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Jennifer Kassir

Professor Jon Beadle

English 115 8:00 AM

October 4, 2017

Private School Terror

Private schools are so much better for students because they will learn more, get

more attention, and they will face less drama, said by almost everyone. As a student who

attended private school for 10 years, this statement couldnt be more false. Between fake

people, terrible teaching techniques, enforcing religion, and a lack of freedom, I wanted

nothing to do with private school ever again. Although I am who I am today because of

my awful experiences at private school, I still wonder sometimes how I would have

turned out if I hadnt gone. I went to a school called St. Robert Bellarmine Elementary

School, which was the worst school a child can go to because it lacked many

opportunities. The school was extremely small with about 100 students and the teachers

were way too strict. Due to the small environment, strictness, and harsh discipline,

private school can become a monstrous space and affect students negatively because of

the lack of self-expression.

Since the school was so small, lacked school activities, and had less than 20 students

in each class grade, I was a loner, which took a toll on my mental health. I chose to be by

myself than to hang with students who created drama. I wasnt able to be involved in

anything school related other than sports, which I hated because I was made fun of if I

got scared of the ball. This affected my self-esteem. Every day for PE, I had to face these

mean students. According to My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead
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in the book Monsters, Chuck Klosterman states, the principal downside to any zombie

attack is that zombies will never stop coming (Klosterman 41). These students

represented zombies because they never stopped bothering me. Even when I ignored

them, or defended myself, they still continued the next day. It was so boring going to

school with nothing to look forward to, which caused me to be depressed and perform

poorly on my report card. I wasnt the only one affected by this, others were as well, and

they never knew what to expect the next day because of these monstrous people. This

monster that embodied more than one person caused people to live in fear, including

myself.

Rules are important in schools, however, this school went over the top by completely

controlling how students acted and dressed. Only solid black shoes were allowed. This

made it hard for some parents with lower income to buy their students the exact shoes the

school wanted instead of having the child wear any shoe available. No makeup what so

ever was allowed and no other hair color even if it is natural. This can make girls who

feel unattractive feel very limited, showing the amount of ignorance the school has. An

example of this was when a girl who was blonde, dyed her hair brown and got in trouble.

This can damage young girls. No nail polish was allowed either or jewelry unless it is

gold. First of all, not everyone owns gold jewelry and second, this rule is too hectic.

These rules limit students because they are over exaggerated, which makes this space

more monstrous as it is exactly like a prison.

Teachers would waste the entire class time looking for people who even whispered

instead of continuing the lesson. Teachers would say, Dont look at others or yawn or

breathe loudly. It is exactly like solitary confinement and this can result in worse
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behaviors because then students would want to rebel. Students were always in fear of

getting in trouble for the smallest reasons. People also couldnt hug others in a certain

way or even kiss on the cheek. Cameras were everywhere. You were always being

watched. Teachers would always write names on the board, even of innocent people.

They would keep the whole class in including me due to one persons horrid behavior.

Because of this, I had to convince the teachers to let me go by using pathos. According to

Understanding Rhetoric, pathos is the use of emotion in debate or argument

(Alexander, Cannon, Cannon, Losh 46). I always had to make myself cry and tell them

how innocent I am and that it is unfair for them to keep me. I used to tell them stories of

why I need to be home or that I have an emergency. I always got my way out of detention

because I didnt deserve it, so I argued. I always had to be cautious of what is happening

around me. It was a jungle and I still would get in trouble. The whole class would get

detention for two hours even if some people didnt do anything. This drove me insane. I

have never been in a worse school environment.

Although private school was a bad experience, I do not regret going at all. Had I

not gone, I would not have made the friends I have today or any other positive

experience. Everything happened perfectly. Continuing private school freshmen year

made me transfer to public school sophomore year, which means I would not have any of

the friends I have if all this didnt happen. Private school was pretty monstrous, however,

I never faced any drugs or sex. The school was clean and since there were fewer students,

there were less problems and the school was able to identify them. If I had gone to public

middle school, I would have probably been influenced by others there or been introduced

to more negative things. Private school isnt that bad if it is in elementary because
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children are young, nave, and still havent matured yet. It can be scary if they attend

public school at a very young age. I believe middle school and above, private school is

horrible because there arent as many opportunities for the students to grow and come out

of their shell. Other than that, private school will teach students how to be well rounded,

it teaches them religion as well discipline, which can be good. Also, since private schools

arent part of the district, there are more days off school and more early releases.

Additionally, according to Education Bug, private schools have smaller class sizes and

they focus on specific topics. Most parents claim their children will learn better if they

study in a smaller environment because there wont be any distractions and the teacher

can help each and every student more directly. Small environments do help lots of

students focus better. Also, in private schools, they usually dont finish the whole book

like in public schools. They want to make sure the students understand specific topics

whereas public school goes through the whole book quite fast. In general, private school

was negative for me, but was a positive experience for other students.

Private school was the most monstrous place anyone can be in because it gave

students no voice or freedom, they had limited options, and their times were wasted by

teachers who were ignorant. This shows students constantly lived in fear and had no

option but to follow these unnecessary prison rules or else they faced consequences.

However, although it was a negative experience for me, it can also be seen as a positive

experience for others as there are smaller classes, more focus, and it is religious based,

which includes more emphasis on discipline and behavior. Private school was vicious,

but it made me who I am today and I will forever cherish those memories and share my

stories with my future children.

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Works Cited

Alexander, Cannon, Cannon, Losh.Understanding Rhetoric: a Graphic Guide to

Writing. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017, p. 46.

Hoffman, Andrew J. Monsters: a Bedford Spotlight Reader. Bedford/St. Martin's,

a Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016, p. 41.

Private Schools Pros and Cons. Education Bug - a Complete Listing of

Educational Resources, www.educationbug.org/a/private-schools-pros-and-cons.html.

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