Three questions:

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

Three questions:

Three questions:

1) when people mention a "private school" what comes to mind?

2) what's public school like?

3) what's homeschooling like? 

submitted by a person
(March 15, 2019 - 5:30 pm)

PUBLIC SCHOOL IS TUR DS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL CAUSE EVERYBODY HATES EACH OTHER EXCEPT FOR FRIENDS

And private school is us but liek nic et right 

submitted by Ella Starburst
(March 16, 2019 - 4:36 pm)

"And private school is us but liek nic et right"

I am so confused 

submitted by a person
(March 16, 2019 - 8:45 pm)

and public school is liek us but nice rite

submitted by Ella Starburst
(March 17, 2019 - 7:50 am)
submitted by Toppers Inc.
(March 16, 2019 - 7:40 pm)

1) For me, schools with a lot of rich people, very fancy and well-funded, where the curriculum can kind of be whatever the school wants. Which I guess is biased but I think it is the way a lot of private schools are because you have to pay, often a lot, to go there. 

2) So, I went (and go now) to some public magnet schools, which are a little different because they're more academically advanced a lot of the time, but for me public school was good. I think I got to know more of my borough's communities, and I like the fact that I went to a cool free school because it makes me feel more like I've had the same opportunities as others, even though I'm still pretty privileged to be at a magnet school and have enough money.

3) I don't know, but I'd imagine it really depends on who teaches you and it's different for everyone.

submitted by Applejaguar, Wisteria
(March 16, 2019 - 9:19 pm)

hmm. Interesting.

submitted by a person
(March 16, 2019 - 10:16 pm)

1) Challenger is my school radio ads. I'm going there next year.

2) Bad stuf.

3) Not social. 

submitted by CookieTwinkles, age Immortal, Dimension of Utopia
(March 16, 2019 - 10:51 pm)

1) Lots of students with matching, uncomfortable-looking uniforms comes to my mind. XD

2) I wouldn't know, as I've never been public schooled.

3) Homeschooling is very fun, in my opinion. Of course, it depends on what curriculum you're using and what your teacher is like, as someone mentioned before. As an introvert, I enjoyed it a lot. Not because it was "anti-social" or whatever, but because being surrounded by people for many hours in a day wears me out, and at home I was only around my parents and siblings. Where I live, there are many homeschooling groups made up of moms and their kids who get together every week or so to hang out. One of my favorite aspects of homeschooling was the free time I had. After you finished your lessons and projects for the day, you were free to do whatever you wanted. Idk, I'm bad at explaining it, even though I was homeschooled my whole life. XD If you have any other questions regarding homeschooling, I'd be happy to answer them. 

submitted by Selah S.
(March 17, 2019 - 7:45 am)

1) I... don't really know?

2) NEVER! *shivers*

3) It depends on who your parents/guardians/teachers are. Some are very structured, some just go with the flow of your interests. I'll tell you one  thing though; homeschoolers are plenty social, and we have lots of friends. *

3) I don't know, but I'd imagine it really depends on who teaches you and it's different for everyone.

 

*Can you tell I'm homeschooled?

submitted by Catsclaw
(March 17, 2019 - 9:00 am)

Just one thing about homeschoolers:

We have lives too and we are social of our own accord, contrary to how some of the rest of the world sees us. Just because we're not doing your curriculum doesn't mean we're not smart, and we may even be smarter. I'm sick and tired of the sterotype of homeschoolers being stupid loners who sleep all day (well actually that part's up for debate) and never have any breaks 'cause we're so lazy we put it off until it builds up to insanity. I hate that becuase it's not true. We have a sense of responsibility and, since we don't have ten hours of schoolwork to do every day, we do have social lives. Just because we do school at home doesn't mean we're inside all the time (that too is debatable, but only because the outside world is... horrendous nowadays). I have a public schooled friend and she thinks public school is better because she gets to see her other public schooled friends, the number of which she thinks is more than what I have. This is very false. I get to see my friends too, and I have little groups of friends in every social thing I do, and that's all I need. I don't want a ton of friends.

Some of the best perks of homeschooling is that we don't have to be anywhere while we do our work. I do my school on the couch or in my bed very often. Plus, I get to do it with my pets, who are two amazing and snuggly perfect messes of dogs. I can eat while I do my work. I can listen to music or a talk show or comedy. I can do all these things that other people are missing out on, and their going to condescend me for that? I don't think so.

I should probably be posting this on Rogue's Ranting Station...

CAPTCHA says nyny. New York New York? 

submitted by Anonymous
(March 17, 2019 - 10:23 am)

All these answers are from a LA-centric perspective considering, you know, that's where I live. 

1) I think there are two contrasting stereotypes for private schools: The stuffy, uptight, Catholic-school-uniforn kind, and the hippy, artsy, liberal, no-one-learns-anything kind. I go to a school that is often labeled as the latter. I could talk about it in case anyone's interested, but that wasn't really the question so!

2) Generally, public schools have larger classes, less electives, and a more regulated curriculum as compared to private school. But I CANNOT stress enough that it depends on your location/district. A public school in Santa Monica will be totally different from a public school in Compton. Public schools in wealthier districts often have really good music/theater programs, nicer campuses, and high college acceptance rates, while schools in poorer areas lack the funding necessary to achieve these things. It's all about the money, honey— and because of charter schools, donations, uneven divisions of funds, and the dramatic funding variations caused by the cyclical nature of income taxes, many public schools simply don't have enough resources.

The US touts equal and free education as a pillar of our country's success, when in fact it is an idealized dream. There is no single "public school" experience. There are some excellent public schools, and there are some that are far less excellent— Through no fault of the students or teachers themselves. It's an unquantifiable tragedy. Especially when you bring in the racial wealth disparities and segregation of LA neighborhoods— Okay, I'll stop. I just have a lot of feelings about the education system. I'm restraining myself from whipping out the multiple essays I've written on the subject.

3) There's a lot I could say about this, but I think I'm already veering a little too close to political, so I will refrain from discussing vaccination and I'll just say: I'm sure it's different for everyone. As a raging extrovert, I think I would be very unhappy if I was homeschooled, but different things work for different people. There's no universal experience.

 

Abigail, thank you for explaining how public schools vary so greatly. Private and home schools vary, too. This is a good discussion.

Admin

submitted by Abigail, age Old enough, Inside my head
(March 17, 2019 - 2:06 pm)

Thank you for bringing up the variation in public schools and how that relates to racial and class segregation!

submitted by Applejaguar, Wisteria
(March 17, 2019 - 6:10 pm)

1) Most people, when they think of private school, think of a bunch of stuck up rich kids in uniforms, but after having gone to a private school for 7th and 8th grade, and a different one for 9th and 10th and the rest of high school, I have a much different perspective on it. Most people there (in high school) switched to private school only after being in public school for middle and elementary school, or they’re boarding students (mainly from China) and many of them are coming from countries with completely different educational systems, which I can’t really pretend to know much about. My middle school was a pretty small independent school that had pre-k through eighth grade, and there were only 26 kids in my class - which was the biggest grade in the school. I loved it there. I made an incredible group of friends and loved all my teachers and classes. It was a really great community, but the people who had been there since pre-k were tired of being around the same people all the time and couldn’t wait to go to a high school with all new people. At my high school there are 90-something kid in my grade, still small. I think the biggest difference is that your classes are small and you get to know your teacher really well and you can get a lot of individual help if you want. They push you a lot harder, and the workload is a lot more intense. You have a lot more freedom with your classes, and at my school you usually have 2 or 3 free periods where you don’t have a class and can do what you want. You’re really supposed to do homework, but if you don’t have any (or if you’re lazy:) ) people like to play ping pong or watch Netflix on their computer.

2) I went to public school for 5th and 6th grade and really liked it. That was were I first met Kestrel. My grade still was pretty small with 70-something kids, as there are 4 public elementary schools in my town, but each class had around 20 people, as opposed to my high school where the average class size is 12. I can’t attest to public middle school or high school, but I had a great time. It was a lot easier to get good grades though. 5th grade was actually a lot harder and I had to figure out what it was like to actually have homework, but 6th grade I didn’t really have to try so hard. Abigail made a great point about the variation across school districts - it changes so much based of where you live that people’s public school experiences can be extremely different, as with every school.

3) I have never been homeschooled so I don’t know. I don’t think I’d like it very much. Spending a full day at home on the weekends is kind of suffocating, and I like the variation and being able to separate my school life from home. It’s fun to have a group that you eat lunch with and have classes with.

submitted by The Riddler
(March 18, 2019 - 1:31 pm)

1) I think of a really big school with state of the art equipment and grounds.  And like a school for brainiacs or super rich kids. Of course I have no clue what it's actually like.

2) Public school is all right,  just with a larger mix of students and less high tech equipment. I don't think that everyone there is super mean but as there is, in any school there's a few less than pleasant people. Even private schools. Public school also have a larger range of learning abilities because of the students who come from different lifestyles and places. 

3)*shrugs* I'm not sure because I go to public school. I'm not gonna to guess because I'll probably get it horribly wrong :D. I'm sure other people have far better answers.  

submitted by Leo
(March 18, 2019 - 4:18 pm)

OK . . . why don't we revise these questions a bit.

1b) if people mention a "Christian private school" what comes to mind?

1c) if people mention a "classical Christian private school" what comes to mind? 

submitted by a person
(March 19, 2019 - 9:01 am)