 A 1973 "Yale Law Journal" article characterized Jackson Prep as "second generation segregation academy" since the student body lacked both black and low income white students, but unlike so called "rebel yell academies", employed competent staff offering a complete academic program and sought the same elite status as traditional upper class day schools in the rest of the country.As of 1978, Jackson Prep was not a charity and operated as a profit making institution.In 1981, Jackson Prep headmaster Jesse Howell said the school was established because the "upheaval" white parents experienced from desegregation "caused a need for stability, for a place to send their children.