PRIVATE SCHOOLS OFFERE COMPETITIVE CHOICES

The numbers are impressive: More than 2,000 students attend 10 private and parochial schools in Cape Girardeau County. It is believed this gives us one of the higher percentages of private-school student populations in the state.

"I think when you're in private education you have a product, and people have to want your product," said Janice Margrabe, principal at Eagle Ridge Christian School. Exactly.

Private schools, as with any product in a competitive marketplace, are forced to make themselves choice-worthy. If they aren't, they won't attract students, and they close their doors. This is all the more impressive given the fact that parents enrolling their children in private schools must pay twice, first through their property taxes that fund public schools and then through private-school tuition.

Among the most interesting examples of the attractions of private schooling are the teachers in public schools who enroll their own children in private schools. There are more of these than you might think.

Private-school officials say they aren't in all-out competition with any of the five public school districts in Cape Girardeau County or the 13 other school districts in the region from which they draw enrollment. Still, what they can offer especially religious instruction, firm discipline and strong moral training is precisely what many parents find too often lacking in today's public schools.

We hasten to stress that the vast majority of our public school professionals do an outstanding job, and not all private schooling is exemplary. But we take it as a healthy sign when parents work hard to choose a good education for their children, whether it is public or private.