I Went to Public School

Pin It Now! I started a series about public school. You can read my first post here.

I recently talked to some of the people in the young adults group we host at our house.

What I suspected was true: People are heavily influenced by their upbringing. Even when it comes to schooling. Shocking, I know. At least I didn't spend 4 million in a tax-payer funded study to figure that one out, right?

I asked the young adults (ages 18-26) how they were schooled and if they had kids how they planned to school them. Most of them think they will put their kids in the same kind of school they went to.

One of my reasons for putting my kids in public school? I went to public school through college and I liked it.

(Disclaimer: I also went to a Catholic high school my sophomore year, and an independent-study type high school my junior year and part of my freshman year. I had on-set schooling with a studio teacher when I was doing The New Lassie part of 8th, 9th and 10th grade. In short, I changed high schools five times because of my delinquent behavior. Or maybe it was just because of my acting career, I can't remember.)

My kindergarten friend who I went to school with all the way through UCLA. And now he and his wife are some of our best friends.

Junior High graduation dance where ruffles were all the rage.

Schooling on the set of The New Lassie. Scott Grimes came in and gave me music lessons in lieu of my chorus class. You can see Linda, my studio teacher, on the right.

My sophomore year of high school I went to Bellarmine Jefferson in Burbank. These were some of my friends and these were my purple jeans. You can't really see them, but I had pink shoes.

I loved UCLA. And blue suede cropped boots.

Was public school perfect? No.

Could I have gotten a better academic education elsewhere? Perhaps.

Could I have learned more about Jesus at a private Christian school or in homeschool in a Christian home? In some ways, yes. But in many ways, I think I learned more about Jesus and how to follow Him by going through the public school system. I'll have to explain that in another post because I know at least three of you just passed out at that statement.

Did I have great teachers every year? Definitely no.

Did my teachers seem to care about my moral, spiritual, academic development? Sometimes.

However, I look back fondly at my imperfect public schooling experience. I liked school. I liked learning -- sometimes. I loved my friends of all faiths and the interaction we had at school. I remember organizing my group of girlfriends in second grade and choreographing dance routines for them at recess. I remember discussions of us all getting Pink Ladies jackets. I remember hanging on those monkey bars. I remembering chasing around Blake Roberts on the playground in kindergarten. I remember my kindergarten teacher having us all sing together "Good afternoon, good afternoon, good afternoon!" I remember field day. I remember the TobDanWen ball wall club. I could go on . . . and I will save that for future posts.

But for know, just know that I know that you know that we all know . . . our school choices are highly influenced by our own schooling experiences for good or for bad.

How about you?

What kind of school did you attend and how was your experience?

What kind of school do your kids go to or where are you planning on sending them . . . or not sending them?

Do you like hot chocolate? Because I love it.

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