Home-schoolers like dirty jokes, too
Joel Pavelski
Issue date: 9/11/08 Section: Opinion
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But each of these two sides carry preconceptions about the other. These preconceptions surface mostly in good-natured teasing, teasing that says home-schoolers are socially inept, morally upright and academically gifted, and public-schoolers their opposite.
"My public-schooled friends would tease me about being home-schooled and I would be like, 'Well, you probably have no morals,'" said senior Anna Johnson. "It's the expectation - that home-schoolers would be more moral, because they were more sheltered. But I'm not sure that's true."
Sophomore Amanda Gault agreed.
"People are always surprised that I was home-schooled. I don't shudder at profanity. I'm not visibly shaken by dirty jokes," Gault said.
Home-schooled throughout high school, she explained the stereotypes.
"People picture the incredibly studious, fundamentalist, large family kind of thing," she said. "And we, on the other hand, assume a poorer quality of education and a different, not necessarily lower, moral standard. Since we're always having the socialization question thrown at us, we also have a retaliatory thought: 'Well, all [public-schoolers] did was socialize!'"
In 2005 and 2006, 13 percent of the school's incoming class was home-schooled, and in 2007, that number shrunk to 7 percent, said Director of Admissions Jeff Lantis. Public-schoolers accounted for 34 percent, 42 percent and 54 percent of these incoming classes, respectively.
No figures were available for 2008.
Numerous sources, including a 2007 study by the Fraser Institute, confirm that home-schoolers score higher than their peers on standardized testing. But it's unclear whether or not this advantage translates to college.
"People have said that home-schoolers have better grades and test scores coming in, but I've never said that, and I don't have data to back that up," Lantis said.
The college also does not track grades according to secondary schooling, preferring instead to deal with each student's grades individually, said Dean of Women Diane Philipp.
"Academically, there's a bigger difference between big public schools versus small private schools," she said.
Johnson said that the academic difference has more to do with professors than test scores, since some professors expect home-schoolers to work harder or be more self-motivated, while others expect home-schoolers to be conceited or unable to work in groups.
Most students prefer to fly under the radar, expecting that their secondary schooling will not have much to do with their social standing in college.
"I don't think there's any rift [between public-schoolers and home-schoolers]. We all have to deal with being here now. We all got in. As soon as we got here, the playing field was evened out again," Gault said.
"My freshman year, I tried out for the Tower Dancers. There were two seniors in the room, and one called the other her b-. I was mortified," Johnson said, "They said, 'Are you home-schooled?' But that was the only time something gave me away."
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