Did you go to public or private school?

[Spectorium_1]

Heh heh 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!

[BOMB]

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.

[candiedcotton]

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.

[NickRowler]

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.

[Kuma]

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

[irresponsiblepics]

"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

[Freemints30]

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.

[DiegoPalacios]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[YS_og]

(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 ^^;

[RedLenai]

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.

[ratscout]

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

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.

[NickRowler]

The only real drawback of homeschool is that your kid doesn't get socialized by strangers

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.

[ratscout]

Again, to each his own, but I honestly think these are rather rare instances you're pointing out. There is a similar problem with sending your child to school where there is high probability of your child being abused by both strangers and teachers. Not only that, but teachers can potentially initiate a gross, special relationship with your child without your knowledge, too. A child is more likely to be abused by strangers at school rather than at home. Bad parents exist, of course, but most parents are biologically wired to love their children whereas strangers have no such wiring.

I have honestly never heard of homeschooled parents leeching off public school resources for kids with disabilities? XD Honestly, I think tax money would be better spent to set a child up at home with the resources they need to learn, though. Especially if a child has a disability. As I said before, a child who is homeschooled, even if they aren't assigned homework, tends to be just as knowledgeable as a child who did.

I don't know what speech disorders you're talking about, but if you're talking about typical childhood speech disorders like saying R's as W's, that is absolutely fine and developmentally appropriate for most children. One of the reasons my siblings and I were pulled out of school is because the school wouldn't stop bugging my sister about how she said her R's as W's

[DiegoPalacios]

@NickRowler @ratscout

I think it depends of the knowledge and capabilities to educate of the parents/guardians.

Homeschooling requires extra work, and if the parent/guardian does it right, it can be great for their children's development....

However, not all families are loving and/or functional, so in those cases, a teacher will be a better option for the child.

So, the viability depends on a case-by-case basis, but is something that can work specially if for any reason, the other options available are not good to begin with. In some countries, public education sucks really bad......

[NickRowler]

My sister works as a speech therapist for elementary school children. The speech issues are beyond just mixing up sounds like R's and W's (which is something that needs to be addressed). My sister says the bigger issues is being behind in language development in general. Like lacking a vocabulary that is appropriate for their age. Example, not knowing what a zebra or a book is. Lacking understanding of pronouns is also a major issue. Example, kids only using "he" regardless of gender or not using any pronouns at all.

[Freemints30]

Actually that's incorrect statistically children are more abuse likely by people and family they know compared to strangers.

Theres a reason stranger danger is kinda being under fire for being not so usefull.

It happens alot more in homeschool cases just alot tends to go under the rug.
Its lovely that you had a good experience but sadly its faaaaar from universal and honestly more used by religious nutz in my area.

[ratscout]

Ah, interesting. It sounds as if these children might have a comorbid diagnosis if they're seeing a speech therapist and they don't know what a zebra or a book is (e.g., autism). Kids with autism are also known for using the pronoun "he." regardless if they are referring to male or female and often go to speech therapy for that purpose. That's the sort of knowledge a child a child should pick up just from being in an environment if they are typically-developing. Honestly, the saying the R's as W's thing is a bit of a silly thing for schools to get worried about. Most children just grow out of it, and the child is completely understandable regardless.

[ratscout]

It seems, from what I just looked up, that kiddos are more likely to be abused by acquaintances, then family members, then strangers. However, this is probably due to children being highly educated about strangers and knowing not to, you know, get into a van with a creeper. Obviously, if the kids weren't educated on this, we would probably see a spike in child abuse related to strangers.

It's perfectly okay for religious families to want to educate their own children in their religion and teach them themselves. Just because the person is religious, does not mean they are a nut.

[candiedcotton]

To add to what Nick said, in the state I live you cannot get a high school graduation from homeschool. Your only option is a GED and that can unfortunately affect your future in all kinds of ways (I say this as a later GED recipient, lol).

[Freemints30]

Where you found that stat may I ask ?

Religionous education can also fall into white supremacy and open homophia.. just saying. That what alot of these private homeschool for religious reasons fall into.