I began at a state school where they thought it was ridiculous for a 5-year-old to be reading. They forced me to waste time coloring and painting, when I wanted to LEARN. The school had a policy against skipping grades (it was too emotionally traumatic to some kid).

So after wasting away of boredom for two years, I moved to a private school where instead of 40 kids to a classroom, there were only 20 to a grade! Each grade was set up so that the students could learn at whatever pace they could handle. Slow kids were given extra tutor time and whiz kids were given opportunities to learn things outside of the usual textbooks.

Ten years later my parents divorced and I was stuck going to a public high school. No one there had any idea what to do with me because I'd been taught to THINK rather than REGURGITATE. I was sent to the principal's office twice for "disturbing the class"... that is, I asked questions and wanted to participate/interject in the teacher's one-sided monologue. Shame on me!

Not every private school is like the one I went to nor is every public/state school full of incompetent teachers. If I were more of a sheeple I'd have fit in better in that public school. Or if I'd lived in a rich place maybe they wouldn't have had hundreds of brainless students in my grade. I just hope my kids never end up in a school of zombified conformists.

That must be different in your neck of the woods. Where I grew up, all schools had to prove to the federal government that their teachers and curriculum were meeting or exceeding standards.

state schools are schools.

the thing about private schools is that they help you grow in a caring, loving environment. they dont show you what its like to be in the real world. they live in their happy fantasy world, while the rest of us grow as an individual. bringing out the real us, not we've been told we should grow into.

i went to a private school almost all of my life. it turned my against religion and i failed an assignment on how men are superior to women, as we were told it was easier to pass if we went for the other argument. (it was an all girls school)

through all of my experiences i found that a state school has a much harder work load, you dont get the help you would at a private unless you ask for it, and they set you up for the 'outside'.

sure there are some down sides, such as if u jump the tuckshop que in front of the wrong person you'll get punched in the head, and there's all of these fights all round the place, and the bitch fights are worse cause there are guys around etc. but i found i work alot harder in a state school, rather then in private.

THEREFORE state schools kick epic ass!!!

I think that state schools are better preparatory institutions than private schools. I think that it's unnatural to separate boys and girls in to separate schools where they do not learn what it's like to intermingle with the opposite sex. Besides learning valuable social skills that will help them once they get in to the work environment, I think it's good for them to be exposed to people from varying socio-economic statuses to learn to work well with people from diverse backgrounds.

At a state run school you at least know that the teacher has been trained and is credentialed. At a private school the teachers do not have to be credentialed at all. The main problem with state schools is funding.