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Oct 2022

So I've had an idea for a comic. Basically, a bunch of private schools suddenly get shut down, so in a matter of days, a local public school is flooded with new unique students. I'll probably start posting episodes next month.

I'm wondering, did you go to a private school of some sort or a public school? Did you enjoy your time there? Would you have gone to a different kind of school had you been given the chance?

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So, I went to private school for one (1) year in kindergarten, but I didn't do really well with strict rules/structure as a kid, so I got transferred to public school for 1st grade, and then a different public elementary school, public middle school and public high school.

For the private school:
pros: 1) You were allowed to learn math (and just math for some reason?) at whatever pace you were ready for, so I got to learn 3rd grade math in kindergarten and was on my way to skip 4th and go to 5th grade math the next year if I had stayed. 2) tons of cool events, more than at my public schools 3) It was k-8, so I got to meet some middle schoolers. 4) they were starting a program where you learned French once a week, but then the French teacher got fired for some reason, so we switched to Spanish for a couple weeks, and then they gave up on the language thing altogether, but it was cool while it lasted!
cons: uniforms, rigid structures and rules, strict teachers and admins (a few were nice though), at this school specifically only plastic lunch boxes were allowed because squirrels know how to break into the others XD

public school: I actually liked it more because it wasn't as strict and I could wear whatever I wanted.
I had some great teachers and made a lot of friends. It wasn't really a big transition for me. My first public elementary school let me learn reading (not math) at my own pace, but this time I think it's because my teacher and I didn't get along and he wanted a break from me :sweat_smile:

Actually, a lot of people I went to private kindergarten with (and who stayed at least through 6th grade) went to my public high school and fit in just fine. My high school had a bad reputation among the other public high schools, but I think it was unwarranted. I guess there were bigger class sizes. Teachers were always complaining about having too many students, so I think having a sudden influx of private school kids would exacerbate that.

I met a few folks in college who had gone to private boarding high schools, and my main impression was that they seemed more worldly and independent, maybe because they had already lived away from home for a few years. I have a friend who works at an elite private high school now, and she says the kids are great, but the parents are kind of scary and intense.

Overall, I don't think the type of school mattered as much as the teachers and other students. It's not always the case, but I feel like usually wealthier kids go to private schools, so that could impact your social groups/networks, but there were kids from wealthy families at my public high school too.

Anyway, that's just my experience. I hope it's helpful!

I like your idea for the comic

I went to a public school and I didn´t want to go to school a single day but it would have probably been
the same on a private school but the terrible teachers didn´t make it easier

I went to a state school (confusingly, in the UK, private schools are called "public schools" and schools you don't pay to attend are "state schools"), but I knew people who went to the private schools in the nearest city... Yes, schools plural, because there was a girls school and a boys school. Here are some things I remember being told by people who went to them:

  • The busses and trains to and from school were a horny free-for-all because the teenage girls and boys were kept apart from each other all day and only got contact with each other for a short time every day.
  • The schools were very proud of their grade averages........but part of how they did it was chucking out kids who underperformed and brought the average down (yeah, even though they were paying customers, they were just sure that a lower grade average would be more harmful to "business" than the loss of one customer!)
  • They didn't have a higher rate of going to Oxford or Cambridge than our state school (which at the time was doing really well in that area) which we were proud of.
  • Also, this is something I wasn't aware of until recently, but private schools in the UK have historically been allowed to have special easier versions of exams so that the rich arseholes can still attain high grades to get them into pretigious Universities even if they were not even slightly academic.
  • They had nicer uniforms than us. Before the Harry Potter films made old style school uniforms fashionable, most state schools in the 90s had started wearing "modern" "casual" uniforms of a (very unflattering) polo shirt and sweatshirt with the school badge on. The kids from the fancy schools had shirts, ties and nice blazers. Parents all loved how smart they looked. They even had school-branded straw boater hats to wear in summer!
  • But when in sixth form (the final two years of school that overlap with college, used to be non-compulsary) we didn't need to wear any kind of uniform any more, but the kids from the private schools had to wear suits or formal businesswear every day! (sounds like a nightmare!).
  • They could study very niche academic subjects like latin that weren't available to us.
  • Most of the people from the private school were nice... but they'd kind of had it drummed into them that they were fundamentally better than us, and that they were being trained for positions of leadership. Private schools produce a lot of the UK's politicians and military officers, not to mention educating all the royals and nobility... so the kids from those schools were often a bit condescending.

Well, I went to a private school until I finished the first semester of tenth grade, then I went into another private school to finish the 10th grade. After that, I went into a public school where you needed to test in, I think those are called magnet schools? Then after that, I finished my senior year at a military boarding school. So yeah, I kinda went to a different school every year of my high school career :sweat_02: so I can kinda speak to each of these in some way

Honestly, I liked the public school the best, but each school had it's ups and downs.

Private school, it had a semi loose uniform, and had some pretty good, and expensive equipment. Definitely a better environment coming from an assets standpoint, and a smaller class made teaching a lot more focused. However, the kids there had one mindset essentially. There was little room for those who thought differently. Those who did were kinda exiled from from the already limited cliques. Plus, at least 70% of the student body were way above middle class, so there was a lot of snobbish and entitled characters that the teacher couldn't really stop, cause parents. Also, the parents were a lot more involved in school business, so.... for us scholarship kids, we were, for the most part, pushed to perform better. The things that separated people here were the amount of wealth they had and how well they could socialize.

Public school, very competitive and open minded. There was a lot more opportunities that stemmed outwards. (This school had like, close to 100 clubs, different job experience programs, and was a lot more diverse.

1) The courses here also promoted open-mindedness and tearing down prejudice. Which is why the school was named "School Without Walls" I guess.)

2) There were also some pretty motivated kids here. Like, one sophomore had said in their introduction that they wanted to become the prime minister of Candada. I almost laughed, but then they proceeded to plant 100 trees, become the student body president, (yes as a new sophmore, our school opened it up to whoever), start a protest when the principle was "laid off" for a pretty unfair reason, and lead a few other events. So yeah.... they're just uber motivated.

3) Other than the select few that are that motivated, it was the same as other's experiences.

4) There were definitely a lot more teachers who cared for the students there. I never really liked English as a subject, but my language and composition teacher made me love it.

5) The things that separated people here were mainly interests, but the lines were really well respected for the most part.

Aaaanddd Military school, yeah. I would say that it was a very, very different experience. I guess to sum it up, sports were glorified, guns were a huge topic as well, and kids were generally more..... (direct/aggressive?) In their approach to things, except for hiding contraband.

1) Literally, almost everything that gave pleasure was contraband. Phones, computers, recreational substances, etc. So a bunch of kids essentially took it as a challenge to sneak some things in. (Me and my roomate almost got in big trouble cause they found recreational substances behind our mirror. The saving grace was that they were all expired, and our reputations were good enough. :sweat_smile: )

2) A lot more fights broke out. Literally, there were at least 13 full on fights that I have personally witnessed, (full on as in blood, stiches, and maybe hospital.) maybe more if you count the ones in the rumors. Essentially, a lot of big egos butted, cause this was also a type of "reform" school.

3) The school also had a student "government" system and promoted leadership by taking a hands-off approach and letting the higher-ranking kids lead. So yeah... Me and my 118 lb self had to try and stop some fights cause I didn't want to go to the commandant (the principle essentially) and say that I didn't step in, as a leader, and lose rank, which was a significant loss, cause it meant that you get a lot more privileges taken away. (Higher rank gets your devices back, a better room with a bathroom in it, late nights, town pass, etc)

4) Also, for the previous reason, some kids were "rank hungry" and would do anything to get a higher rank/position, so there were a few opportunists and sycophants, which meant that the school had a good information system, if you know what I mean.

5) I also hated uniforms. They were all stiff and scratchy, and you had to put all these unnecessary ornaments, and we literally had to go to class in dress shoes. Yes, dress shoes. and the school expected boys to keep them shiny all the time.

6) Everything was scheduled and blocked out, and a lot stricter. Teachers were almost always retired military personal, or part of the state militia, so there was a lot of "tough love" going around.

7) However, there was a lot of comradery despite all of the problems that occurred, and you'll definitely find some good buddies to hang around, (after you get all your problems out in a fight, it seems :sweat_smile:). I, for one, liked it more than I thought it would, and it's definitely a big confidence booster. It's where I met my best friend as well.

8) The things here that separated people were your performance and behavior. (Good performance and behavior meant higher ranks, and you were not the reason the corp had to "drop and do 24" cause you said something stupid during morning formation, LOL.)

I went to a private catholic school until age 11, then a public school for 2 years, and then an alternative school (school for delinquents, basically).

Private school was stifling, and there was no acceptance toward any form of self-expression or individuality. I excelled in my work and was considered advanced, but I had no friends, no interest in friends, and hated the entire place. I had pretty much zero sense of self and severely stunted emotional development. I had absolutely no concept of healthy expression and that resulted in serious issues with anger later on.

In middle school my 'parents' (not really the appropriate term but whatever) broke up, and the oil tycoon paying for my schooling was out of the picture. So I moved to the ghetto and went to a public school. It was chaos, poorly funded, understaffed, you name it. I ended up getting into drugs and bad crowds pretty much immediately. I also ended up being notorious for school fights but in a sort of weird way, in which I habitually beat the hell out of the bullies. I was really tall for my age and in good shape and had a background of martial arts and kick boxing. So I became kind of famous as this renegade skater kid that all the nerdy kids would follow around for protection. But they were also sort of scared of me so it was like... they would stay within range that they knew they were safe from bullies, but wouldn't really talk to me.

Also discovered my sexuality and had a hidden fling with the school jock in secret. That was... interesting.

Eventually I got arrested enough and in trouble enough that I ended up being sent to an alternative school. Barbwire fences all around the property, cops would just wander the campus. There was a nursery because so many of these young girls there had kids of their own and were often victims of things I won't even mention here that happened at their homes, if you get my drift. Most of us were so mentally damaged from growing up abused and traumatized, without ever being taught any form of healthy emotional expression, that we all had juvi rap sheets. But it was also the best school I ever went to, where we all understood one anothers' madness and we would do anything for each other. I was part of a group that was known to show up and handle things at homes where someone was beating abused. Certainly we didn't handle things in the best way, let alone any kind of legal way, but it was what we knew to protect each other.

Aaaaaanyway. I probably rambled, but that's my experience, and it was pretty colorful.

I went to a British state school. If you've ever seen The Inbetweeners, it's like that with more vaping.

Heh heh :sweat_02: Thanks! Glad I could help in some way. Your project sounds really cool already, and there's a lot of other informative experiences here, so there's no need to cite me as a resource. Though I'd be happy to help out anytime!

I relate to this a lot. I went to private school until I was past 4th grade. I went in as a very expressive loud kid, and came out a silent militant type. I never had anger issues, but to this day I wonder if I don't feel things enough.

A lot of how they treated me in private school probably makes me how I am today, especially considering back then it was acceptable for teachers to hit kids. Mine actually got creative with punishments but one in particular seemed to love hitting kids or all out beating them for small things like forgetting to do homework. I don't want to get dark so I won't go too into it.

But yeah, I can relate.

Yeah, I get that. And often (for me as well) the same atmosphere at school can be found at home. Ours was very very strict, very militant, repressive, and violent. Definitely echoed the school of choice. Ha, our principal had this big paddle hanging on the wall next to his desk in his office. The damn thing had holes so it'd leave these circular welts when he hit kids. And if it was a teacher, you had to put your hands on your desk flat, and she'd slap them with a ruler. It's crazy the kind of crap they get away with in private schools, especially religious ones.

I was really lucky to have been able to get extensive therapy later in life, really changed me as a person. It's something I will always advocate for.

I live in the US, I went to public school. I did not really have a choice because public schools have services that accommodates kids with disabilities, private schools do not. I would also not want to attend private schools in my area because most of them were tied to religions, like catholicism and islam.

My high school experience was strange. They were renovating the school while we were in class which was a mess. My school also had special department for students with emotional disabilities and a hard of hearing program. Also due to gerrymandering, there were a lot of rich kids at my school. The trope of being bullied for being “too smart” wasn’t a thing, instead everyone was obsessed with getting high grades and taking college level classes.

Other things to note, my brother went to a magnet school. You had to take a test to get in and it prided itself with having a high GPA average.

My cousins took online classes as teens. This has been growing in popularity recently especially in areas where the schools are unsafe or underfunded.

In college, a lot of people got dumped into the same school so being from a public or private school didn’t matter. Tho muslim students who went to public schools and felt lonely enjoyed having the private school students around.

I went to several private schools, half of them being catholic (not fun at all)

"State school" here. Grew up and still live in a notorious housing estate. Lower school was fun...one of my fabourite teachers is still live and kicking...starting to think shes a vampire as she must be well over 100 by now!
Middle school was best. All the teachers were very supporting creatively wise.
High school was the worst (teachers hitting students, vice versa, suicides) learned absolutely nothing there. Broke free and went to college/uni.
I worked in a private school (or public school) about 13 years ago... many of the kids there were kids of celebs. Some even had aliases. Many famous people would come and do lectures etc.
It was there I found out that if you have money you are guaranteed a great education and future career. Its all corrupt.
Anyhoooo! XD

I attended private schools all my life but a thing to note is that the area I grew up in was like.. very poor. So even though my family was by no means rich we could afford the fees. Even though it was a struggle.

Both state and private schools were heavily religious but the private schools like actual had to have to pass religion all the way to fifth form which way... so fun sarcasm ironically my bro did so well people asked him to be a priest. He refused, was not even that religious.

Also both private and public schools had to wear uniforms. So style was pretty much the same. Uniform of the simple; shirt, tie, skirt and long pants combo. With sport wear.

There were many diffrent types of private schools. But the one I went to had a more heavy emphasis on academics and had a higher buget for teachers so I had alot of nice teachers who did try to understand me. (It wasnt always successful since they sometimes thought like asking other kids to befriend me was the right course of action).

However there was private schools that were initially more for white American kids. That's obviously was not in the rules but it was more an unspoken rule. Due to the VERY high fees that most in the area couldnt afford and alot of students there tend to be white americans whose parents did not want them interacting with the island children.

Generally I'll say if the religious element wasn't so entrenched at the school it would be alright. Cus only in my year did they modify an assignment where you HAD to attend a catholic church... even if you were of another religion or even protestant. I gave my notes to my protestant friend to help her get an A. Cus that assignment was BS.

Being good at religion or being interested in theology doesn't mean one wants to dedicate their life to it.......sometimes it's just people enjoying the lore.

I was lucky to be in a catholic school where that kind of punishment was unacceptable. Maybe because times have changed when i was old enough to go to school.....

Also, my school was a peculiar kind, because it encouraged arts and music (as long as it was family friendly tho)......we had obligatory religion classes but got some cool teachers that made it interesting (at least for me and the bunch that was interested in those topics)

Personally i hated wearing uniform and having to cut my hair when it got too long....teachers telling me to tuck my shirt and fix my tie were kinda annoying, but aside from that, most of them were good.

(Disclaimer - I will speak of the schools here in the US as they are all I know)

It's impossible to lump private schools into one group and equally impossible to lump public schools into one group as well.

To answer the question, I have years with both, and I also have been working for more than 10 years at a public school.

So I definitely identify with the public school identity as far as that goes, but man, public schools really should be broken up into: inner city, suburban, rural at minimum, and with southern, midwest, west coast, east coast, and north/northeast sublevels for each. And then you also have the structural differences between county/parish ran schools and chartered schools.

Private schools can comprise of various religious sects, non-religious, also inner city vs suburban vs rural but to me the political factors on how the private schools can be structure HUGELY affect what the school becomes and how they operate. Much more so than for public schools on average. You will also find spending and funding much more swayed/affected by said politics. There are some mega fancy church schools out there, and then there are some real seedy dumps out there as well that still charge a fortune to attend.

Being in the south, especially in the bigger city than not, private schools are largely baptist/protestant and vastly monoethnic white, usually well-off financially. My experience is similar to how I think of things even to this day - the kids and the adults there are so disconnected from reality living in their sociopolitical bubble. It was hard to get along with people in general as far as finding people to identify with and connect. I also hated how drab the learning experience was, as if the uppers didnt actually care for academics.

The other half of my growing up was in podunk town East Texas. Rural public schools there are not that much better as its still pretty damn monoethnic and ran by the local politics of the town, since everyone goes to just one school. But the best part was the academics were untouched by the local idiots because its a state-mandated curriculum, ran by people who tend to be better experts than the maws and paws of the farmland. So while I still didnt find a lot of people to identify with, I at least enjoyed the classes there.

The school I work at was a school I wish I could have been a student at over the above two. While the demographic remains monoethnic (minority AA) the openness and down-to-earth atmosphere is shared by the majority of the student body and that's what I never experienced from my grade school days where everything was more set in stone as far as what you were expected to be and think like. Leadership here has made my job life wonderful and having the autonomy to tailor the administration to fit the student body as needed is a great side to being chartered, and we of course still follow the state mandated standards as required by law.

Sorry for the long winded answer ^^;

I went to both public and private school.

My experience was meh in both, the only difference is that most of private schools where I live are in terrible conditions, because the money only goes to the administration, not even maintenance or teachers, meanwhile the public schools were actually in a tiny bit better condition, but constantly dealing with reparations, lots of dirt and stuff (I graduated and we still had flooded bathrooms, only 5 years later the school looked somewhat "modern")

Another difference is that in most private schools, these are attached to catholic or christian religion, so you had to be baptized and assist catechism classes. There are some private schools that don't mind children who aren't religious for as long as you can pay it, uniform, books, and all the stuff they demand (Which it can go from forcing your parents to provide food, drinks, school materials and other things for certain events or whatever) however, since kids repeat what they hear in their homes, if you weren't super mega clean, sparkling shoes, or had top-notch school supplies, or anything that proved you weren't rich , then yeah you'll get bullied.

And since there are some... attachments to religion, there were certain topics that were a no-no. Like Sexual Education, Biology, Darwinism, certain political ideologies and such. I've also heard that in the later stages of high-school, some schools actually forced gender roles, mysogny and other similar things. That's why in my country the whole state-church separation is a big deal.

I was very lucky! I went to drum roll homeschool after being pulled out of grade school! :laughing:

There are so many benefits to being homeschooled, you guys, it's not even funny. Here are just a few.

  1. The child can continue loving and bonding with their parents so that they don't become estranged.
  2. The parents actually have to learn to deal with their own children when their children act up and are there for them when they're going through troubling times.
  3. The child isn't immediately defiled by sexual experiences by going to high school and being locked up with dozens of horny, hormonal boys and girls.
  4. The child learns to independently study and pursue goals at his/her own pace.
  5. The child actually has time for... fun. Like, actual time to be a kid rather than being locked up doing math/reading/writing exercises that they will learn poorly (even if they technically get an A) due to kids having individual learning styles.
  6. I believe the statistics show that a child who is allowed to learn and grow at home, even without being assigned homework, ends up being just as smart and knowledgeable as kids in a public school, but without the trauma of having to actually go there.
  7. If the child has siblings, it is far better to be socialized by them than random strangers at school. Siblings can push your buttons to the limit, but they generally never go too far, and if they do, the children have a safe environment and their parents to play referee in making up. They also tend to love and support you no matter what.
  8. You learn your parents' morals, ethics, and religious values rather than the school's. Yes, this is important. School is an entirely different environment than home.

The only real drawback of homeschool is that your kid doesn't get socialized by strangers, and there is actual value in that. However, the parents can have playdates with other homeschooled children or enroll themselves in homeschool groups for that purpose.

To each their own, of course, but I will always be a big advocate for homeschool.

There is also the huge issue that not all parents are equipped with being educators. There has been issues with young children who are homeschooled being behind due to lacking proper education when it comes to language development. A lot of these parents also try to leach off of public school resources for children with disabilites which becomes frustrating for the school staff. Educators also are more likely to pick up on speech disorders that the parents may try to overlook.

Schools also allow kids to have access to someone who can notify authorities if they think a child is being abused. I have heard some adults who grew up being homeschool who advocate against because they felt it lead to their parents emotionally abusing them.