For those of you who have attended both public and prep school, can you tell a difference in the average teaching quality? Have any of your prep school teachers really stood out to you and changed your life in some way? Do they really double as your parents in certain ways? Any anecdotes would be appreciated!
ETA: Any prep school teachers YOURSELVES–what do you like/dislike about teaching at prep school?
I know you posted this a week ago, but my answer is absolutely, 100% yes!
While there’s no denying that there’s plenty of wonderful public school teachers out there, the difference is that with prep schools (or at least mine), every teacher is fantastic, while with public schools these sorts of teachers seem to be the exception to the rule.
I’m a rising senior at a well-known New England day school, and I have yet to have a teacher – in any subject – who I haven’t liked. Every teacher is incredibly passionate about their work and is a seemingly endless fountain of information. I suspect this is because about 80% of our teachers have graduate degrees in the subjects that they teach, as opposed to general education degrees or just bachelors. Even if it’s a subject I have no interest in, like Algebra (I’m more of a Geometry/Calc gal myself), the teachers’ genuine passion and knowledge is enough to keep me engaged and wanting to do well.
Practically everyone I know has at least one teacher who they have a close relationship with, and I’m quite lucky to say I probably have about four (two of which are writing my college recs). I feel like I could go to any of them for anything (and I have!) For example, I once went to my Bio teacher during a free period to talk about a class project, and an hour later somehow we were watching John Oliver videos on Youtube and discussing the contents. Another time I went to my drama teacher and spent a half hour discussing our Tony Award predictions. And on a more serious note, I had a fairly moderate health issue towards the end of my first semester junior year, and these teachers all went out of their way to make sure I was doing alright and offering extensions/help if I needed it, without me even needing to ask.
My public school experience was nothing like this. Granted, I went to an awful public school, but I cannot think of a single teacher who can hold a candle to any of my high school ones. None of them had interest in forging relationships with students, nor did any of them seem truly passionate about their work. However, I think this was the students’ fault as much as theirs. In public schools, the number of active and enthusiastic students is miniscule. I remember an English class in 7th grade where I was quite literally the only student who answered questions. The love of learning wasn’t there for many students, and in turn the love of teaching was missing in the teachers (but that’s a chicken or the egg situation if I’ve ever seen one).