Private Schools: Dual Curriculums and Religion

Growing up in a private Jewish day school I always wondered what it would be like in a public school. What would it be like to only have to take half the amount of classes and not have to go to prayers every day? Let me paint a picture in your mind of the typical day in my elementary school: classes would begin at 8am in the English home room. Until lunch I would have English, history, math, and science as well as morning prayers. After lunch I would go to my Hebrew home room where I would have Hebrew, Jewish history, Torah (the Old Testament) and Rabbinics. But public schools were not the only schools that interested me, I was also curious about how other religious schools ran. Catholic schools are run similarly to Jewish day schools; there are bible, Latin, and religious history classes as well as prayers. I wondered if students like me, in religious day schools, were being prepared when we only got half the math, science, English and history education that children in public schools got.

The issue is do students of private schools receive an adequate education when they spend significantly less time on secular subjects? Although religious private schools spend less time on subjects they need less time. The reason is because the class sizes are smaller and the student teacher ration is significantly lower than that of public schools. The size of the class made up for the shorter class period because there was more student teacher interaction and the students were able to grasp the information quicker. I researched two Los Angeles Jewish day schools, Kadima Hebrew Academy and Heschel West, two Los Angeles Christian private schools, West Angeles Christian Academy and Chaminade High School, and two Los Angeles public schools, Hale middle school and Pomelo Drive Elementary. The average teacher student ratio at the Jewish day schools are seven, the ratio at the private Christian schools are sixteen and the ratio at the public schools are thirty six. As shown on the left, many private school classrooms have teacher assistants or teacher aids so that there is more one on one interaction with the students. The size of the classroom makes a tremendous difference in education because no student falls behind. They are all provided sufficient time and help on an individual basis.

But education does not just include classes in school. What about education outside of the classroom, extra curricular activities? Do private school children have time for extra curricular activities when they have double the work load of those children in public school? The answer is yes. I concluded that private school children still have time for extra curricular activities by researching the after school opportunities at private schools. This picture shows one of Kadima Hebrew Academy’s after school sport programs, soccer. But sports are not the only activities available. The Chaminade website shows a plentiful amount of activities available to students ; art club, band, drama club, just to name a few. These private schools offer similar after school activities. However, the private schools cannot offer as many programs as the public schools due to shear numbers. But these programs are still available to private school children through other private organizations.

When parents decide whether to send their child to a private religious school or a public school the main issue is not money; it is the quality of the education. This is why it is important to note that the education at private schools and the opportunities at private schools are very similar if to that of public schools. Children will not miss out on important events in their life for going to private school, they will just experience them in a different atmosphere.