Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 15:07     Subject: Re:Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Well, I grew up in a blue collar company town, so no. I understand those people though.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 14:47     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:I think it depends if people grew up in a city or suburb...not private vs. public. Example...an inner city Catholic School is going to be much more diverse than many suburban public school.


Exactly. My DS went to a public elementary in MoCo before he switched to private and everyone was middle to upper class and mostly white. just like his private school.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 12:56     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Yes. I went to a small (only racially diverse) private K-8 and then a big socioeconomically diverse public high school so know both. I learned to code switch at the public (long before I knew what that was called or that it was a thing) and that has helped me in my adult life daily. Socioeconomic diversity is a bigger learning curve than racial diversity.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:40     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People who assume urban schools will make it easier for you to work more easily with a range of people ignore most urban schools are not really diverse places. They are filled with poorer kids who have very little exposure to genuine socio economic diversity. Your average suburban high school will have greater diversity.

But in terms of really intermingling all classes, nothing can beat a small town high school where all kids go to the same one high school, whether the doctors' kids or trailer park kids.

As for the thread topic, there are too many nuances to public and private schools. Your typical urban school is as much a bubble as a rich private school, just in a different way.


Nah, small towns don't prepare you for the big city.


You can say the same about big cities failing to teach people how to cope in different environments.

dp but most jobs are not in rural areas; they are in cities.


So true!
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:40     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:People who assume urban schools will make it easier for you to work more easily with a range of people ignore most urban schools are not really diverse places. They are filled with poorer kids who have very little exposure to genuine socio economic diversity. Your average suburban high school will have greater diversity.

But in terms of really intermingling all classes, nothing can beat a small town high school where all kids go to the same one high school, whether the doctors' kids or trailer park kids.

As for the thread topic, there are too many nuances to public and private schools. Your typical urban school is as much a bubble as a rich private school, just in a different way.


I went to a small town high school and it wasn't really like that. Everyone went to the same school, sure, but we weren't in the same classes. My school was 40% black, but I had two black classmates in most of my classes.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:38     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Curious to see if people feel it did.


It's a cope public schoolers tell themselves. Total nonsense. And frankly, who the heck even cares about "easily working with people from different backgrounds"? What does that even mean? Nearly all white collar professionals have a very narrow social orbit.

really? I don't find that to be the case but maybe it is in your profession.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:37     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People who assume urban schools will make it easier for you to work more easily with a range of people ignore most urban schools are not really diverse places. They are filled with poorer kids who have very little exposure to genuine socio economic diversity. Your average suburban high school will have greater diversity.

But in terms of really intermingling all classes, nothing can beat a small town high school where all kids go to the same one high school, whether the doctors' kids or trailer park kids.

As for the thread topic, there are too many nuances to public and private schools. Your typical urban school is as much a bubble as a rich private school, just in a different way.


Nah, small towns don't prepare you for the big city.


You can say the same about big cities failing to teach people how to cope in different environments.

dp but most jobs are not in rural areas; they are in cities.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 10:30     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:People who assume urban schools will make it easier for you to work more easily with a range of people ignore most urban schools are not really diverse places. They are filled with poorer kids who have very little exposure to genuine socio economic diversity. Your average suburban high school will have greater diversity.

But in terms of really intermingling all classes, nothing can beat a small town high school where all kids go to the same one high school, whether the doctors' kids or trailer park kids.

As for the thread topic, there are too many nuances to public and private schools. Your typical urban school is as much a bubble as a rich private school, just in a different way.

This is kind of true, but disagree with the small town aspect where, even though you have people from different classes, the culture is generally the same.

I went to a suburban HS but it was majority minority and had a high lower income and immigrant student body.

I went to a public univ that was mostly white, and it was eye opening.

I worked with all kinds of people throughout my career.

I think it helps that I am from an immigrant family, and I came here as a child. I've learned to code switch all my life.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 09:53     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People who assume urban schools will make it easier for you to work more easily with a range of people ignore most urban schools are not really diverse places. They are filled with poorer kids who have very little exposure to genuine socio economic diversity. Your average suburban high school will have greater diversity.

But in terms of really intermingling all classes, nothing can beat a small town high school where all kids go to the same one high school, whether the doctors' kids or trailer park kids.

As for the thread topic, there are too many nuances to public and private schools. Your typical urban school is as much a bubble as a rich private school, just in a different way.


Nah, small towns don't prepare you for the big city.


You can say the same about big cities failing to teach people how to cope in different environments.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 09:46     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
I don't think public vs private matters so much as diverse student body or not. I went to a private school but my class was one of the most diverse in the school, most of my friends weren from first generation immigrant families, and I formed lifelong friendships with people who look different than me. That definitely shaped me as a person.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 09:35     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
No because my public school was super homogenous. But working for the federal government definitely has. I have friends from a multitude of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. I enjoy it very much.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 06:55     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
No. I lived in NE and went to DCPS in the 80s and 90s. Almost all my classmates were Black like me.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 06:47     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
For me it did. I was a poor white kid at a poor high school that was majority non-white. I coasted and got perfect grades while partying like a 90s rock star.

My first semester of university was rough because I had to do actual work to get good grades. And at university I found myself surrounded by rich kids and rich kid drugs, which was an entirely different experience.
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 06:39     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:No. My private school was more diverse than my kids’ 22207 public school.


Haha came to say this!!
Anonymous
Post 01/13/2026 04:11     Subject: Did going to public school allow you to more easily work with people from different backgrounds?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Curious to see if people feel it did.


It's a cope public schoolers tell themselves. Total nonsense. And frankly, who the heck even cares about "easily working with people from different backgrounds"? What does that even mean? Nearly all white collar professionals have a very narrow social orbit.


I am someone that went to a diverse public school and agree with this.