Private school?

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Do any other users here attend a private school? I'd love to hear about your experiences.

I go to a private school in Christchurch, New Zealand. I have mates who go to public schools, and from what they tell me about their experiences, I doubt I'd be able to survive public school. From what I've heard, if you're different you're often alienated at public schools. My school has lots of quirky kids, and from what I've experienced and seen, bullying's not much of an issue. Sure, a lot of people talk behind your back, but that's a fact of life that continues into the adult world.

Also reading a lot of personal stories on here, I've seen that public schools are particularly challenging for somebody with asperger's syndrome. But I guess it's just luck of the draw as to whether you have parents that can financially support a private school education or not, and from what I understand, public school quality of education is at about the same level as private school education.

Personally, I'm not so different that I'm an outcast, but I do have my quirks, can be serious and quiet at times, and tend to be kind of dreamy at times. I've only ever dated public school students, and they were lovely and never once picked up on my asperger's or related quirks or anything, so maybe I'm being too hasty in my judgments about public school.

I do like how my school in particular teaches us about being different. Because a lot of people at my school, which is co-educational and boarding/day, come from very affluent and immensely wealthy families, and then some people are on scholarships and come from middle class families, you have a fairly decent mix of students. The school teaches us that everyone has unique talents, and through the large range of extra-curricula activities, you realize what fields you're good in and you become pretty acknowledged throughout the school for your field, which is awesome.

So yeah, I don't want to rant. Please do tell me about your experiences at private school if you attend(ed) one, and also tell me about public schools because I'm pretty interested in how they compare, especially on an international level.

My sister went to private school.

It's the same and different. There is still bullying, drugs, sex and alcohol.

But, the schools do have more leeway to deal with ignorance. They rarely had fights, as fighting got you expelled. People caught having sex got expelled. For serious stuff, they really went with a 1 strike your not policy.