Quote:
Originally posted by Jeff Waegelin
I don't really mean to say anything bad about your school, but Rochester High School has an enrollment of 1900, our graduating class is 540, and 95% of the students go on to college. It's just different for bigger schools in suburban communities.
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Different in what ways?
Are you saying that the level of educational opportunities in these suburban schools is significantly higher than that of rural or inner city schools? Does this not highlight a major flaw in this country's system of education? If a child comes from a poor family or lives in an area with a low population density, why should he/she be subjected to a potentially worse educational experience than those kids living in suburban areas?
Students in some school districts attend classes in old, substandard buildings with outdated textbooks and few, if any, AP, IB, or college prep level courses, while others go to school in pristine palaces filled with every college prep course you could ever think of. The fact this level of educational disparity is allowed to exist in this country disgusts me.
A little anecdote - about 8 years ago, a couple students from a very rural school district (I think 50 kids were in the graduating class) were competing on an Academic Challenge TV show against kids from two suburban schools. In the middle of the show, the team captains from each team had the opportunity to read a little bio on their respective schools. The rather haughty captain from one of the suburban schools chose to mention the fact that their high school had one computer for every student. The rural high school had a small room containing 10 or so outdated Macs. The team from the rural school proceeded to handily defeat the other two teams. This team was also one of the most successful academic challenge teams in the county for four years, in which time it managed to defeat all of the other county teams, many of which were from wealthier school districts. This made the kids on the rural team quite happy, for they never liked it when kids from other schools flaunted their superior resources or made fun of their rural nature.... These kids were lucky, for their success was directly attributable to the dedication and care given to them by a very small group of schoolteachers who were determined to see them succeed despite the financial limitations of their district.
For those who are fortunate enough to attend larger schools with better resources, I am happy you have been given such a great opportunity. However, if you have a negative opinion of smaller schools (this isn't pointed at you Jeff, it's a general request), please do not look down upon these schools who are forced to work harder to achieve results with less. The teachers and administrators of these schools might not turn out the high percentage of college students that private, suburban, or other wealthier schools achieve (and how much of that percentage is related to the fact that far more parents in those districts can actually AFFORD to send their children to college?), but they manage to do a pretty darn good job with what they've been given.
KUDOS TO THE LITTLE GUYS!