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Big School and Small School: 1978
My ideal school is a small school with fewer than 150
children. In a small school, communications are simple
and relationships informal. I have been the principal
of Big School and Small School for the past five years.
Big School has about 500 children and 25 staff members,
whereas Small School has 125 children and six staff
members.
Small School does not need a principal. When I visit
Small School twice a month, I know that education is
the main order of the day. The teachers are not burdened
with daily mimeographed notices, attendance lists, duty
schedules, revised schedules, and all of the other paperwork
that emanates daily from a principal’s office, nor
with the endless organized meetings to bring staff members
together, as they have many daily opportunities to
communicate informally with one another for the benefit
of kids.
Still, Small School does have a leader, a very fine leader.
She is a teacher—a head teacher. Most of her time is in
the classroom with children. An experienced and talented
teacher, Mary Ann teaches a 1st-2nd grade classroom
with the help of a part-time teacher, who frees her up to
consult with teachers and parents and to carry out other
school-wide duties. Mary Ann provides the leadership to
help 125 children and six teachers to work together as an
educational community—a school.
When I share my vision about small schools, people
always ask what I suggest we do with all the expensive
and large school buildings that have been constructed.
My answer is to house two, four, or more small schools in
the big school buildings (or “facilities” as they are referred
to by central office administrators). Is this not a simple
solution to untangling schooling from the complexities of
the “economy of scale”? Teachers could then get on with
the job of teaching—connecting with children: motivating
them, inspiring them, challenging them, and providing
them with the basic foundation and love for a lifetime
of learning.
NOTE:
When I wrote this piece 27 years ago not only was I
convinced, as I am still today, that “small is beautiful,”
but also I had been becoming increasingly concerned by
the trend I had observed to build larger and larger school
buildings. It was the belief of many authorities in public
education and town and city government that larger
“facilities” would, by themselves, offer improved educational
opportunities, not recognizing the consequences
of massing larger and larger numbers of young persons
into more and more anonymous settings—some would
say war zones.
These emerging educational edifices, these palaces of
learning, were often rationalized by the decision-makers
as benefiting from the “economy of scale.” However,
to those of us on the sidelines they often appeared to be
erected as ego trips for competing architectural firms and
for certain school administrators, Board of Education and
Building Committee members filled with awe at their
own achievements.
A quarter of a century later, numerous educators, private
foundations and local communities are acting upon the
recognition that smaller school units are more humane,
practical, and suited to the enterprise of learning. One
need only look at the experience of New York City during
the past 5 years. In 2003 the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation gave $51 million to support 67 new small
high schools to “prepare underserved students for success
in today’s demanding economy.”
In 1992 The Julia Richman High School of 3000 student
had a 1/3 graduation rate while ten years later it had became
the JuliaRichman Educational Complex (JREC) housing four
small alternative high schools with graduation and college
acceptance rates approaching 80%.10
Small size alone does not create challenging and high
quality education that places young people first; however,
the proper environment is needed in which professional
teachers, administrators and involved families and community
members can nurture and truly educate youngsters through their critical years of growth.
Excerpted from:
Teaching as an Act of Love: Thoughts and Recollections
of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid © 2007 Richard Lakin
Complimentary E-Copy: http://bit.ly/9izOeu
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