Can Public Schools Produce Good Citizens?

Can public schools produce good citizens? Stephen Macedo states his position by stating that public schools can and produce good citizens. Believing that students are geared more towards the civic educational criterion integrated into today's educational system, Macedo focuses on the response to ongoing trends in the educational standards today and how they divert attention away from traditional methods of education such as newspapers - replacing them with media such as the internet to get their information about world events. Chester E. Finn, Jr. contends that public institutions cannot provide good citizens because as

'free citizens to rule the state" does the state have the right to have an influence in shaping our values and beliefs held in public institutions? As facts and statistics will show, public schools simply cannot provide good citizens in our society because they generally lack the time and resources required to produce quality citizens.

Public institutions provide general education for the masses, or non- elitists per se. This type of educational system is aimed towards a general understanding of mathematics, social studies, and science. Most public schools have small classrooms with many students lacking the student/ teacher bond which is crucial to a students development in the early stages. Classes become impersonal and students are often looked at as cattle. As a result of this type of general education provided by public institutions, it limits the time spent for human development in schools which promote social development such as communication skills and interaction. It's very rare that public schools offer etiquette classes and capitalize on the growing trend of civic educational methods.

Private institutions most likely provide small classes with less students. Classes become more personal than public institutions and the student/ teacher bond that is crucial for student/ human development has been established. Private institutions provided a more specific type of education, emphasizing on courses beneficial to the student according to his career goals, moreover, offering etiquette classes by a means of polishing social interaction skills. As a result, students who are institutionalized in private schools are generally more, "well rounded" and, "polished" increasing the probability of becoming and exercising the behavior of a good citizen, rather than those belonging to public schools. Taken from www.capenet.org/facts.html#statistics:

"People who have private schools in their communities believe by wide margins that such schools "generally provide a better education" than public schools and do a better job "teaching academic skills" and "maintaining discipline and order." (For 67 percent of respondents, the term "private schools" refers to "parochial schools or Christian academies," while for 16 percent it refers to "non religious private schools.")

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The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), published by the National Center for Education Statistics, provides data on public and private schools. The following table, based on 1999-2000 SASS data (the most recent). This source also provides other statistics comparing public vs. private institutions, such as: Teachers who perceive certain issues as serious problems in their schools. Some of