General Question

seVen's avatar

Do public school teachers send their own kids to public schools or non-public usually?

Asked by seVen (3489points) January 24th, 2009 from iPhone
Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

18 Answers

bristolbaby's avatar

I know a lot of teachers with kids in the public school system. I don’t know what the percentages are.

miasmom's avatar

I was both a public school and private school teacher. When my kids are school age I can see sending them to either based on circumstances. There are some great public and private schools, likewise there are some poor public and private schools. There are alot of factors to take into consideration, for me it would depend on what best meetsmy child’s needs.

lunabean's avatar

i would think it depends on the area in which the parent teaches. if the parent teaches at a good public school why not have their child there. easy access for emergencies and everything.

steelmarket's avatar

Most public school teachers can’t afford to send their kids to a private school!

Darwin's avatar

The public school teachers in our area tend to send their kids to the same public school at which they are teaching. The district allows this for teachers even if they live in another school’s zone or even another district. In addition, the average teacher’s salary isn’t high enough for the teachers to afford private school tuition.

However, by having your kid at the school where you work you can stop “misunderstandings” before they start, and other teachers tend to give you more credence than they do “just” parents.

OTOH, the private school teachers I have known do the same – send their kids to the private school at which they are teaching. Our local private schools offer a huge discount on the tuition for children of staff.

seekingwolf's avatar

Most public school teachers I’ve seen send their kids to the same public school. Transportation wise, it makes sense, and it’s also easier to see how their kids are doing since they can always ask their teachers. Sadly, public teacher salaries are WAY too low to send kids to most private schools.

Private school teachers, on the other hand, almost always send their kids to private school. At the private school I went to, students of teachers could get at least 15–20% off of their yearly tuition! It’s a great deal.

scamp's avatar

Most teachers I’ve know have also kept their kids in public schools.

Wouldn’t it seem hypocritical for a teacher to send their child to a different school?

seekingwolf's avatar

@scamp

Well one teacher I know sent her child to a different school because the child was autistic. She knew that the current school didn’t have enough resources to teach her child correctly so she sent him elsewhere in a different district, with some money provided by the school.

Otherwise, yes, it would be a little hypocritical, wouldn’t it? You’d have to wonder why…

Vincentt's avatar

@seekingwolf @scamp – I can imagine it not being too comfortable to be in sight of a parent all day. And the teacher would have to try hard to not make it look like the child’s being treated better.

Anyway, my mom’s a teacher and she sent us to a public school. Then again, she wasn’t a teacher back then. Plus, nobody sends their kids to private school in the Netherlands ;-).

steelmarket's avatar

@scamp & @seekingwolf – Teachers take jobs where they can get them. To expect them to put their kid into the same school, or even the same district, as where they take a job is really asking a lot. As a teacher (I know many), you want your kid in a school close to home, not close to where you work. Else, how can the whole family keep up with school activities, how can the kid make friends with kids who live near them?

miasmom's avatar

@scamp I don’t think it is hypocritical to send your child to a different school. What if your child wants to go to a private Christian school because all their friends from church are there? What if a magnet school meets your child’s interests better than the school their home resides near? I think there are lots of reasons a child might go to a different school. And I can see them going to a school their parent teaches at also, it really depends on the situation.

laureth's avatar

If you’re a teacher in a crappy school, you’d know it’s crappy and send your child elsewhere if you could. I don’t see that as being hypocritical. Not everyone thinks that their workplace is the best of its kind – in fact, knowing too much about it can confirm the opposite in ways that are not obvious to an outsider.

galileogirl's avatar

Three teachers in our family, all their and the non teacher siblings sent their children to public schools. I don’t know about all the 100+ teachers in my school but I’m unaware of any of their children in private school. It feels like urban teachers have fewer children. In my department of 10 teachers there are only 4 children.

A couple of teachers from my school had their children attend our school for convenience sake. In our urban district, more than half of the high school students don’t attend neighborhood schools anyway.

One of the school secretaries was a stay at home mom and went to wurk to pay for private high school and college for her son.

tandra88's avatar

No, not usually. Most send their kids to the same school or a different one in the same school district.

Val123's avatar

It would send the wrong message for a public school teacher to sent their kids to a private school. I’m sure admin would seriously frown on it.

scamp's avatar

@miasmom Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn’t thought of that. I guess it would depend on the circumstances then. I was thinking along the lines of @Val123 in the post above.

MaryW's avatar

I would think most teachers who teach in public schools have their kids there too. It is so convenient in many ways. I do personally know several teachers who teach in public school who have their kids in private school. The wages are better in public schools but the education is better in the private school they chose. The private school gives scholarships and partial scholarships.

ragingloli's avatar

Our school’s religion and math teacher sent their sons to our public school.
That are the one of which I knew they had children.

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