Alternative school may be perceived as a type of school where troubled students  fight, do drugs, and slack. In actuality, these are just stereotypes to make it seem like these students are bad people.

Ovid-Elsie Alternative, schooling approximately 12 students, is said to hold the fighters and druggies of our small school, but knowing most of them personally, I know that most of the the students that go there are not bad people. Some of the students who go there, go for mental health reasons, or because of lower student population.

Although our high school isn’t the largest school around, we do still have a fair amount of students, and having such a surplus of people can cause massive anxiety, making it not only hard to focus, but could give these students anxiety and panic attacks. Also, being in a school with a large amount of students, increases the possibility of being bullied, and basically mentally abused by peers.

In a regular high school setting there may be an increase in the chance of fights when students who “don’t fit in,” or have trouble being around other people, co-mingle with the rest of the population. Sometimes students who suffer from mental or physical pain from bullying seek a way to escape life through drugs or other  alternatives. Also, not everyone’s home life may be as pleasant as others, adding to the pressure of a regular school environment, which can be extremely bad for their stability. That’s where Alternative school comes in.

Alternative schooling, with such a small amount of students, increases the student-teacher one-on-one time, helping the students not only understand their work better, but helps them be more likely to get their work done, and get good grades. Students have more freedom in such a school. Rather than being, in a way, forced to do something one specific way with no alternatives, causing anxiety, or the urge to fight back and not do their work in protest, students are presented with choices.

Overall, I feel as if students who go to the alternative, are everyday kids, just like regular students.  The difference is they just have opportunities that will better fit their personality and needs, increasing their chances of being happy, healthy, good students. After all, no student is the same, so you can’t expect one single type of teaching/schooling method to work.