This is me attempting to catch up on blog posts, but also I want to talk about this topic because I think it is a general misconception that is rather predominant in our society. Many people purport the value of small classes, which is something I agree with. Smaller classes are less intimidating and provide for more individual attention. One could easily make the case that large class sizes are not inherently evil and could in fact be better if it meant better teachers, but that’s not what I want to go off on today. The issue I have a problem with is that lately it seems people have translated the demand for small class size into a demand for small schools. For example, in
Now this is just ridiculous. Imagine if you went to a high school that only had 100 or 150 kids in it. You may get fabulous amounts of attention from your guidance counselor, who is useless anyways, but you would not have any of the opportunities that one is exposed to in a large school. I was lucky to find a dozen other kids in a high school of 1,200 who were interested in the extracurricular activities and field of study that I was. Furthermore, out of an enormous staff of teachers, only 2 or 3 were ones that I really looked up to and sought advice from. All the others, I am sure, were very intelligent and helpful people, but they did not have the area of interests that I had. Now if I am in a school as tiny as 100 kids then I will have none of the opportunities that I am so grateful for being exposed to. This is bad. Lets stop thinking smaller=better, because it doesn't.
-Mr. Alec
posted by Alec Brandon @ 10:59 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
And now we find the exact reason I left Hamden Hall. The school had about 50 people in my grade, and despite being a K-12 school, was still fairly small. Just Amity high, with its 3 grades, was twice HH's size.
There are really two public educational systems in this country: The system for middle and upper class suburban kids who come from relatively stable families who will be successful almost no matter what and the system for poor kids from broken homes who are born into a tough life and will live a tough life. For these kids, having small schools where people will be able to pay close attention to them for the first time in their life will be incredibly beneficial.
There are really two public educational systems in this country: The system for middle and upper class suburban kids who come from relatively stable families who will be successful almost no matter what and the system for poor kids from broken homes who are born into a tough life and will live a tough life. For these kids, having small schools where people will be able to pay close attention to them for the first time in their life will be incredibly beneficial.
An excellent point, Beowulf, King of the Geats and ass-kicker of Grendel, but is it small schools that give students more attention or small classes?
I agree with Mr. Alec. I went to a prep school with only 78 kids in my graduating class. By senior year, people knew everyone's business and they were all bored with each other. I probably only had three close friends who I still keep in touch with, and it's only been a year since high school. In response to "beowulf", consider how many students are in the lower class in NYC, and then consider how much space is provided in tiny schools. Wouldn't you rather see more effort to improve the large public schools where most children end up, rather than taking about 5% of the NYC population and giving them a better education?
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