Avenues to prestige among adolescents in public and religiously affiliated high schools

Adolescence, Summer, 2004 by J. Jill Suitor, Rebecca S. Powers, Rachel Brown

For more than four decades, the relative benefits of private versus public education at the elementary and secondary school levels have been debated. Both the scholarly and popular literatures addressing this issue have focused primarily on the question of whether private schools provide a higher quality education, as measured by indices such as class size, grades, standardized test scores, and college admissions (Coleman, Hoffer, & Kilgore, 1982). A second question that has been raised, with greater emphasis in the popular literature, is whether private schools provide a better social environment for children and teenagers. In this context, "better" has generally been conceptualized in terms of morality, ethics (particularly Judeo-Christian ethics), safety, and the academic orientation of the student body (Coleman, Hoffer, & Kilgore, 1982). In this paper we focus on the second of these two questions. Specifically, we examine differences in the social environment of public and private high schools, using 1,733 student reports about avenues to prestige.

Why Parents Choose Private Schools

An examination of the popular and scholarly literature on parents' school choice finds almost completely overlapping explanations. Parents believe that their children will learn more and have broader academic opportunities if they attend private schools. Further, and more to the point of the present paper, parents also believe that both religious and nonsectarian private schools provide an educational context in which their children will be encouraged to focus on academics and character development (cf. Badie, 1998; Folmar, 1997). Although the studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s revealed a somewhat inconsistent picture regarding differences in actual academic achievement between students who attended public and private schools (cf. Bickel & Chang, 1985; Coleman, Hoffer, & Kilgore, 1982; Morgan, 1984; Sandy, 1989), the picture was quite consistent regarding differences in "campus climate." Reports from students and parents indicated that private schools, more so than public schools, emphasized academic achievement, high morals, and courteous behavior (cf. Bridgeman & Fox, 1978; Coleman & Hoffer, 1983; Coleman et al., 1982). More recent journalistic accounts of parents' choices suggest that school selection continues to be guided by such climate factors, as well as by anticipated academic achievement (cf. Badie, 1998; Folmar, 1997). However, little recent literature has examined whether the climate differences between public and private secondary schools that were found in earlier studies persist. As concerns about violence and drugs in schools have escalated across the past two decades, private school enrollments have increased due to perceptions that they offer greater security on these issues (Hegarty, 1995; Strauss, 1995). However, questions remain as to whether private schools actually provide a social environment with fewer negative influences. Thus, we will begin by addressing the question of the extent to which private and public schools differ in terms of climate.

Exploring Differences in School Climate: Avenues to Prestige Among Adolescents

Examination of studies over the past two decades in the United States suggests little change in school climate, as indicated by the ways in which adolescents continue to gain prestige. Consistent with the findings that Coleman (1961) reported more than 40 years ago, boys continue to gain prestige primarily through sports, academic achievement, physical appearance, and sociability, while girls gain prestige primarily through academic achievement, physical appearance, and sociability (cf. Canaan, 1990; Eckert, 1989; Eder, 1985; Eder & Parker, 1987; Eicher, Baizerman, & Michelman, 1991; Foley, 1990; Kane, 1988; Kinney, 1993; Matteo, 1986; Suitor & Carter, 1999; Suitor & Reavis, 1995; Suitor, Minyard, & Carter, 2001; Williams & White, 1983). While it is likely that these patterns are found to some extent in both public and private high schools, we expect that the emphasis on particular attributes and behaviors will differ by type of school.

Recently, in a rare large-scale investigation, Valois and colleagues (1997) reported substantial differences in high school students' engagement in high-risk behaviors; however, the findings did not provide strong support for the notion that private schools provide a uniformly more positive social environment. Although students in private high schools were less likely to be sexually active, engage in fights, or carry a weapon, they were more likely to report other high-risk behaviors that are common among teenagers. For example, the researchers found that, compared to students in public schools, those in private schools were more likely to report using alcohol on a regular basis, binge drinking, driving after consuming alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and using drugs or alcohol prior to sexual intercourse. Girls in private schools were more likely than those in public schools to report that they had used marijuana in the last 30 days, and boys in private schools were more likely to chew tobacco than were boys in public schools. While these findings call into question the better social climate parents hope their children will experience in private schools, Valois and colleagues' study was based on data collected only in the state of South Carolina. A study by Suitor and Carter (1999) suggested that many of the deviant behaviors engaged in by students in private schools are more common among Northern than Southern high school students, contrary to popular belief. Thus, it is important to examine these issues using data that extend beyond a single state or region.