"BCITORGB" wrote:
Scott says:
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This is where private schools can again excel by hiring and properly
compensating
the best and brightest teachers we have.
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Interesting. This may be the case in the USA. In the private schools
around my community, these teachers earn less and their compensation
packages are inferior to their colleagues in the public sector.

I'll stay out of this argument in general. (Though as a parent of an infant who will become a "special needs" student--and another
child who may well be gifted--I do find it very interesting.)

"Compensation" isn't necessarily financial. BCITORGB is right in that private schools (in Canada, anyway) pay their teachers less
then public ones. I know, since I went to one of Canada's top private schools. But most of the teachers wouldn't think of trading
their jobs for public school salaries. The compensation in this case is not financial, but rather in working conditions. (Note:
I'm referring only to academic-type private schools, although I'm sure there are also private schools for the disabled.) Not only
are there no mentally disabled students, there are also very few students who need that extra level of attention to "keep up".
Class sizes are kept reasonable. Kids from families willing to spend the big bucks on education were probably raised to be
interested in learning, and put that much more effort into their own education. Basically, there really is a good level of
teacher-student interaction. And the teachers benefit from that as much as the students do. And it's not just the quality of the
students--I recall having this discussion with one of my teachers--but also the quality of the parents. Having parents who are
actually interested and involved in their children's education is very rewarding to the teachers (and while it may sound foreign to
many of us, a large proportion of parents of children in public schools couldn't give a damn about the quality of the education, so
long as their kids are out of sight and mind for several hours every day).

-Paul