Today's Trope: Private Schools

When writing YA novels, why is it so much fun to set them at private schools? In fantasy novels, you frequently see kids with special powers being carted off to these schools to learn to use their abilities. But even non-fantasy works use private schools as a way to segregate the cast of characters from the "real world."

I actually attended a private school all through middle school, so I have some personal experience with the culture there. It is very different than public school. The teachers are different. The expectations on grades and extracurricular activities are different. And the mindset of the students is different. I wasn't immune to it - when you get in to a private school, you automatically think a little better of yourself. "I'm special." "I'm better than the public-school kids." "I deserve to be treated better." It's really hard not to think like that at first. Some kids grow out of it, depending on their interactions with the outside world. Some just don't.

Currently, in the novel that I'm querying, I refer to the kids who think grandly of themselves as the "plastics." I know that term has been used a few too many times already, so I'm open to suggestions on what else I should call them. But the truth of the matter is, there are a LOT of them at private schools. Usually they come from upper-class families and have been told they were special since the day they were born. Some of them are academically gifted or particularly good at sports, and may have gotten a scholarship to the school, thus "proving" they are better than those kids still stuck in public schools, and even better than the kids at the private school who aren't on scholarship but simply paid their way in. However the mindset was formed, they persistently think they are better than others, and lord it over them whenever possible.

These plastics (or whatever I end up calling them) make for excellent villains in YA novels. Some have the chance of being redeemed, if shown the error of their ways. Some remain "evil" throughout the story and must be defeated in some way. But they stand opposed to the "good guys" in the story by their very nature. You see some of this in public schools, as you always have bullies and those who think highly of themselves, but the tight-night environment at private schools, and the addition of socioeconomic disparities, make these schools much more intense when it comes to bully culture.