But isn't that the entire reason? Parents are justifiably scared of sending their kid to a public school because of the chance they will hang out with some dropkick who will get them addicted to drugs etc.
Yes, that's a major fear. We educate our boy about the dangers and evils all the time, and we keep a close eye on who he hangs out with. We encourage him to bring his friends home to our place a lot so we can check them out.
We have already "red flagged" a couple of kids.
I think it depends on the area a whole lot with Public Schools..
There are decent suburbs ad terrible suburbs and all have Public schools.
Where we lived in L.A, the Primary School my son went to was a "Magnet School". We didn't know it though until later...there was an enormous representation of Asians there, and we found out that they were moving into the area specifically to have their kids go to that school due to the education level, it's past results - but moreso the ability to use it as a "springboard" to the next better school.
So, while it was a Public school; it was populated with mostly "higher-end humans"....not necessarily rich either; although the area was definitely middle class and not below.
Many suburbs have decent folk who are yer normal Blue collar and Mr.Average, and have enough sense and upbringing to be engaged and a good role model for their kids - to help them stay on the right path.
I lived most of my teenage years in a Riverina country town, and this was mostly the case in that town...had it's share of losers too, though.
But, when you get into some of the places where the representation of skanky bogan/welfare mentality loser-dom is high; such as Rosebud and even my little sleepy hollow; then it is much more of an issue, and public school is to avoided if possible..