How big was the school?
How many girls were supposedly at Eastland? And what grades was it? Middle to high school?
shareit was probably middle to high school. Remember Kimberly previously went there--but left to attend public high school (cheaper filming for Different Strokes).
I don't think a lot. Look at the size of the cafeteria. Yes it's a 'set' but it's supposed to be a 'school'. Even imagining a real life/non-set layout, it looks 'old fashioned'. Not what I would think of when at my jr high/high schools which could easily seat hundreds. Eastland was about 'selectivity' and 'elite'.
I thought about that seeing the size of the cafeteria. But even with being "elite" there would need to be a decent number of girls in each grade to keep the school going. And I cannot picture a class with only 3 or 4 students.
And if it was supposed to be so "selective" how did Jo, given her history, get in?
Jo tested very well. It was explained when she was introduced. yes she came from public school and was rough but she still knew how to 'test'. in fact she was slightly higher than Blair in test scores. Jo merely had to 'polish up'
in the early seasons, they showed the classroom they usually had like 10 students per class. Much smaller than even a 'good; public school.
Part of that was the budget of the show (too many to pay/film lol) but it also reinforced how exclusive it was re admissions. Only 'certain' girls got in. Not every girl was supposed to qualify either.
On the other hand, this same model was also long term unsustainable. First it could not pay Mrs. Garrett the wages she expected for everything she was being expected to do, so she left to form her own business (employee turn over). This was a recurrent theme for the show vs a special episode to use for Jo.
Eastland itself had attempted to go coeducational. And then when that failed to keep the school afloat, it was finally sold off
Private school is academically exclusive but even it cannot put together enough of a reliable stream of money to successfully stay afloat. Very few people are in the 1 percent. So it's not long term sustainable as an educational institution.
By the time Pippa arrived (from the Australian sister school actually) she accepted that she would eventually have to go to a coed facility in order to continue attending Eastland. Pippa presumably finished eastland but during the 'reunion movie 10-20 years later, Blair had sold off the school.
Notably they do not include Pippa or her thoughts about the school having being sold off. She's not mentioned at all, and it's just the 3 girls (McKeon was not available at the time).
I didn't like the later season and new characters (like Pippa) so I had pretty much stopped watching by then. Do private schools like that also have less variety of classes (less electives) and even less choices for required classes like the maths?
I do remember when Blair bought the school and made it coed, how she said that was the only choice to keep it open.
I don't know re variety of classes. We only saw the classes during the early years of the series. They had some electives (journalism, drama, Spanish, gym) but I'm not sure what else they had for the girls as 'additional' courses'.
As I understand it though (I went to public schools) a private facility can make it's own curriculum it doesn't have to follow exactly the same academic rules as a public school.
I think that yeah they'd be restricted to whatever was being offered at the time/who was available to teach it and their own credentials/skills.
During the very first season Mrs. Garrett conveniently had nursing credentials in order to teach a hygiene class. She doesn't give any of the girls a letter to give to their parents (well the private school is set in NY state for one thing, and two it's 1979....big difference in course content!). Also they are talking only about pregnancy prevention...which seems incredibly dated.