What 4 Months of School Taught Me About Conformity and Finding Your True Self

Do you remember your first day of school?

I do. I was 17 years old.

I recall clutching the navy blue backpack secured around my shoulders like a life vest. Before that day, I’d been homeschooled my entire life. I hadn’t even attended the first grade.

As a Homeschooler, I was curious about traditional school and sometimes wondered if I was “missing out.” School was a rite of passage, I’d heard people say. My neighborhood friends all went to school, and they seemed to be part of a special club. I wanted in. As a Homeschooler, I was different. I stood out.

At 17, I wanted what all teenagers want: to fit in.

After months of working to persuade them, I finally convinced my parents to enroll me in a public high school. I enrolled in five classes in the high school’s honors program for the last semester of senior year. I stepped into a public school at 17 years old for the first time in my life.

I was going to be a “Schooler,” as we Homeschoolers called them — a title shared by most American kids but one that was strange and unfamiliar to me and my family. I had a mother who authored books on the subject of homeschooling, and two sisters who had never set foot in a public school, either. My…