Quote:
Originally posted by Taualumna
I hate to bring this up over and over again, but there are drug, alcohol and sex issues in private schools as well. However, the 7-12 system seems to work there (and these are schools that are in urban areas, including Manhattan).
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However most private schools tend to be much smaller than the larger public schools where the atmosphere is much different. This isn't universally true but it's true in 95 percent of the cases . . . and I have never seen 7-12 work as well as 6-8/9-12 (or 7-9/10-12) in larger schools.
In smaller schools, whether it's because they're private or because they're rural or both, tend to have a big "everybody knows everybody" atmosphere that bigger schools don't have. This will tend to speed up the exposure to sex/drugs regardless of whether or not the middle and high school are separated -- and it makes the transition much less intimidating when you're going from a school where you already know everyone to another school where you know most of the people there. Smaller schools also have the advantage of students developing closer relationships with teachers/coaches/whatever -- for example, one of my friends that went to a small private school had one Spanish teacher for all four years of high school whereas I had four.
At larger schools and especially larger public city schools the transition to high school can be very intimidating for a number of reasons beyond just the sex & drugs factor. Trust me that had I gone from an elementary school-like atmosphere straight to atmosphere like the one at my high school, I would have probably dropped out of school. It's just too much of a jump. At smaller schools it is much different.