Whether it’s the mixture of religions, diverse population of students or issues with faculty, there are many reasons to leave a public school. For Shannon Livengood, this decision was not made based on the more commonly occurring issues, but was instead made when students began to disturb the learning environment she wanted.

When talking about her experience, Livengood said, “I felt that the silliness that my peers had in the classroom was detracting from my learning and wasting time,” which was a major issue for her.

After having sat through many class periods she described as a “waste of time,” Livengood said she felt “boys are dumb,” being the “bigger percentage of the problem.” This, she believed, was a result of the “motivational gap” that existed between the group of male and female students in her school after observing that the female students wanted to learn and that the boys were “just there to screw off.”

Although Livengood still did like her male friends, she said she would rather spend time with them in a social setting as opposed to a classroom environment.

She said this was not an issue of sexism, saying “everyone was a distraction” to her education while she was in a public school, but that she targeted her frustration to males because it was “typical” of people to do.

Livengood said she left public schools as a way of “taking control of her education.”

Though the decision worked for Livengood, she does know it is not always the best solution.

“The transition was a great move for me, but it’s not for everyone.”