# Where Did You Get Your High School Diploma (or Equivalent)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677 "2009-10-05T15:38:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/1 "2009-10-05T15:38:51Z")
For Dopers who have high school diplomas (or the Canadian, UK, [insert your country here] equivalent), where did you earn your diploma? In this poll, I will use “public” and “private” in the US sense. If your parents paid your tuition, it’s a private school. If the state paid your tuition, it’s a public school. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/2 "2009-10-05T15:47:34Z")
Springfield Southeast High School, Class of 1988. A public high school. I _begged_ my parents to send me to a private school. I even offered to pay the tuition myself, but they wouldn’t hear of it. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/3 "2009-10-05T15:54:55Z")
Cubberley High School Palo Alto, Ca Class of 1978 Public school. Closed in 1979. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/4 "2009-10-05T15:56:07Z")
Newcastle Boys’ High School, which was not exactly a “plain-old public high school” since it was a selective high school. It wasn’t like a magnet school, however, since the curriculum was not specialised. And it no longer exists, having been part of a complete reorganisation of secondary schools in the city in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/5 "2009-10-05T16:00:20Z")
Havre de Grace High School - about as bog-standard an American public HS as you’ll ever find. Still there, still kicking football butt. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/6 "2009-10-05T16:10:33Z")
San Francisco Javier, which as the name indicates is owned by the Jesuits. Meanwhile, my brothers were across the street, at the Nuns… The other two offers in town were a vocational High School/Community College (meaning it offers degrees at what would be those two levels in the US) and a public High School. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/7 "2009-10-05T16:17:40Z")
I went to this alternative high school: [Jefferson County Open High School](http://sc.jeffco.k12.co.us/education/school/school.php?sectionid=296), known colloquially as Happy Hippie High when I went there in the eighties. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/8 "2009-10-05T16:19:26Z")
Dreher High School, class of 1997. Through fourth grade I went to Heathwood, one of the local private schools, because we lived way out in the country. Now a year in high school at Heathwood costs, are you ready for this? $15,000. I went to a very ritzy small private college and tuition didn’t cost that much! And this is in South Carolina, not New York City! Jesus Fucking Christ! I am perfectly proud of my South Carolina public school education. I went to college with 27 credits already and comped out of almost every prerequisite. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/9 "2009-10-05T16:36:34Z")
Normal standard English-speaking public high school in Ontario. (For historical and political reasons relating to the development of Canada, the Constitution Act of 1867, French/English détente, etc, Ontario has four publically-funded school systems. There are English and French systems, and there are “public” and “separate” systems. These are full school systems, from kindergarten to the end of high school. The “separate” schools are Catholic; the public schools were originally Protestant, but are now non-religious. This was set up at Confederation, which was, roughly-speaking, a compromise between English-speaking Protestants and French-speaking Catholics. On the census forms, there’s a checkbox to indicate whether you want your taxes to go to the public schools or the separate schools. Thus, your kids can go to a French-speaking Catholic school, a French-speaking non-religious school, an English-speaking Catholic school, or an English-speaking non-religious school. There are also any number of private schools, for which the parents must pay the tuition (and it’s often quite pricey). These are everything from Montessori to Islamic to upper-crust establishment. The English-speaking public schools are by far the largest schools. Private schools and separate schools have a reputation for being more rigorous academically. French-speaking schools are much thinner on the ground than English-speaking ones.) ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/10 "2009-10-05T17:28:10Z")
I got my GED at 18 in 1988 at the Memphis BOA, after dropping out of Treadwell High school at sixteen. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/11 "2009-10-05T17:37:28Z")
Parry Sound High School, class of 1997 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/12 "2009-10-05T18:05:02Z")
Bishop Guertin HS, class of 1988. Private Jesuit-run day school, somewhat more academically rigorous than my hometown school. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/13 "2009-10-05T18:11:13Z")
In Britain a “Public” school is a private school. And A “State” school is what you would call a public school. So I’m stuck for what to choose. I went to a state school ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/14 "2009-10-05T18:16:46Z")
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute, in Toronto. In spite of its fancy name, it’s really just a plain ol’ public high school. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/15 "2009-10-05T18:26:46Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > In Britain a “Public” school is a private school. And A “State” school is what you would call a public school. > > So I’m stuck for what to choose. I went to a state school See the OP: If your parents paid the tuition bill, it’s a private school. If it’s funded by the government, it’s a public school. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/16 "2009-10-05T18:31:36Z")
Apologies, I did not read the actual OP. Shame on me. Ok, but it feels ‘wrong’ to pick public school. It feels like I’m admitting to being a toff. Even though by the OP definition I’m not. Ok I’ll vote. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/17 "2009-10-05T18:36:23Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Apologies, I did not read the actual OP. Shame on me. Ok, but it feels ‘wrong’ to pick public school. It feels like I’m admitting to being a toff. Even though by the OP definition I’m not. > > Ok I’ll vote. Man, if I had a pound for every time I felt like a toff…😕 [Go Colts.](http://www.cvsd.net/chartiersvsd/site/default.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/18 "2009-10-05T18:40:17Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Man, if I had a pound for every time I felt like a toff…😕 > > [Go Colts.](http://www.cvsd.net/chartiersvsd/site/default.asp) > **[Toff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toff)** > > In British English slang, a toff is a stereotype for someone with an aristocratic background or belonging to the landed gentry, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority.\[citation needed\] For instance, the Toff, a character from the series of adventure novels by John Creasey, is an upper class crime sleuth who uses a common caricature of a toff – a line drawing with a top hat, monocle, bow-tie and cigarette with a holder – as his calling card. > The word "toff" is thought to come fro... ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/19 "2009-10-05T18:41:27Z")
[Private Catholic high school](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Spirit_High_School_%28New_Jersey%29). I believe it was about $4500 a year when I was there. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677/20 "2009-10-05T19:10:03Z")
[Private Catholic (Jesuit) high school](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_High_School_(New_York_City)). They have a very well regarded Junior ROTC program, so I guess I would’ve checked ‘military/boarding’ if I’d elected to take part. The most notable alumni are Justice Antonin Scalia and Al Roker. Naturally, the school features Roker more prominently in its promotional material. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-you-get-your-high-school-diploma-or-equivalent/512677.md?page=2)