If you want to send your child to a private school, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one. There are nearly 31,000 private schools in the U.S. that serve more than 5 million kids in grades K-12. In fact, about a quarter of all schools in the U.S. are private schools, and they enroll about 10% of the school-age population. If you can afford the tuition, there are many benefits of private school education.
One of the biggest benefits of private school education is smaller class sizes. Since private schools are selective about what students they take and also charge tuition, they typically are smaller than public schools. A large majority of private schools — 86% — have fewer than 300 students, and the average private high school is about half the size of the average public high school. That means smaller class sizes, which usually means that your child gets more individualized attention from teachers.
Another advantage to those small class sizes is that your child may have more opportunities to be involved in extra-curricular activities such as music, speech and debate, and athletics. At large public schools, your child could be competing against twice as many students for spots in these activities, which can make things difficult.
One further advantage to going to a private school is student satisfaction and safety. Studies show that kids who attend private school are happier and tend to feel safer than those at public schools. Parents are satisfied as well, with consistently more than 80% saying so in surveys.
Though the benefits of private school education are numerous, there are some drawbacks as well. Because they are small, private schools don’t always have the widest selection of classes and services. If your child wants to study a foreign language such as Russian or Chinese, it may not be offered. Also, if your child has a severe mental or physical disability, some private schools may not be well equipped to handle it. Another drawback to private school is the tuition, which can be very high at some schools. However, at religious schools, especially those that operate as de facto community schools, tuition usually is quite reasonable, and there usually are discounts for each additional child you send there.
Private school can be the right choice for your family, but you have to weight the cost and the potential drawbacks against the many benefits before making your decision.