By Courtney Cox, contributing opinion
Asbury is unique in the pre-college educational backgrounds of its students. Certainly there are benefits to public, private and home schooling alike. Public school students typically have access to special needs, gifted/talented, social work and counseling services. At some point, each of these services served me personally, including over ten years of speech therapy at no cost to my family. Furthermore, family resource and youth service centers work to ensure that all students have access to hygiene products, school supplies, clothing and meals.
Though certainly public school comes with a set of challenges, I am grateful for the way I learned so naturally to interact with and to love peers who came from diverse and sometimes broken backgrounds.
“[Public school] gave me a realistic view of social interaction in the real world,” said senior Abby Wynn. “It gets you exposed to different ideas and lifestyles that aren’t your own and forces you to learn how to navigate that conventionally.”
From ages 4-18, I subconsciously learned an infinite amount about diversity simply by making and maintaining friendships. Within one middle school friend group, I was friends with Muslims, Hindus and atheists. I was friends with foster children and the children of convicts and addicts. I had friends with Down syndrome. In elementary school, two girls told me they were undocumented and made me promise not to tell. They introduced me to tamales and invited me to their Cinco de Mayo party.
“I don’t think I’d be as accepting or empathetic without [a public school] experience,” Wynn said.
I struggle to understand where else but at public school I could have learned to love diversely at a young age. Sophomore Kara Aukerman, however, explained ways in which home schooling can perhaps have similar benefits.
“Home schooling, contrary to popular belief, gave me a larger view of the world,” said Aukerman. “I wasn’t subject to the walls of the same three buildings for 12 years of my life. Instead, we took our school to the beach, overseas and out West. Rather than merely reading about law and government, we’d drive to the state capitol and meet with a representative and ask them questions,” Aukerman said.
Senior Nathan Stevens attended a private school. He noted great spiritual benefits that are not inherently found in public school.
“We prayed in each one of my classes, and every class always was centered around faith and Jesus,” Stevens said. “I will never send my [future] children into a public school because I also want my children to have a strong basis for their faith.”
Wynn, however, disagrees. “I wouldn’t want my children stuck in a world [or] educational environment where everyone has the same life perspective as them (religion, socioeconomic status, race, sexual identity, etc.,)” she said. However, she did acknowledge that “public school exposes us to certain ideas way before we’re mature enough to understand them.”
“I’m grateful I wasn’t exposed to a lot of the junk that goes on in the public school systems (drugs, bullying, sex scandals, teen pregnancies, smoking, drugs, etc.,)” Aukerman said.
The balance between guarding the innocence of children and letting them be exposed to the “real world” is tricky and undefined. We must recognize that to be afforded the choice among education systems and how we guard our children is a privilege many do not have.
Though Stevens is highly satisfied with his private school experience, he did note that he “wasn’t really prepared to have relationships with non-believers.”
Wynn noted that though the public school system is certainly not perfect, she “definitely wouldn’t change [her] experience.” She pointed out that certainly not every public school is equally diverse or representative of society. “But it at least gets you exposed to different ideas and lifestyles that aren’t your own,” she said.
