After spending eight years in a small, private school, I wanted something different. When I was deciding on a high school, teachers recommended private schools because they said public schools did not provide adequate support and opportunities.

Nonetheless, I decided to attend HHS, and it was the best decision I could have made. HHS has reputed programs such as band and robotics, as well as a diverse, vibrant community. However, many people still flee to private schools because of stereotypes that began after desegregation.

After the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, white families turned to private schools to avoid racial integration, and enrollment in private schools increased 43%, according to the Southern Education Foundation. The effects can still be seen today. In 2017, 69% of private school students were white, while Black and Hispanic students made up 19%. 

Private schools automatically exclude a huge demographic of families because of their hefty price tags. Socioeconomic diversity is just as important as other types of diversity, but is severely lacking in most private schools. In my private school, almost everyone was upper class, so we had never seen the struggles of lower-class families. As a result, we internalized prejudices, and while public school has helped me educate myself, I can still see the effects of these biases. For example, some of my friends were aghast when I told them I take the bus to school, saying things like “Isn’t it dirty?” or “Aren’t there weird people?” These things are not true, but we had formed these ideas because of a lack of understanding of the world around us. This is the price we paid for a private school education.

Many private schools argue that their tight-knit community justifies their cost. However, the worst part of a small school can sometimes be the community itself. I was friends with most people in my school, but I knew others who struggled with loneliness. They were trapped because they were excluded and had no other community they could turn to because of the school size.

The lack of diversity also causes discrimination. In one instance, a friend of mine in a rich Catholic school said someone told her that no one liked her because she did not own a Tesla. We should not pay for a community that excludes children based on their perceived social status.

While private schools can help you get into prestigious universities, their cost can- not justify their damage to public schools and to their own students. Vouchers and scholarships will not solve the problem, but instead take away vital resources from public schools. We must bring resources back to public schools and dismantle the un-healthy hold private schools have on our society.