There are so many differences between public and private schools, but not as many as you might think. Other than the price and number of students in the classroom, we learned that there are in fact many similarities between public and private school. Here at Morgan, we have multiple students and teachers who were willing to share their experiences with public and private school.
Most recently, we had a student, Sophomore, Aidan Brotz who spent his freshman year and a portion of sophomore year at Notre Dame private school in West Haven, CT. Aidan lives in Clinton and attended Clinton Public Schools from elementary school up until 8th grade, before attending Notre Dame.
Aidan shared with us that the involvement of the teachers when it came to assignments is different at Morgan than it was at Notre Dame. Aidan said, “Notre Dame was very on top of the work that they assigned, whereas Morgan assigns work, and it’s a more independent task.” Aidan explained that at Notre Dame the teachers were more assistive with the assignments, where work assigned here at Morgan is more of an individual task. Morgan teachers help when needed or when students ask for help. A similarity Aidan presented was the ability to experience and take part in sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. He said there were the same opportunities there as there are here to participate in and have a role in the school community. Aidan transferred back to Clinton Public Schools because his parents didn’t think the money was worth it. He also mentioned how there was someone new taking over Notre Dame, and he didn’t enjoy it anymore. Aidan said the environment was different when having only one gender in the school, rather than both boys and girls.
Integrated Media Arts Instructor, Jessica Mularski attended private school as a child. Her parents didn’t allow her to go to public schools in high school, so she chose Mercy, located in Middletown. She said she liked the experience because of the diversity of people. There were many people from Middletown, with different life experiences, and when she was in Guilford, everyone was the same growing up and everyone already knew each other, so it was nice to experience different people. Mrs. Mularski’s daughters, ages 9 and 11, also attend private school at Saint John’s Catholic school in Old Saybrook. She decided to put her daughters in private school for the education purposes but also for the religious aspect of it. She wants her children to be surrounded by that because that is what she and her family believe in. She said where her daughters go the classes are a lot smaller, maybe 10 people per class. They get one on one attention. And believes that sending her children to private school is worth the money for the education and benefits they receive. Overall, she likes the fact that her children are able to easily make new friends because people come from different places.
English teacher Leslie Chausse who taught English at Mercy High School in 2000-2005. She decided to work at Mercy high school when her youngest daughter was very sick. Teaching at Mercy was closer to home, and it worked better for her circumstances. Mrs. Chausse believes that the environment and teaching is very similar. Here at Morgan there is more freedom, and she can choose texts that were best for students, and Mercy had the same freedom. She prefers teaching boys and girls, and as far as discipline, there wasn’t much of a difference between genders. Mercy, being a private school, students bought their own books, the school year was shorter, and an all-girls school. She believes that Morgan is more flexible, she loves the students, and prefers it over private school.
Students and parents can choose a private or public education for their children. Both offer similar opportunities in academics and extracurriculars.
Updated: January 12, 2024, January 24, 2024
