Private School for a Day

Loud music blasts from the room next door. The floor shakes. All the students remain in complete focus in the history lesson on ancient Greece. In a renovated old warehouse, I sit at a desk at the private school in Los Angeles that my cousin attends. It is an art and science-based school. In each class I attend, students break into song. Paintings and masks hang around the classrooms.

The teachers all seem extremely enthusiastic. But is there a fine line that can separate enthusiasm and fine education? One might argue that stories involving majestic surfing experiences, and demonstrations including putting lit cigarettes into a doll’s mouth, can negatively impact one’s learning ability and educational advancement. I’ve got to admit though, attending this school every day would be an extremely positive experience.

The teacher hands me a worksheet, highlighting the Pythagorean theorem.

“You have 10 minutes to complete the warm-up,” she says.

I look at the worksheet, and within 45 seconds I complete the three questions. I took geometry last year at PHS, and judging by the lack of effort I used to complete the problems quickly and correctly, I conclude that the teacher who taught me last year did a FANTASTIC job.

I attended a private school in San Francisco for six years. Since leaving San Francisco, I have had an idolized image of what private schools are like. And to be truthful, before spending a day at this school, I had not fully appreciated Piedmont’s staff and campus.

Now I realize how lucky I am to attend Piedmont High. The exceptional staff we have is incomparable to any other schools I have attended. Piedmont High is an amazing school, and I have been careless to think that going to another school would be any better.