The other day, I overheard someone talking about the benefits of private schools: expert teachers, anglophone curricula (UK, Canada, US, etc.), better students, etc.

This made me wonder how many people walk around believing that private schools are innately superior. Is this something you too believe? Let me throw out a few ideas to get you thinking here.

Your average private school almost certainly maintains better class sizes (say 5-10 or 15-20, depending your school), likely has better maintained facilities, and may even be able to afford more qualified teachers.

Yet, that's often where the improvements end. Don't get me wrong. Those are all great things if you're sending your child to a typical school. Having a better teacher-to-student ratio is important, and having the right resources (books, libraries, laboratories, etc.) can do wonders.

But what about things like curricula? Let's look at the UK curriculum schools that are popular in the Middle East, Asia, and beyond. So many of these schools are locked into the age groupings present in the UK. They're often called Key Stages 1-5. This means that, regardless of ability, students are moved through each grade level from one year to the next. Even if they are lacking in basic skills (language fluency, literacy, maths, etc.), they continue to move up to the next year group, often falling further and further behind.

Likewise, if following the UK curriculum closely, students are getting the same materials, test, and ideologies as most any government school. Even if the school is located on another continent, these same things are given to local students, the same as their UK counterparts. Is that what you want for your child?