Private Schools

According to Hess, "public schools have a commitment to prepare students to be productive members of a social order, aware of society responsibilities, and prove an appropriate placement for each student." If we only look at this definition, and do not take funding, etc. into account, then most schools that have the child's best interest (not their money making) in mind, could be deemed a public school and should be able to provide "public schooling".  But when listening to Mary's presentation, the slide she showed that said that public schools serve society and private schools serve the individual and the family, made me think. I looked at Hess' definition and thought even through serving individuals/family vs society, you are still looking for that same end result. Hess also says that a public school is often associated with legitimacy, nondiscrimination, and shared values. Well guess what, most private schools fall into those guidelines as well. In general, this issue all revolves back to government and money. There is a separation of church and state and federal moneys are limited to those institutions that choose to incorporate the two. So a school can't talk about God and receive aid, but companies can come in and basically "take over" a failing school and make a profit off of it, and that school still receives federal funds? There is something wrong with that system in my eyes. I often want to look at people who push money away from private schools due to religion and ask them how they think education started in the first place. Using a bible, imagine that....