School Where Everybody Knows Your Name

A School Where Everybody Knows Your Name

The case for the mega high school is being called into question

When it comes to schools, bigger is not better. Educators have long argued for smaller classes, and several researches now are finding that the intimate environment that can make a class click also benefits a school as a whole.

The original arguments for large high schools go back to 1959 and a book by James Conant, the then-president of Harvard, arguing that very small high schools short-changed students because they were too small to afford such things as a science lab, advanced mathematics, and a full menu of electives.

Most high schools today have several thousand students and extensive curricular offerings. But recent research suggests little educational justification for large, comprehensive high schools.

“As schools get bigger, they tend to create demands for much higher levels of bureaucratic overhead,” explain many education professors form different educational institutions. Safety and disorder go up in large schools, and you have to hire police and extra assistant principals. All of the economic efficiencies that might attach to bigger building evaporate.”

A student. Illustration by Elena.

The optimum size for a high school may be in the range of 500 to 600 students, many experts believe. Studies indicate that there is less student absenteeism and classroom disorder, and lower drop-out rates in such schools. Teacher morale also tends to be higher, and at least in the period of transition from 8th to 10th grade, new research suggests that student achievement is higher in smaller schools.

Smaller-sized schools tend to work because they create more engaging environments for students. Large high schools are very anonymous places where students typically feel lost and often fall through the cracks.