Are Private Schools Really Better? | USA vs. Germany

It isn't everyday that I come across a statistic that the United States and Germany have in common with one another, but in both countries around 9-10% of all k-12 school students attend a private school, in lieu of public education. And in both the US and Germany, those numbers have risen in recent years.... but that doesn't mean the cost of private school, the motivations for parents or the controversy is the same. Let's take a look.

🔎 Video Highlights:
00:00 Introduction
02:10 The Numbers behind Private School Enrollment
08:13 Funding & Tuition for Private Schools
12:11 Why do Parents Put their Kids into Private School?
16:14 Do you actually get a better education?
19:43 Controversy

🔍 What's Inside:

Private vs. Public Education Trends: We analyze recent trends in education, discussing why more families are choosing private schools.
Educational Benefits of Private Schools: Discover the unique benefits that private schools offer, from smaller class sizes to specialized curriculums.
Impact of Technology in Private Education: How are private schools leveraging technology to enhance learning?.
Global Perspective: A look at how private schools are faring in Germany versus the USA, with a focus on their growth in different regions.

Episode No. 130

𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗠𝗘

[thof]

The elephant in the room: here in Germany, at least in big cities, parents won't usually elect to send their kids to private schools for religious or philosophical reasons, but simply to shield them from what they consider the riff-raff.

[MrFahrenheit]

My sister is an English teacher with a Cambridge approved certificate, and that helped her find a position as a substitute teacher in a big Gymnasium here in Nord-Rhein Westfallen. She only speaks B1 level Deutsch (we only came from Ukraine in March 2022), but the principal was super eager to get her on board. The shortages for teachers are really severe here, and her 5 graders had 4 teachers in one semester, not ideal. So of course it was super stressfull for her, but she persevered and recently had a parent teacher hours, when parents coiuld come and talk to her about their children's progress. She actually was really suprised that a lot of parents just came to say thanks and how much their child likes to learn English now under her supervision. And her colleagues made sure to explain to the parents that the school is very fortunate to have my sis as a teacher, even though she might not speak German that well. I'm so very proud of her and I see how although stressful it is, the classes are so big, but she talks about her kids non-stop and it's very cute.

[ksenss]

Biggest reason to choose public school in Germany: The peergroup. It's the neighbourhood school, they can see their friends and classmates easily, as they live just a few doors or streets away. German kids are often very mobile from the start of school, meeting their friends in the afternoon at the nearest playground or later the skatepark, a friends house, a public pool or lake without parents being involved. Private school would have been further away, kids from all over the city in one classroom - and the benefits are really not that great in germany unless you want to address a specific problem- which my kids simply did not have.
Oh, also, there is little "prestige" attached to schools. So no one will ever ask at which school (or university) you attained your degree. My husband was quite astonished when - working with US collegues - he was asked which univerity he had attended. Especially as he was definitely not fresh from uni but had worked in the field for 20 + years. Not a question asked in germany, usually.

[marge]

To throw in one example in advance:
We‘ve always been satisfied with what German public schools had to offer - living in the countryside, the situation is ok most of the times.
Now, however, one of my kids has a chronic illness, requiring adaptation and support normal public schools cannot offer. At the same time, he‘s too good a student (straight A before getting ill) to be covered by the public „Förderschulsystem“ for the disabled.
He was eventually put into a private school specialised on cases like his by the responsible authorities, and they cover the fees.
Which means: Here private schools also close a gap there is in the public system. Which I am very grateful for.
All the other kids in our family still attend public schools and so far, I see no reason to change that.

[taiwanisacountry]

Here in denmark all levels of education is free. That is the reason why I could get an university degree at all, since I come from a poor background. Actually I was only able to get my degree because here in Denmark students get money for studying on full time. Without that money and it being free, I would not have my current degree or be writing my master's thesis.

[juliaclaire]

I never hesitated to send my children to public schools in Germany. They attended the local primary school and after that the 'integrierte Gesamtschule' a five minutes walk away. They got their Abitur at a 'berufliches Gymnasium' a thirty minutes train ride away.
The nearest private school wouldn't have been accessible by public transport, so a ride by car every day would have been the choice. That had been impossible to accomplish. So a private school was ruled out only by looking at transportation.
The quality of the education they received got them to university. My son just finished his masters degree and has been accepted into PhD program.
I think the German school system could get a reform but I don't miss private schools.

[camiro]

We had the "struggle" you described too. After long discussions we decided to send our kids to a regular public kindergarden and school. The main reasons was that in our opinion education is more than acedemic knowledge. They should grow up in a social mixed environment, make friends with kids who have to share a room with their siblings, whos parents cant afford a fancy holiday each year and so on.
In the end it turnes out well for them. They are open minded, imune to any kind of "isms" and where also able to unfold their full potential in terms of academic degrees.

[LucaSitan]

I've worked in private schools in the UK and Germany for well over a decade (back in state School now), so I'd like to offer an insiders perceptive: in the Uk - just like in the US - private schools are for the wealthy and what they pay for is not necessarily a much better education but networking that starts at a young age and guarantees their offspring plenty of privileges later down the road. In Germany, most kids attending private schools have (severe) behavioral problems and are quite often funded by state programs. So rather than taking the kid out of their family complete and going into the foster system (and there aren't enough foster families by far) they are sent to private school.

[margywalter]

We're an American family living for decades in Germany, and when our kids were young (we're now grandparents) we opted for the local Waldorf School mainly because of its glorious location, but also because German friends with school-age kids did complain some about the pressure on kids and parents to decide their school trajectory by the end of 4th grade. All 3 of our kids ended up doing their Abitur, and a good one, and the eldest even got a scholarship for last 2 years of Gymnasium at prestigious Schloss Salem (what a contrast, from countryside Waldorf School to that high-class environment, but after an awkward start she thrived). Our two sons did the Waldorf route from K to 13, and although had their criticism of the curriculum and some of the teachers, basically didn't regret it, and especially appreciated excellent music and theater and arts. Are youngest was considered a "slow developer" and didn't learn to read until 3rd grade, but turbocharged when he was around 12 and ended up with a 1.3 Abi and a successful career as cellist and artistic director of a major music festival. We're super grateful for the time and trust he was offered during those first 3 grades. - Just one experience, but a good one.

[JohnMckeown-dlcl]

As someone who went to school in the United States and experienced both types, public and private, I found that there was a considerable difference between the two. I will admit it was many years ago, but I think it still applies. I went to K thru 8 in public schools and I think I received a good education for the most part. Like any student some of my teachers were better than others and that made at least one year less productive. When it came time for me to go on to high school my parents chose to enroll me in a private school even though this would place an increased financial burden on them. It was a secular school, although it had had some connection with the Presbyterian Church at it's founding. It was a transition that at first was difficult on both a personal and academic level. Making my way through the first months was challenging because I did not have any previous contact with the other students. Many students were not only from different states, but some were from different countries, that proved to be a benefit in broadening my view of the world around me. The academic standards were much higher at the private school, with what I would come to understand later, that the teacher had to meet a higher standard than their peers in public school. Two examples that I remember are that my Far Eastern History teacher had gone to university in Hong Kong and had what might be called a better grasp of the subject. The other is the fact that my biology teacher was one of the authors of our text book and spent his summers working with National Geographic. I feel that I received a better education at that school than my peers in public high school. Over those four years I found my self being steadily ahead, in both terms of quality and quantity of knowledge, of my friends going to the local high school. In the end I find that, yes, I missed the "high school experience" in the US, but the education that I received far outweighs that omission.
On another part of the subject, my opinion of public education in the US is mixed. On one hand the schools for the most part try very hard to provide the best quality education that they can. On the other side is the challenges that they all face in regard to being able to do what is best with the inadequate resources that they are given and the constraints they have to live with. Most teachers in the US are underpaid and under supported. Unfortunately, the teachers, and to a certain extent the administration, have to deal with inadequate facilities, outdated or dilapidated books, understaffing and having to pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets. The constant pressures and interference that the schools have to deal with from politicians and special interest groups might be the subject for a whole video by itself. I have friends who are teachers and they feel fairly undervalued. A couple are considering leaving and this would be a great loss to both the school and the students. I do not have all the answers, it is above my skill level, but unless it is all figured out soon we risk the loss of our most valuable resource, our children and the future.

[heaththeemissary]

Two of my children are teachers: one in an international school in Europe, the other in an inner city school in the US. In America I have observed three main classifications for people sending their children to private school:

1. People in school districts with low tax bases. Stereotypical inner city schools where parents are convinced by slick marketing that charter schools are ticket into the middle class. This is, of course, nonsense. Charter schools are nothing more than a mechanism to get the public to fund private schools. They expel students that don't make them look good, manipulate standards, and prioritize profit over education. They are a scam.

2. Exclusive schools that promise you kids will meet he "right" people and make the "right" connections. These schools often also claim superior academic facilities and college entrance odds, but in reality they are just places with wealthy parents that can afford to pay the tuition of the most "exclusive" colleges. Many of them are legacies of this colleges so their kids have a backdoor in anyway. Yours may not. These schools are often jockatoriums that promise full-ride scholarships to kids who can throw a ball or who have been pumped with human growth hormone by their hyper-competitive parents.

3. Lastly are the social focused schools. These can be both religious based or just plainly political. Parents who don't want their kids brainwashed by (what these parents typically see as) a bunch of liberal groomers in public school can send their kids to these institutions to be brainwashed with the parents' ... we'll call them "values" but that's inaccurately generous.

The first group sees the fundamentally unfair world and is desperate to do anything to give their kids a slim chance at a better life. The second group sees a fundamentally unfair world and really wants to keep it that way. The third group sees a fundamentally unfair world and is so convinced that it is the fault of some "other" that they will do intellectual backflips to reinforce their prejudices and anger.

Despite our rhetoric, Americans have an irrational fear of equality. Our nation is so drastically unequal and has been for so long, that the fact has been baked into the culture and our collective expectations. "Equality" is instantly translated to "Poverty" because "we all know" that unless you're on top, you'll soon be pushed under. It is this fear that lets the wealthy manipulate us.

[k.schmidt]

I helped to found and then taught for 23 of my 44 teaching years in a good International School (private, but in Germany, so state certified). I sent my children to German public schools from Grade 1 to Abitur (and then put them through German universities), although I could have sent them to my own school tuition-free. That had partly to do with the age of my children at the time of the founding of the school. But it also was because I wanted them to feel rooted in the community where we lived. In addition, the teaching of German culture and history as it is taught here in the public schools is unique and irreplaceable, and I wanted them to enjoy that - which they did. Now they are "high functioning" adults (one gynecologist and one HS teacher/administrator) with children of their own who also attend German public schools - although one of their mothers also teaches at the school I helped to found! The German Abitur is still a thing of high educational quality, and in spite of all the problems of lack of teachers etc., the school system that leads up to it has a high cultural value and is worth supporting. I may have been unsatisfied at times with the day-to-day, but I never regretted the decision to send my children to German public schools.

[twinmama]

Hi Ashton,
I'm generally spoken happy with the public school system in Germany. There is room for improvement but my experiences as a student and as a parent have been good.
Yet, we decided to enroll one of my sons in a private school from grade 5 on, because he had special needs (now we know that he's got Asperger's but he wasn't diagnosed by then because docs and psychologists hadn't got the memo yet), and I was, besides working a full-time job, occupied with caring for my disabled husband and didn't have the time and energy to care adequately for my son. And my in-laws, who took care of my other son, were overwhelmed with my special needs son. We wanted a school with homework supervision because his doing homework could take hours, hours I didn't have in a day.
The experience we had wasn't what was promised to us. Yes, there was no homework for him to do. We were very upfront with the school, about what our son needed, and what challenges could arise for staff and students because of his socially awkward and sometimes unpredictable behavior. The school promised to tend to his problems and help him overcome them. What we got was bullying - not from the students but from his class teacher who just didn't want to waste time on a "difficult" child.
Then we got the diagnosis and found a public school for him. With the help of an "Integrationshelfer" (assistant to our son during class as accommodation for his handicap - fully paid by the county) he successfully attended public school and finished Realschule. After finishing school he attended several courses (social interaction and work-related topics) that made him fit for an apprenticeship. Due to covid-related delays in starting the "Ausbildung", he's just had his "Zwischenprüfung" (official exam at the halfway point of his apprenticeship). From 2025 he will be a taxpayer and contribute to the system. Without all the accommodations (paid by the system) he would be a burden to the social system until his death because he would have been unemployable.
The pricing shown at 10:50 seems to be correct. We paid 250 € in 2011/2012. Also, there were different tuition fees for different income ranges and even full stipends).

[Goldzwiebel]

I don't know what it's like in the USA, but here in Germany it's not always the parents' choice. Neglected children can be recommended to private schools by the youth welfare office or a psychiatric clinic so that their lives can be improved there. For example, in private schools you get more meals, there are social workers and boarding schools also fall under private schools. It is easier and quicker to place children in boarding schools than to place them with foster parents or even to have their parents take away their custody. It can also happen that young people who have problems with the law are placed in private schools in the hope that they will find new friends there from better social classes.

[wora]

Both of our kids went to the local Grundschule (elementary) in our village, one continued in the nearest Gymnasium (G9), keeping her circle of friends, the other one took the longer ride to a private full day Gymnasium (G8) in the next bigger town, which had smaller classes (23 instead of 37), but she had to ride the train each day to get there (45 minutes one way). We chose the school for the second one while she was having minor problems in elementary school. That did influence our decIsion. That was 20 years ago. Both kids liked their teachers and their classmates. Looking back the different class size is the only important difference I keep remembering. Through the grades the class size shrank though, both finished their Abitur with about 20 classmates. And both learned the same stuff.

[johnnyb]

I was born with spina bifida and entered the US public school system in the 1960s. My wife is also disabled since birth and attended both Catholic and public schools growing up. When we enrolled our son in a Catholic school for pre-K through 8th grade, I was conflicted knowing that this school could never, and would never, accept children with difficult disabilities. I am a home owner and have always supported all mill level increases for public schools, and I always will. Our son is now a public high school history teacher!

[jennyhammond]

I've taught both in a private school and public schools in the US. Of course private schools score better. They can literally decide which students they accept into their facilities. By the parents making the decision to send them to private school, it most likely means they are instilling the value of education in their children at home. If a kid is disruptive in a public school, they come back from the office in 10 minutes with a juice box. In a private school, they can kick them out.

[kathyschmidt]

As someone who went through 13 years of public school in Germany I never thought I'd one day send my own child to a private school but I did exactly that after elementary school. Not because I think private schools are better than public schools but because the school he now goes to gives him the best environment for learning and achieving better results. My son was diagnosed with ADD in second grade and with his problems we very much knew that he wouldn't be able to go to a G8 Gymnasium with 30 and more kids in a classroom. He wouldn't be able to concentrate properly and so miss much of lesson itself by daydreaming. As we live in Baden-Württemberg, looking for a G9 Gymnasium wasn't easy even though we live in a large city. We finally found this private Kolping School just starting out and he liked it there immediately. Smaller classes (atm 23 kids), a very student oriented learning environment and optional Ganztag. Not everything is perfect, especially since it's a new school, but so far (he's now in year 8) we're really satisfied. Will we be sending our daughter (year 3) there as well? Maybe. We'll see. She doesn't have the same problems as her brother but I'm still not a fan of G8 but if she really wants to go to a G8 Gymnasium I won't stop her. Time will tell, there's still 1 1/2 school years to go. My son's school offers a discount for a second child and is affordable even of not.

[conniebruckner]

We wanted to send our daughter to a bilingual school, or one where English was on par with German, but at the time those were way out of budget. and so daughter first went to a private catholic kindergarten that was just down the road from us. We chose it because we knew the children would be spending a lot of time outdoors enjoying the vast gardens and playground. We didn't think much but to enroll her in the elementary school of the same institution, mostly because it was a safe walk, she knew many of the children from her kindergarten already and so it would be a smooth transition. The cost wasn't so high. My family used to say: "give your children the best education you can afford."
In retrospect we should have signed her up for the local elementary school because the teachers there were more open-minded IMO, and the pupils came from various backgrounds there.
She then attended a state-sponsored special musik gymnasium that had scheduled school hours so that the attending pupils could have most of the afternoons free for their music lessons. It was quite international, which really pleased us. At that time it also meant school on Saturday, which was a pain, but she didn't mind. Am glad she flourished there, and she could develop her musical talents.

[TilmanBaumann]

I went to a Waldorfschule in Freiburg, online for the first four years before we moved.
Unless you fully subscribe to Anthroposophy, don't send your kids there. The ideology is strong. It's a religion.