All parents are deeply invested in the education of their children, since a good education is the key to any child’s future success. This means that when a child is ready for preschool or kindergarten, his or her parents will look up the best schools in the area, and send their children there. The best day schools may be found both through personal references and online searches, and parents may do this if they move to a new city or county and don’t know the area very well. And while preschool is not mandatory in the United States, many parents, more than ever, are sending their three to five year old sons and daughters to preprimary schools to give them a head start on their education. Meanwhile, an older child must complete his or her K-12 education, and the best schools for that may be the best prep schools around or even the best private schools the parents can find.
Finding a Preschool
Children aged three to five may be sent to preschool, and parents are sending their children to preschool more than ever. The rates have been growing since 1990, and parents of all racial and ethnic backgrounds in the United States do this at similar rates, showing just how popular and beneficial this is. When a child turns three or four years old or the family moves to a new area, the parents may look up “best preschools near me” or something to that effect online. The parents may also enter their ZIP code to keep the results local, or specify that they are looking for private preschools. A search will bring up a whole list of results, and the parents can strike out school that aren’t accepting any new students. Meanwhile, the family can visit the rest in person.
Parents will bring their child along to a potential preschool, and evaluate it. The parents will consult the teachers and staff there to see their credentials and review their teaching methods and curriculum, and determine the school’s level of funding. The child, meanwhile, gets a chance to form a fair impression of the school and the staff there. If the child feels comfortable and gets along with the staff, that preschool may be a strong candidate in the search. The family may visit any number of preschools until the parents decide on one, and enroll their young son or daughter there. Going to preschool helps prepare a child for his or her mandatory education, and that child will learn social skills with their peers and learn to follow directions from adults aside from their parents.
Finding a Public or Private School
Meanwhile, a K-12 education is certainly a must, and parents can look up the best schools in their area if they move somewhere new, or if their child is ready for kindergarten. In this case, finding the best schools means specifying the type of school the child needs: elementary, middle, or high school (some regions might have junior high schools, too). Here again, the family may find good schools and visit them in person, and the parents will consult the staff and the child will form an opinion on each school. Unlike with a preschool search, the prospective student can voice his or her opinions on the schools and clarify what they want in a good school. The child may want a school with a well-funded football or soccer team, for example, or find a school with a good art program or theater arts department.
Parents may note that such schools may be either public or private. Public ones are federally owned, funded, and run, while private schools are privately funded and run, hence the name. Private schools do charge tuition, but in exchange a new student will get a top-tier education at the hands of expert teachers at a generously funded school. What is more, private school teachers report much lower incident rates of student apathy than public school teachers, and private high school graduates have a college attendance rate of 90%, comparing favorably to the 48% rate for public high school grads. Still, a very good public high school can be nearly as good in some cases.
