Large Schools > Small Shcools

One issue that seems to be the topic for lots of debate is whether or not small towns should regionalize their school districts to create larger centralized high schools. In Massachusetts, it seems that more often than not these proposals are defeated by various towns; however, there are huge benefits to creating these unified districts.

Perhaps most simply, combining several small schools into one larger school provides immediate cost-savings. Rather than paying several sets of administrations, maintaining multiple buildings and operating several transportation systems, a single regional school would have only one of each of these units. Public schools seem to be consistently underfunded and the money could be put to a variety of good uses. Personally, I think that the best use of extra money is to increase teachers' salaries, but that is a topic for another time.

Among the more subtle changes is an increased cultural awareness of students. Small towns tend to be relatively homogenous in terms of race, ethnic groups and income levels. Some are more homogenous than others; from over 350 school districts in Massachusetts, my district was in the bottom 15 for diversity with a racial makeup of approximately 98% non-hispanic white. I feel strongly that children who grow up feeling like their way of life is the only way will often find themselves unprepared to live in the world that they are a part of. Mixing students from different towns together can often expose students to a more diverse group of people.

In my experience, the greatest benefit of regionalization is an expanded set of courses for students to choose from. Small schools often only have the staff and budgets to create basic curriculums; students may have little choice in what classes they take in high school. Larger schools can cater to the different tastes of different groups of students. Rather than having to choose between offering French or Chinese, larger schools are more likely to have the ability to offer both. My friends from large city-schools are often shocked when I tell them that my school only offered seven advanced placement courses; many of them were able to choose from twenty or more.