Private School Stereotypes

Public schooling establishes a diverse atmosphere and stimulation for students to succeed. Student’s need more stimulation than any one parent can provide for their child. “Home schooling does not encourage and facilitate children to make peer relationships. In both public and private schools, children have the benefit of being grouped together in classes and activities, and in turn, they have an opportunity to get to know one another. Home school lacks this type of environment and can retard a child’s social growth” (Home Schooling – The Benefits of Learning at

I first became a private-schooler when I attended pre-school at age 4 and maintained this group until my senior year of high-school. Throughout my twelve plus years of a private education, I have seen and heard nearly every stereotype, both complimentary and derogatory, accurate and erroneous, as well as, prejudicial and supportive. Private schoolers are typified by false stereotypes just as any other minority group is. For example, private school students are expected, by society as a whole, to be successful and intelligent by default. Yet, there are some stereotypes that hold true, such as the majority of private school students hold academic achievement as paramount alongside respect and courteousness to others. Private school students are generally students in a family with a high socioeconomic status and parents with a college education or higher. At large, society tends to typify private school students as conceited, haughty, and arrogant. While this is true for some private school students, it does not describe the majority of students of these students in an accurate light. I was placed in the private school environment by my parents at age 4, and by my own personal decision, I decided to continue until university. This decision was made in order to raise me in a safer and more controlled setting, and personally, to remove as many negative influences as possible.

Not long ago, my parents received an endless amount of criticism, similar to the Walls’ family, for their decision to homeschool my siblings and me. Many “feared” for us, because according to them, there was no way we were going to learn effectively at home, what we could in a formal school. My mom tells me stories of how people she’d known expressed genuine concern over the idea of educating children in a different way than what is deemed “normal.” I do not blame these people for their concern, as they were raised in a society that emphasizes a single approach to learning. Although there were definitely times growing up when I wished to attend a brick and mortar school like “normal” people, after a certain age I genuinely appreciated my parent’s decision. Being home-schooled has taught me so much more than just the basic principles of education. I grew up being highly self-reliant due to my online school requiring students to be almost entirely responsible for keeping up with their work. Similar to college, I had a syllabus provided to me, and had no one other than myself to make sure I was on top of everything. This helped me to become a responsible and well-organized individual. I also gained a quality education, despite all of the fear and concern of those around me. I still have to answer the questions, “Why were you homeschooled?” and, “Didn’t you want to go to regular school?” more

Stereotypes are like a type of infectious sickness that wears down a person’s true character, and they produce a sort of blindness to characteristics that are worthwhile. Stereotypes perpetuate false and unnecessary judgments, and they devalue humans. When people are placed in a group, they are limited and marginalized by those making judgments. Any factors such as race, religion, gender, and personality can be the source of a stereotype, so anyone can become a victim. Stereotypes are conclusions drawn by people that are heavily influenced by peers, family, pre-existing knowledge, and the media, and that too often become accepted societal biases. Historically, in the United States, stereotypes and stereotype threats have always existed, especially

This view is furthered by educational psychologists, who feel that homeschooled children may have issues interacting with peers, and thus be characterized by a more difficult experience when entering the so-called real world (Murray 1996, as cited in Medlin 2000:108). Critics of homeschooling such as Pfleger (1998) assert that these children fail to learn skills necessary in the job market, and thus they will be at a disadvantage when compared with their conventionally schooled counterparts (as cited in Arai 1999:2). Finally, schools teach students a great deal in terms of social expectations: etiquette, behaviour, dress, and so forth, and it also makes students aware of the penalties that are associated with disregard for these norms (Pfleger 1998, as cited in Arai 1999:2). Taylor (1986) asserts that homeschoolers will not receive these lessons, but rather simply emulate the social understandings of their parents, and will again be “disadvantaged because they will not realize what constitutes conforming and unconforming behaviour once they leave the family and enter the wider society” (as cited in Arai 1999:2).

Education in our society is a very important factor in shaping our future. One’s future is depended on the education they receive and everyone is somehow affected by this. Children from the ages of kindergarteners to seniors in high school, college graduates, and stay at home mothers, are all shaped by the education the government provides us. There are many different ways to acquire an education some through private schools, public, charter, and being homeschooled. However, homeschooling is growing more in popularity than it has ever been.

There are many definitions for the term “real world”. Consequently, to the homeschooling parent, the real world starts when they give birth at conception, all the way until they reach the lawful age of 18. As a result, parents have structured their curriculum up to the 12th grade level. The “real world” has various meanings, and to the homeschooling community, there are many factors which come into play (Ray, 2004, p. 5). Ray asserts

While the American public school system educates the majority of students today, a fast growing population is beginning to accept homeschooling as an adequate alternative. Anyone with kids desires only the best education and experiences for them. Those who face this decision have to take in the plentiful list of differences and decide which will suit their family best. For years, most people saw homeschooling as an ineffiecent replacement to the government-provided schools already in existence. However, in the last ten years, studies have proved that homeschooling well equipps a student for college and beyond, changing the minds of many(http://www.usnews.com/education/high-schools/articles/2012/06/01/home-schooled-teens-ripe-for-college?page=2). In order to make this crutial decision between public or home school, one must account for the social and extracurricular opportunites, the educational aspect, and what role the family plays in education.

The differences between homeschooling and public education are huge but can be summarized along three lines: firstly, homeschooling is just that, where the parent or an employed governess teaches the child in a home, as compared to a, school setting. Secondly, the home setting employs its own voluntary rules and schedule of education teaching whatever the home educator desires in whichever way the home educator desires the subject to be taught in contrast to the school education. Lastly, the schedule is implemented in an arbitrary time format according to that chosen by the home educator (in contrast to that of the school environment where it is strictly regulated). Each also has its commonalties in that the state, too, to a certain extent regulates home education ensuring that the educator is providing an education and that this education meets the fundamental requirements of the state. Aside from that, home education differs in almost every other aspect from the more formal education provided by that of the school: the one is loosely structured and chosen by the parent; the other is structured by the school, in turn closely regulated by the government, and is open to little purview by the parent.

Homeschooling is on the rise in America. According to a 2007 NHES study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education there are an estimated 1.5 million students actively being homeschooled up from the 850,000 estimated in previous study conducted in 1999 (NCES, 1). Once seen as a fringe activity usually associated with the religious right, homeschooling now encompasses many mainstream families looking for educational alternatives in the face of such issues as violence, peer pressure, and poor academic quality in many public schools. Detractors on the other hand claim that homeschooling is a less effective method of educating America’s youth citing academic and social issues. Despite critics’ claims to the contrary, homeschooling is an effective and viable method of education as its participants not only do well academically; they are well socialized and are successful in college and later life.

Despite home-schooling’s controversy because of the lack of teaching credentials for parents and socialization, homeschooling has big benefits for children. The first benefit is that while homeschooled, students receive individualized education. Parents spend all their time and attention to their children. Parents can devote all their time and attention to their children. Martin points out that parents understand their children best (Martin). Therefore, they can choose the best method to motivate their children to learn. “Parents are also able to evaluate their children on a daily basis and provide further instruction if needed” (Martin). Individualized education also provide necessary help as needed. As a result, homeschooled students achieve

B. Preview – Traditional homeschooling can be problematic to a student’s life skills and overall development. The social learning aspect of school, which is lacking in homeschool, directly transfers into college and the workplace. Most teenagers and kids need to be supervised at every moment or else they will not do their work and, while at home, it is hard to find the motivation to do schoolwork.

People think that because these children have never been in a real class room before that after they graduate their twelve grades in the homeschooled setting they couldn’t possibly get used to the idea of a community college or even worse a university. Joan Bress states that “Colleges that have accepted homeschooled students appreciate the maturity and self-direction these students demonstrate. They believe that because homeschooled students have been involved in shaping their own education, they tend to be motivated learners and are comfortable assuming positions of leadership, both in class and in social situations” (17). It is a fact that homeschooled children actually score higher on test scores than children from public schools. This is due to the fact that the one-to-one learning time really helps a student and these kids are smarter because of

Why is it that we rarely acknowledge homeschooled students for who they are in this society? Is it because they are different from the run-of-the-mill students that attend public schools? It could very well be that they are misjudged because so many people are not informed on homeschooling. If so, the majority of homeschooled students around the nation feel like outsiders simply because society has not taken the time to understand and provide for them. But, one should not feel ashamed as around 3.4% of the all K-12 students in America are homeschooled, (Ray). It is reasonable for such a small population to feel like a group of outsiders when everyone else has not been apart of this experience. Fortunately, there are various methods of tackling this problem; diagnosing this issue is the most beneficial of all. Thus, homeschoolers are outsiders because others do not fully understand the setting they are taught in, the education they receive, and the reasons behind why they are being homeschooled in the first place.

Many concerns are expressed for homeschoolers. When it comes to homeschooling, the first point of emphasis that critics point towards homeschoolers is the lack of socialization. “Critics charge that home-schooled children will be socially handicapped and unable to adapt to real-life interaction when older” (Jeub 1994). Ultimately, critiques get their conclusions with many observations and interviews that show how they do not choose to, or are not incorporated in social events or activities. Critiques imagine that the children are stuck with their parents all day and only go out when their parents allow them or when they personally go out. With this environment, critiques envision that homeschoolers get little to no cultural experience from their world surroundings (Anderman and Anderman, p. 468) In essence, the assessment is a never-ending speech from the critics that the number one flaw in homeschool is socialization and the