In Switzerland we have a very different system from the one in the US. We have a federal agreement for the obligatory school (roughly from 4 to 16 - I am talking here about age) and high school (from 15-16 to 18-20) establishing the requirements that must be met in term of teachings, but each states has its own laws...

I made all my studies from 4 to 20 in public schools (obligatory school than high school: 4-6, 6-12, 12-15 / 15-20) in a catholic environment in a bilingual (French - German) state of Switzerland, the Valais (one of the highest ranking state concerning eduction, but without a university!). The reason for the catholic environment is that my state is one of the few states that remain catholic after the reformation; it is not that the schools are catholic, but more that Catholicism is a quite diffuse environment in the whole state (for instance one of the three public high schools in my state is under the direction of Canons); in catholic states, the schools have almost always been of a higher quality than in the protestant states... for instance, in Geneva where I made my University years, the protestant Rome, the schooling scheme is 4-6, 12-15, 15-18 (two years less for high school)... Geneva is the worst state - "schoolingly" speaking - in Switzerland.

The private schools (I am not speaking here of professional schools like the hotel school) in CH are usually designed for two kind of students: for those with difficulties (behaviour or/and learning ), or for those with a lot of money; but their quality is usually less good, or equivalent, but very rarely superior than the public schools. Disciplinary problems are usually issues for both, and drugs and posh behaviour for the latter.

The story is quite different for the Universities and higher grade schools (like Polytechnique); they are state based (not every state has one) and all public (they are no private universities in Switzerland, only private institutes) with no religious orientation, with the notable exception of Theology Faculties (for instance in Geneva there is a protestant faculty and in Fribourg a catholic one).

There are disciplinary issues everywhere nowadays, drugs, violence and the like... stupid teachings theories are hitting hard both private and public schools (imagine that in Geneva some very "learned" people in child psychology said - and it came into application from the 90ies until last year - that grades must be left aside because bad grades are traumatizing young school boys... *hitting head against desk*) as are financial problems; but one in another, public schooling still remains the best option for the "regular" students in CH.