Private U.S. High Schools
When it comes to education the United States is ranked one of the highest countries in the world. Although elementary and junior high schools are an important part of the growing process for young children high school is where more advanced subjects are taught and grades carefully watched as they will be the primary determining factor in college enrollment. For this reason some families in the US choose to send their children to a private high school where education is thought to be the best albeit at a much higher cost.
While public schools are available to anyone in the community private high schools have an an enrollment program not unlike that of college. Past grades, social engagements and extracurricular activities determine whether a child will be accepted or rejected. Of course financial statements are also a determining factor as most private high schools are quite expensive, nearly as much as attending a college full-time. Some schools will have scholarships for exceptional students who couldn’t afford the tuition otherwise, but the number of students accepted this way will be very limited.
The curriculum of a private high school is not unlike that of the public system yet the quality of teachers in the classrooms will be considered substantially in the private schools. These teachers will be graduates of Ivy League or top-tier colleges, many will have a masters degree and have been working at the school for a long period of time. Certain classes that might be taught regularly in public high school, like shop class or automotive repair, would not be available at a private school; these classes might be substituted for a more advanced type of class such as Mandarin Chinese.
Many private high schools have a religious affiliation, usually they will be Catholic or another Christian denomination. In addition to their regular curriculum religion classes will be taught and students required to attend church twice a day, or more. Since these schools cannot accept federal funding due to their religious nature the tuition will be quite high and scholarships coming from alumni associations would be few and far between.
Finally, those who attend private high schools are usually on a fast track to certain colleges, usually Ivy League schools. These universities consider candidates from private high schools to be well-educated, excel in a sport or other extra-curricular and may often have family connections to that university already. Compared to their public counterparts the acceptance rate of private high school applicants to such universities is much higher. For all of these reasons private high schools are considered the best path to higher education and beyond.