Recently I was forced to make a very large transition in my life. I had been in private school my whole life until one day my life was turned upside down. My parents sat me down to discuss what this large transition would be. They announced they would no longer be able to afford the 35,000-dollar tuition of the all-girls prep school I had been attending for five years. Most people would be devastated, but I was not. I understood my family’s finical position, but it was not easy for me to accept the idea I would be walking through brand new public school hallways. I would no longer be in classrooms with ten girls; instead I would be seated in a classroom of 30 with boys too. Tears swelled my eyes when I thought about all the changes, but before I knew it I was assimilating to all the changes at my new school. * I am frequently asked, “Is public school or private school better?” I think to myself and consider all the pros and cons of attending each type of school. Private school has advantages such as, smaller class-sizes, a nurturing environment, one-on-one college guidance, and other benefits such as field trips or overnight events. I, personally, felt that private school concentrated on your overall knowledge and understanding and applicability of a certain subject, while there was less emphases on simply memorizing answers for a test. Whether this is better or worse can be left up to you to decide. Although private school posses some luxurious qualities, I also believe it is too nurturing. In contrast too public school, everything is “spoon fed” to you and handed to you on a “silver platter”. Although this comfortable treatment helps for high school, does it really prepare you for the real world? A lot of times students will become more competitive, especially as it gets closer to college admissions time. Although there is such a thing as a little friendly competition, does it get to be too much? The excessive competition isn’t the only turmoil between students. The classes are so small, that it is easy to get engage in gossip about everyone. Sometimes it can feel like everyone knows everything because private schools tend to be such a closely-knit environment. Is a school ever too small? Public school also has its advantages and flaws. The overcrowded classrooms often deprive a student of the special help or attention one might need. Large classroom sizes also allow for more distractions and a greater amount of time to be wasted disciplining rather than learning. Student-teacher relationships are often lack too. From my own personal experience, I find the teachers at public school to be far less interested in the students, and they frequently teach straight from the book. Although public school has it flaws, it also has benefits. Unlike private school, one has the opportunity to meet a new person everyday and be exposed to many different types of people. Competition levels are not as high as they appear to be at private schools, perhaps because it is not all the same students in all of your classes. Because of limited school budgets, it is crucial for a student to fight for what they want rather than simply having it “spoon feed” to you. Does this reflect the real world more or less? The contrasting factors of both schools don’t seem to create an ideal learning environment, which is the greatest most alarming problem of them all.