Here in the Maize district, there are so many different types of people, the hallways are crowded, and there have to be multiple lunch periods to accommodate all of the students. At smaller schools, students are often surrounded by a handful of the same people for 13 years.
There is a big difference between small and large schools. The opportunities available, socially and academically, can shape the whole academic experience.
Elisabeth Shaw, a senior at Maize High, attended Central Christian Academy for a little less than a year before coming to Maize.
“In my class, there were around 20-30 [students], but in the whole school, around 80,” Shaw said. In comparison, Maize High School currently houses 1444 students.
The differences between teaching at a smaller and bigger school are also drastic. Stacy Woodard, the agriculture teacher in the Maize Career Academy, taught at a Pre-K through 12 school called Ballard in Butler, Missouri.
“It was a Pre-K-12 school and we averaged like 10 kids a class,” Woodard said. “So 130-140 kids in the whole school.”
In a small district, many of the students go to school together from kindergarten to senior year. Sienna Schmeidler is a senior at Victoria High School. She has only 17 people in her class, and she has been in the district her whole life.
“Right now, we’re super close with each other, but last year and our sophomore year, we were not close and would all do our own thing,” Schmeidler said.
Woodard noticed this with her students at her old school too.
“A lot of my kids have been at the same school since kindergarten, and they grew up with only those kids.”
This close proximity of the kids for so long can create intense social problems. If people do not get along, it can make it difficult to be at the same school for such a long time. Zayne Smith, a sophomore at Marysville Junior/Senior High School, has about 60 students in his graduating class.
“As soon as one person finds something out about someone, everyone knows,” Smith said. “So if it is embarrassing, everyone will know right away.”
Integrating can be hard for kids coming to the Maize School District for the first time.
“It’s very cliquey, it’s socially harder to find people,” Shaw said. “For me, it felt more isolating, but everyone else seemed pretty close.”
Not all of the social aspects are bad, however. There are major advantages to going to a smaller school.
“[I liked] the community aspect. I knew all of my kids’ siblings, I knew their parents. Woodard said. “I was super involved and the community was super involved in the school.”
Spending time with the people you are close to is also an important benefit of small schools.
“Everyone knows everyone, and it’s not completely divided,” Smith said. “I see a lot of my friends throughout the day.”
Another hardship for smaller districts is funding. Funding is dependent on how many students are in a school district, so opportunities can be scarce if there is not as much money.
“Our budget was a lot smaller,” Woodard said. “I was not able to provide the same opportunities that I have here because we didn’t have the money to do that.”
School sports are a huge part of the high school experience, but it can be really difficult for school morale if people are not involved.
“It’s really hard to get good sports teams, and get enough kids to participate,” Shaw said.
This lack of participation can even apply to student sections at games, contrasting with the lively student sections that are in the Maize district.
“There’s almost nobody that shows up,” Schmeidler said. “There’s only 5 or 6 people that are there.”
Some people end up loving life at a small school, and some end up preferring more people.
“Teaching-wise, I like teaching at a bigger school because of the diversity,” Woodard said. “But in terms of attending-wise, I would prefer the smaller school setting.”
Overall, there are definite advantages and disadvantages to going to a small school. Finding a feeling of belonging is a very important thing in any teenager’s life, whether that be at a school with 80 people or 1400.
