My research topic deals with how private schools are more beneficial than public schools over the various decades.
It was an unusually sunny day, at least for Michigan’s standards, outside when I drove to *Laura Smith’s house. Her house was bleach white, with shrubbery and flowers scattered across the lawn, and a chocolate colored fence surrounding the house. The inside of the house was cat themed with pictures and little figurines of these adorable creatures. And as I looked on her bookshelf there were endless amounts of high school math books from the various decades.
Laura, being a retired math teacher, has kept Geometry books from the different high schools she has taught at. And even today, although retired, she often opens up a book and refreshers her memory on a few problems. Math has always been the love of her life, apart from her big family who coincidently are math teachers as well. One of her three daughters Barbara* is a math teacher at Brace Elementary School in Southfield, while her other daughter is now going back to school to obtain a teaching degree. In addition, her sister Eleanor* taught at an all girl’s elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Laura Smith’s early years were filled with catholic private all girl’s schooling up until she was a freshman in college. I had no problem getting Laura to open up about her childhood because she had so much to share dealing with her personal experiences with single sex schooling. Religion and single sex schooling was important to her family as she explained “my mother believed in no other way than Catholicism; she felt that children who attended public schools were out of control”. After high school, she attended Xavier University in Louisiana for her undergraduate years and then moved up north and completed her Master’s degree at the University of Michigan.
“My goal was to become a compassionate female teacher and help girls in a single sex school setting”, Smith states. Her upbringing in a private catholic school made her motivated to work at a junior high school for delinquent girls for two years. However, after this experience Smith soon realized that maybe a single sex educational environment was not suited for her. She then ventured out into the public school world and taught at various high schools such as Chadsey, Central, and Detroit Barbour High school. When I asked her about switching to the public school setting she quickly replied with saying “there is such a distinct difference between private and public especially back in the 1950s. Authorities at catholic schools have the right to refuse admittance to anyone that they feel would be disruptive, but public schools let any delinquent child in”.
While sipping on hot chocolate and chatting with her about her teaching career, Laura Smith went on to discuss how adolescents were better behaved in catholic schools than in public. She strongly gave me her opinion on why she believed private schools would be not only better to teach at, but would be better suited for adolescents to attend for their high school years. She also explained how public schools did not offer as many different sports as did at the private schools she taught at. Smith revealed that “catholic schools gave girls more of an opportunity to express themselves”. Smith vigorously explicated about how there were very little discipline problems at catholic schools and on the other hand numerous amounts of teen pregnancies at public schools even back in the 1950s.
Laura Smith’s interview helped to clarify why private schools are more beneficial than public schools even decades ago. Despite the many decades and changes throughout the world, the same issues from the 1950s reoccur in 2010 with teen pregnancies, bullies, and unruly teenagers. From a teacher who taught at both a private and public school, it is clear to see why private schools have prevailed. In Laura’s own words, “the world needs a combination of the two however private schooling will give students that extra push towards success”.
This is the person I interviewed on why private schools are more beneficial than public schools even decades ago. She is a retired math teacher.
She had numerous photographs of her family, especially the ones who became math teachers like her proudly displayed in her dining room.
This is a picture of some of the countless amounts of geometry books she still keeps from the high schools she taught at.
