There are a variety of reasons why you may choose private education over public education for your child. One of the big reasons you may consider it is because you believe that private education will provide long-term benefits to your child. The type and value of those benefits can help you decide if private education for your child is worth the cost. Three long-term benefits that your child will receive from a private education include knowledge that is both broad and deep, a sense of personal responsibility for his or her education, and valuable interpersonal skills.

Gain knowledge that is both broad and deep

On the most basic level, children go to school to learn. Whether they go to private school or public school, most children learn something while they are in the classroom. The debate between private and public school is not if your child will learn but rather what, how, and at what level he or she will learn. A private school can provide your child with a level of knowledge that is difficult to deliver in the over-crowded public classroom. Children in private school enjoy a smaller student to teacher ratio which allows for more individualized attention and instruction. Also, fewer students in the classroom mean additional time to explore topics more broadly and dig into them more deeply. The added learning opportunities that your child gets in the private school classroom will continue to benefit your child long after he or she completes elementary education.

Develop a sense of personal responsibility for his or her education

The design of the private school classroom allows the students to take some ownership in their education. For example, in Montessori classrooms, students have a say in what and how they learn. This independence helps students understand that their education is not only up to the adults in their lives – it is up to them as well. The design of private school will allow your child to develop a sense of personal responsibility for his or her education. This sense of responsibility can benefit your child long-term as he or she pursues higher education in the future.

Learn valuable interpersonal skills

The small classroom size in private school can also benefit your child on an interpersonal level. In a large public classroom, it is often easy to get lost in the crowd and miss out on important opportunities to interact with others. The small student to teacher ratio in the private classroom ensures that your child will interact daily with the teacher and the other students. The teacher can observe the interactions of all the students closely and provide individual instruction on developing or improving interpersonal skills. Well-developed interpersonal skills will benefit your child throughout his or her education and into adulthood.

The long-term benefits of private education can impact your child throughout life. The potential that these benefits represent makes it worth your time to thoroughly explore the option of private education. Fountainhead Montessori has a parent library full of resources that you can access to learn more about private school and Montessori education.