The recent election shows how divided Americans are, and sadly, many people don’t seem to want to come together. Even media is divided and filtered to only give people the news they want rather than a rich variety of different stories and perspectives. But in a competitive world, America needs to stand together, and the first step is just getting to know each other. Public schools like UHS bring together people from diverse backgrounds, with different perspectives, to keep America “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
Diversity can refer to a lot of different things. Some things are visible like race, sex, age, height, and weight. Others are more subtle like health issues or mental challenges. And others require getting to know each other like religion, politics, and socioeconomic things. Bringing together people who look, feel, and think differently is the strength of America and the strength of public schools like UHS where diversity is reflected and respected.
As Dr. Chambers puts it, “The benefit here in Urbana is it’s so big, there’s two thousand kids, there are million ways to belong…. Clubs, sports, theater, orchestra, music, STEM, robotics…”
She also adds, “In a really small private school, I’m sure they do great work, but they can’t do all those same things because they don’t have enough staff, they don’t have enough community support.”
According to the 2021 United States Census, of the approximate 17.3 million high school students in America, about 15.4 million are in public schools and 1.9 million are in private schools. The census points out that the median income for families using public high schools is $89,460, while private high schools is $112,800. The Education Data Initiative states that the “Annual tuition at an average private high school is $15,344” and U.S. News and World Report quotes Headmaster Mike Tenney stating, “The single biggest factor impacting diversity in private schools is tuition.”
Class of 2027 Vivia Chipley echoed the concern about the cost of private schools and that not everyone can afford the tuition. She says, “It’s good that there’s public schools available because not everyone can afford private school.”
Public schools are available to everyone and reflect the community. Chipley believes public schools offer more diversity and she believes it is important, saying “public schools would offer more [diversity than private schools]” and that diversity “lets you see more different aspects of the world, and learn more about different ways people have lived.”
Ms. Amanda Everly who teaches Spanish at UHS also provided validation of the importance of diversity in education. She noted that private schools are always trying to recruit students to increase their diversity. She said, “Public schools automatically offer the diversity of the community. I see that private schools actively recruit diversity, sometimes with scholarships and things to try and get a more diverse community.”
While private schools struggle with diversity, public schools do not. UHS is really diverse and minorities make up over half the student population. According to the UHS homepage, in 2023 white students made up only about 49% of the students, with Asian, African American, and Hispanic making up 43%, and other races making up the remaining 8%. UHS also has a lot of special education opportunities, with 6.5% of UHS students receiving special education.
Another aspect of public schools related to diversity is the variety of different options available that private schools just can’t match. Everly has personal experience attending private schools. She commented on the outstanding variety of offerings at public schools.
Another strength of public schools is that they don’t ignore individuals with disabilities. The Department of Education webpage states “The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.”
Like everything else today, there is a lot of disagreement about whether public or private schools are best. We all hear about the rich and famous sending their kids to expensive and exclusive private schools, but public schools also have a lot to offer. And UHS is a great choice to reflect the community, provide variety, and care about all students regardless of their differences.
