The reason I am interested in doing a research paper on schools is because I myself attended a public school and would like to know the different styles of education that are being offered at private schools. I attended John Marshall High School and had a very difficult time in adapting to the environment. I was a foreigner when I attended Marshall and it seemed to me that the teachers were more lenient and did not show much of a care towards their students. As a high school student, I did not have a heavy load of homework and also not enough tests to see if I am learning the material that the teacher was covering. To me it seems that at a private school, students end up graduating with more education that gives them the ability and the courage to face college work. This is another reason why I would like to base the second half of my research on private schools and find out what these schools are offering.

The first school I would like to study is Hollywood High school. This school is located on the corner of Sunset and Highland. Hollywood High was built in the year 1903 and was named after Hollywood where all the famous stars attended school in the past. This school is also surrounded with fast food restaurants, which in my opinion has a bad influence towards some students. I think this gives the students the advantage to skip classes. Overall, Hollywood High is well staffed with bilingual teachers and it offers all courses students need for a high school diploma.

Presently, Hollywood High has over 3000 students enrolled. This school offers 9^th to 12^th grade and a high school diploma. According to Mr. Reeppee, Hollywood High’s assistant principal, this year there are 1100 students enrolled in the freshmen class. 800 students in the sophomore class, 600 students in the junior class and 500 students in the senior class. For a high school, Hollywood High has a big and beautiful campus. For the past few years they are trying to get air conditioning, reconstruct the old buildings, and get rid of the graffiti’s that make the campus look really poor. They are also trying to get the students to participate in keeping the campus clean and planting trees and flowers in the campus. Population is the major problem concerning Hollywood high as it does for a lot of other public schools. This is the reason why Hollywood High made the transition from a year around to a track system.

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph about the graffiti’s that make Hollywood Highs campus look very unattractive, there is a passage in the "Ecology of Fear" by Mike Davis that mentions about graffiti’s that destroy the beauty of Los Angeles. I think the same thing happens in the schools. The students who do not like to learn try to make the campus look very poor by tagging on the walls of the buildings and the bathrooms.

As a student I attended John Marshall High which is a public school and I encountered that John Marshall had a population problem. The reason for this is because there were more than 3000 students enrolled. The reason why schools got crowded, especially high schools is when junior highs became Middle schools and the 9^th graders started attending high schools. This was the major reason the transition from a year around to a track system was made.

For instance, during my senior year, I only needed an English class to full fill my requirements for graduation. There were close to fifty students in my English class and there were not enough chairs for the students throughout the whole semester. When the students complained to the teacher, his response was very negative. According to Mr. Ebeling, my English teacher, the school does not have enough money to hire new teachers. In my opinion, the maximum number of students the high schools should have in an English class is twenty-five. This will give the students the ability to concentrate on their schoolwork then on each other. I based the first part of my research by attending Hollywood High and interviewing the head counselor, the assistant principal, secretaries and some former students. According to Jenny Massey, the head counselor, they try to enroll sixty students in Physical Education, thirty-five in the academics and twenty to thirty students in the English classes. Personally I think this is an average size classroom. When the classrooms get crowded the teacher looses control of the classroom and the student’s loose concentration.

Hollywood High offers courses in some fields that some high schools don’t offer. Here are some of the courses: performing arts which a lot of students get accepted to colleges in that field. New Media Academy, and Project Preparation for the universities. This helps students to become familiar with the college life. Also how to manage their time and how to build a special relationship with their instructors. Most of the students who graduate from Hollywood High school end up going to a college. 70% of the students get accepted to colleges. 48% of these students get accepted to community colleges.

As I continue with my research I wanted to go back to Hollywood High and ask few questions regarding the teachers and the students. I wanted to find out what kind of teachers Hollywood High has and how much time do the students spend on their homework. For instance, I had the opportunity to meet with Miss Dee who is an art teacher at Hollywood High. She explained me the situation by giving two examples. The teachers who are inexperienced meaning who have been in the teaching world for only couple of years have a harder time controlling the classrooms. This is not true in all the cases because there are teachers who have been teaching for more than twenty years are sick of their job and can not control their classrooms. An inexperienced teacher or a more lenient teacher takes ten to fifteen minutes to take a role and get the class settled down. He spends half an hour lecturing and for the last ten minutes tries to answer the student questions and finally assigns the homework.

The teachers who are more experienced and have been in the teaching field for few years and are enjoying their jobs have a lot more control over their classroom. For instance, they start out the class by giving five-minute quiz based on the day before lecture. Then either the teacher will assign an individual assignment for the students or give a group work. If not these, he himself gives a lecture but requires a feedback from the students. This gives the students the opportunity to communicate with their instructor.

I also did a little research and wanted to know how much time did students spend at Hollywood High on their homework. To find out some results I talked to couple of students. Surprisingly, couple of students actually said half an hour and their excuse was they tried to finish their homework in class. Three students said at least one to two hours a day. Two students said their hobby was reading which they enjoyed doing right after their homework. There were other students who said we try really hard to finish our homework during the weekdays so we can party during weekends. In total I talked to ten students and according to my calculations the average student spends up to two hours depending how much homework the teacher assigns.

Hollywood High has more than six different races in the school. 65% of the students are Hispanics, 24% are Armenians, 1% are Philippines, 2% are Blacks and 10% are Whites. According to Jenny Messy, the head counselor, these students get along ok. The only reason these students argue towards each other is because of girls. In my opinion I don’t think girls are the problem but there is racism going on in public schools. The school staffing also has an idea but they are trying to hide it. They do know that most of the arguments are coming from racism but they do not want the outside people to know their weak spots. Even the students if someone goes up to them and confronts them, they will not admit that there are racism going on in their school.

Another problem high schools have are students dropping out of school. I personally have experienced that in my family and it was not a good feeling. My older sister dropped out of school when she was in 12^th grade. She only had one more semester to graduate but she decided she wanted to work instead of going to school and getting an education. This hurt both of my parents but they wouldn’t change her mind. I decided to ask Mr. Reepee what is Hollywood Highs drop out range? According to him, the drop out range in Hollywood High is 4.7% yearly. The reason for this he said was poverty. Students, who are coming from a low-income family, drop out of school and go to work to support their family. Bob Arzumanyan, who was a former student at Hollywood High, did not graduate from high school. According to Bob, if you have a lot of friends at school you give your concentration to them and you become influenced by them. You start skipping classes and the next thing you know you do not have enough credits to graduate. The final outcome is you eventually drop out of school.

The second school I would like to consider is Arshag Tigranian. This school was named after its owner. Arshag Tigranian is an Armenian Christian Private School. Presently, St. Karapet is an Armenian Christian Church and is located right next to the school. The church symbolizes god, as a help from the above towards the students education. As a Christian tradition the first day of the school, the pope visits the school, prays for the students and well comes them back to school.

Arshag Tigranian was built in the year 1981 and was named after its owner Arshag Tigranian who just passed away two years ago. The Teckejian Association owns Arshag Tigranian and this Association helps this school financially. Presently there are 600 students attending Arshag Tigranian. This school offers pre-k to 12^th grade. Since this is a private school, Arshag Tigranian has a tuition fee for each student. The pre-k through kindergarten coasts the parents $2950 yearly. From the elementary through junior high the tuition fee is $2750 yearly. For the high school the tuition fee is $2850 yearly. I personally think this is a lot of money for a small school. Not everyone can afford to pay that much money for a school. I personally went to Arshag Tigranian and interviewed the schools principle. According to Vagan Tigranian, most of the parents complain about the schools tuition but since it’s a private school there are a lot of expenses to be covered and they do not get a lot of help from the government. Also since it’s a private school, the school requires the students to wear uniforms. Approximately each parent pays $3500 yearly which includes the tuition fee, books, lunch money, and the uniforms. I think this is sad because a lot of students are being left out because their parents can’t afford to get them the education they want.

According to the secretary Arpi, there are thirty students in the Physical Education, Academics and in the English classes. This is the maximum number of students they allow in each classroom. In most of the classrooms, especially the higher levels, they only allow twenty to twenty-five students. I think it will be easier for the teachers to teach with twenty-five students and for the students it will be easier to learn. I also found out that Arshag Tigranian has more than enough staffing which includes the teachers, assistant teachers, student helpers, and the head staffing.

I was also interested in the drop out ranges at Arshag Tigranian. When I interviewed the principal I asked him how many students drop out each year? According to him, there aren’t any students dropping out of Arshag Tigranian. But 5% of the students are leaving the school because their parents can’t afford to pay their tuition fee and these students end up transferring to another school. I also wanted to know how these students got along with each other since they are within the same race. The secretary of the school said that they get along very well. They rarely encounter arguments in the school. The punishments are the same in both public and private schools. In Arshag Tigranian they first assign you to a paper pick up and the last phase is to transfer students to another school. Also another reason why these students fight both in public and private schools is pure pressure. If one student gets into a fight and gets away without any punishment, the others want to do the same thing.

Arshag Tigranian offers the same programs or courses as they do at the other schools. They also offer a high school diploma. After graduation 90% of the students go to college. 45% of these students attend a community college.

Overall Arshag Tigranian is a very small and beautiful school which in the future will be extended. They want to extend the school size and add more buildings. Also most parents and students think very highly of Arshag Tigranian.

As going further with my research I went back to Arshag Tigranian and tried to talk with some of the teachers and find out how are they controlling their classrooms? According to Mrs. Karapetyan who is teaching 10^th graders, the controlling of the classrooms depends both on the teachers and the students. It depends on how teachers approach the students. For instance, if the teacher assigns homework, group works and classworks from the first day, the student will notice that this is not a class where you can play around. Most of the students will come to class and approach the class seriously. According to Mrs. Karapetyan, there are also teachers who do not care about their student’s education and they make the class very enjoyable throughout the whole semester. By talking to these teachers in person, I myself started to understand how I used to view my classes during high school. I used to try to get classes where I would get the easy A and not work hard. As I graduated and started attending college, know I understand that there is no such thing as an easy A. You have to earn your grade by working hard.

As I continued with my paper, I wanted to do a little more research on racism and the number of dropouts. According to a journal based on my topic, "Race Relations & Central City Schools," some say race relations are improving, others say not. Some say affirmative action has acquired racial progress; others say not. In the end, all Americans know that racism can be fully achieved if we eliminate the differences in the average educational performances of blacks and whites. In Los Angeles more than 85% of the students are of minority background. Only 20% of whites in public schools attend central city schools. In these big cities like Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, etc. public schools fail their students most miserably. In 1996 there was a national survey done and 46% of urban students read at "basic" level as compared to 63% in nonurban areas. In comparison to urban students, the high poverty schools read at the basic level as compared to 46% in nonurban high poverty areas. According to William Raspberry, a columnist, "Poor children desperately need better education. Yet the schools they attend particularly in America’s overwhelmingly black and brow inner cities may be the least successful of all public schools."

After all this, only few parents are prepared to defend central city schools. A lot of parents wonder what kind of education are they offering at a private school? Now day’s parents are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a choice school as long as their children get the right education. Most of the parents and the students are happier at their selected school but few complain about the tuition fee. According to Pamela Ballard, a parent from Cleveland Choice Program, "HOPE Academy was my last hope. I took my third grade child, who had been in several Cleveland schools and was labeled a problem child.’ I know have a successful child. Where there were D’s and C’s, there are now A’s and B’s." Choice schools are more popular then public schools. Private schools are known for their discipline, safety, and involvement of parents and instructors. Another example that I would like to site is from the same journal but from the student’s point of view. "As soon as I came here it was a big change. Here teachers care about you…(In public schools) the teachers were too busy to help." Worse of all, she said, were the fights. "You really can’t avoid it. They’ll think you’re scared." Another journal that discusses choice schools is "The Quarterly Journal of Economics." This journal for the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program explains how parents are for the choice schools because of the better test scores based on the students reading and writing.

In my opinion, I think private schools are safer and better than public schools. It is safer because of the discipline, instructors, small campus and better quality of education. I think that racism is part of both public and private schools. But I also think that the most racist students are the ones who attend private schools. The reason for this is at the private school; the students interact only within their race or within their religion. This makes them become racist towards other races because they do not interact with other races during school.

Also when I did my research on dropout rates both in Hollywood High and Arshag Tigaranian, I basically found out that the dropout rates are much higher at a public school than at a private school.

According to an article published in Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, August 19, 1998 the state says, the number of dropouts is declining and at the same time, the college enrolments are rising. According to the statistics, a lot more students are staying in school, passing college prep tests and not dropping out of school. There are some slight improvements but not because of the student achievements but because of the result of a better record keeping. The state says, the reason why the dropout rates are high in some public schools is because students’,, who transfer to another school or are missing, are reported as dropouts. As the school district officials went over the dropout reports, they saw a slight improvement on the dropout rates. For example, the state has 450,000 ninth-graders but about 250,000 graduates. After going over their records, the state found out that only 50,000 of these 200,000 missing students are actually listed by district as dropouts. Another way the state says the number of dropout rates will decline, if the students start taking more college prep classes. This will also help the students to score high on their SAT and at the same time; the number of students enrolling in college will improve.

In my opinion, I think the state is right. I don’t think it is right for public schools to count truant students and transfer students as dropouts. I think the state should higher people who are more educated and will do their jobs right. We need school officials who will give the accurate results for the dropout rates and also the test results. Overall, according to statistics and research, as much as the dropout rates decline in public schools, they are still higher then the private schools.

As going further in my research, I wanted to know where do these students continue their education after graduating high school. By overlooking both public and private schools, almost 40-50% of these students gets accepted to a community college and 20-30% of these students gets accepted to a university either within or outside of their state.

70% of the students in Hollywood High school get accepted to a college after graduating. 48% of these students get accepted to a community college. The colleges that accept Hollywood High students are Cal State LA, Northridge, UCLA, LACC, Valley and Glendale. Out of the 48% of the students who get accepted to a community college, almost half of these students go to LACC and the rest go to Glendale. The 22% of the students who get accepted to a university, approximately 5% will get accepted to UCLA. The rest of the students either go to Cal State LA or Northridge. The reason why high percentage of the students are going to a UC system is because is it easier to get in. If you have a 3.0 GPA of higher you do not have to take your SAT’s. The UV systems are looking for students who have had average GPA’s during their high school years. Most of the other universities have higher tuition and require the SAT results.

The results in Arshag Tigranian are very similar to Hollywood High. 90% of the students in Arshag Tigranian go to a college. 45% of these students go to a community college. The colleges that accept Arshag Tigranian students are Northridge, Cal State LA, UCLA and Occidental. The majority of the students at this school also continue their education at a UC system.

By looking at the results I was curious why do most students go to a community college instead of a four-year university. According to some students, either they have a low GPA or they do not do well on their SAT’s. Another reason why students go to a community college is because it coasts less to get the same education. Also students graduating from high school do not feel prepared enough to attend to a four-year universities. Most of the students adapt to a college life much easily and they assume it will prepare them for the university for the future.

By comparing these two schools I basically found out that public schools and private schools are different. Both of these schools offer a high school diploma and a high quality of education. Public schools are open for anyone. The government pays for the student’s education, textbooks and the lunch tickets. Unlike the private schools, each parent has to pay a high tuition fee starting form Pre-k to 12^th grade. Also these students have to wear their schools uniforms. The parents have to pay for the student’s tuition fee, uniforms, lunch money, textbooks and help out in the schools activities. Recently some of the public school requires the students to wear uniforms but this is not active for all the schools. In the public schools the government pays for the students lunch money and textbooks. This is a big advantage coming from a public school. I also did a research on the number of dropout in each school and by using the LA Times I found out that there are more students dropping out of public schools than in private schools. For example, in Hollywood High the number of dropout are 4.7% yearly. In Arshag Tigranian there aren’t any dropout but 5% of the student leave the school because the parents can’t pay the tuition fee. I also compared both of the schools to find out if there is any racism going on in the schools. When I approached both of the principles with this question, their response was that the students are getting along really well. The last part of my research I compared the percentage of the students attending college or a university after graduating high schools. In Hollywood High 70% of the students attend college or a university right after graduating their high school. In Arshag Tigranian 90% of the students are attending college right after graduating their high school.

In my opinion private schools are safer than public schools. One reason is because there are no gangs attending private schools but in the public schools, since it is open for anyone, there are gangs attending these schools. Gangs are in school to disturb the classrooms and make fights. This is very dangerous for the students who approach seriously toward their studies. In the book "LA Confidential" by James Ellroy, the author sites us several passages that deals with gangs which then leads to a racism. For example, the girl who got raped by four or five guys was gang-related activity. These guys picked on a Mexican girl, which I think shows hatred toward Mexicans. Because of gangs, there are a lot of girls who get raped in the public schools. The other reason why I think private schools are safer is because the parents are paying for the student’s education. This makes the teachers more aware of the students. This way the teacher has to have a personal relationship with each of their students. I also agree that the quality of education is equal both in the public schools and in the private schools. I also think the quality of the education comes both from the student and the teacher. The more the students pay attention in class, the more material the teacher will cover. Mainly it is based on the student. If the student works hard they will earn the grade they disserve. Of course there are always exceptions.

In conclusion, I finished my research paper on Hollywood High and Arshag Tigranian. When I started to write this paper I had so many questions that I wanted to ask and found out the answer. Here are the types of questions I was curious in finding out the answers; what is the maximum number of students in each class? What is the dropout ranges? Is there racism going on in these schools? What are the percentage of the students graduating from these schools and what percentage of the students goes to a college or a university? Also which colleges accept these students? By finding the answers to these questions it was interesting for me to find out how each school operates. I learned a lot by doing this research. It helped me to understand and realize more about the importance of going to school and getting an education. By doing this research my view towards teachers and other students from a different race has changed dramatically. I view teachers and classmates as helpful source towards my education. By having a lot of difficulties talking to the schools staffing or getting information form journals, newspapers and our textbooks, I have successfully completed my research paper.

Davis, Mike. Ecology of Fear. New York: Metropolitan Books,

Ellroy, James. L.A. Confidential. New York: Warner Books, 1990.

Peterson, Paul. "Race Relations & Central City Schools."

Brookings Review (Spring 1998): 33-36

"Private School Vouchers and Student Achievement."

The Quarterly Journal of Economics (May 98): 553-4

"Dropouts." Los Angeles Times. Wednesday, August 19, 1998.

Arpi: Secretary or Arshag Tigranian.

Arzumanian, Bob: Former student of Hollywood High.

Babalian, Cindy: Former student from Marshall High who dropped out

During her senior year.

Dee: Art teacher from Hollywood High.

Ebeling: English teacher from John Marshall.

Karapetyan: Teaches 10^th graders at Arshag Tigranian.

Massey, Jenny: Head counselor of Hollywood High.

Reepee: Hollywood High’s assistant principal.

Tigranian Vagan: Principal at Arshag Tigranian.

*I also conducted a survey and questioned up to 10 students from both of the schools but I made the surveys unanimous in order for the students to answer the questions.