In between reading college-level Greek texts, a group of about 20 ninth-grade Trinity Classical Academy students stumbled into a conversation about cloning inspired by the classic book "Frankenstein."
The students questioned the ethics of cloning: Does it interrupt God's plan?
"God picked a time for everyone to die," one student said. "That would be unnatural."
Their humanities teacher, Grant Horner, who is also a professor at The Master's College, pushed the debate.
"So should you not take medicine, go to the hospital or call 911?" he asked the class of focused students. "In other words, what do you mean by natural?"
"I think natural is the way God made it," a student responded.
It was a typical conversation at Trinity's Rhetoric School, but a conversation that would not exist in a public school setting.
The Santa Clarita Valley is home to at least 13 private schools.
Enrollment at the top three private schools, Legacy Christian Academy, Trinity Classical Academy and Santa Clarita Christian School, has stayed strong and stable despite the down economy and the fact that tuition can top $10,000 a year.
In the 2008-09 school year, nearly 8 percent, or 533,180 students, of California's total K-12 population attended private schools, according to the California Department of Education.
From that figure, nearly 78 percent of California's private school students in 2008-09 attended a school with a religious affiliation, figures from the state show.
Because the schools are privately run and families pay tuition, school leaders have more freedom in