<p>The trend in the U.S. is to smaller high schools. Still, there are some really big ones out there with 3000 students or more. Here's an interesting [url=<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/28/AR2005112801300.html%5Darticle%5B/url">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/28/AR2005112801300.html]article[/url</a>] from the Washington Post about huge high schools. Any opinions on this? Do you attend a mega-school, and are you happy with it?</p>
<p>I would be intimidated by a huge high school but I think it would ultimately be more beneficial because of opportunities it could provide. I would love if my high school could offer more courses, or at least offer more sections of classes. I couldn't get into some classes because of scheduling issues, but if my school were bigger and more classes were offered I could take the classes I wanted to take. Then again, a huge school would only work with proper resources and management.</p>
<p>I go to a school with about 800, i'd rather go to a bigger school. Seems like more fun, plus theres more classes and ec's. As long as the schools big enough, I think it's fine.</p>
<p>I love my school of 2000 (we're at max. capacity). So it's not a "mega" but it's still pretty big. I really like it. </p>
<p>1.I don't have to worry about seeing the same faces all day. Even with our honors students, there's a huge variety of people I see all day
2.I don't have to worry about seeing the same faces everyyear. Huge variety of people I've encountered
3.There are lots of different sections of classes, so say I drop class A, for class B, chances are good it won't end in a schedule conflict
4.Huge variety of classes. Not so much for AP's, but so many electives!
5.Lotso sports. We have basically every normal sport and 4/5 of our teams are very talented
6.It's easy to make friends. everyone fits in somewhere, even oddballs like me!
7.easy to switch teachers. enough said ;)
8.good resources in the arts. I don't think my school could for example have a good-sized darkroom if we were smaller and there was less interest in it.
9.we can come in early/leave late just because we are so close to capacity
10.starting clubs is easy, because no matter what a good sized amount of people will be interested, and there's always some teacher who you can find to lead it</p>
<p>If the students are well-behaved and there is little classroom cramping, then such large schools are fine. Some even have the chance to offer classes or activities not found at smaller schools. However, if the school is poor, the classrooms are cramped and/or the students are not well-behaved, then the schools need to be split up, particularly if the facility was not built big enough to handle the volume of students.</p>
<p>It also depends on the focus of the school; if it is athletics and a large body from which to recruit students is desired, then some schools may want to stay large. Westerville (OH) comes to mind: split apart, each is a reasonable school academically, but with relatively poor athletic programs; I have a feeling that if the three schools (North, South, and Central) were combined, the school would be able offer more activities (such as foreign exchanges-my home school, combined with Central and a school near Cleveland named Beachwood, offer a class that after its conclusion students can travel to Japan or China; Westerville has tried to get the program extended to the other schools, but they have been unable to this point in time) and its recruiting pool would increase greatly.</p>
<p>My school is extremely annoying. It's ginormous. I wouldn't mind if most the students cared at least somewhat, or... if most the faculty cared... We can be pretty crammed (I was for 3 years) but if you're in advanced courses, in higher levels, the numbers drop (12 people in my AP Lit). My school is divided up into 6 smaller schools, with like 7 principals or something... but it really is just for "organization" purposes. Anywho, I hate it.</p>
<p>The quality of the school (student-to-teacher ratio, quality of teaching and support staffs, quality of course offerings including H and AP, graduation rate, parent involvement, crime rate, after school programs and academic support opportunities, etc.) is far more important than the size of the student population.</p>
<p>In California, there is a major emphasis right now on smaller schools, but some fail miserably because they lack the human, financial and other resouces needed to provide a quality education.</p>
<p>We have a bit over 3000 students with around 750~ in my class currently. I like it, theres always new people you meet every year. Also, we have this super cool building with 10 floors to go along with it =]</p>
<p>wow. I wish I had a cool building, ours is old and junkie.</p>
<p>My high school was briefly the largest in NC with slightly over 3000 students. Unfortunately, unlike munkeegirl, my high school only had two floors. The "solution" was to bring in over 30 trailors and make many of the teachers floaters. </p>
<p>It was absolutely horrible because some of the hallways were blocked off because they were removing asbestos. Hallways were always jammed, and the crowding on the stairs was ridiculous. We only had enough lockers for 2/3 of the school, and even my bus was overcrowded. School officials finally figured out my hs was overcrowded, so they moved the students- to another school that is now overcrowded with over 3000 students. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>mine isn't too bad...my class is 125, and class sizes get a lot smaller as you move up the grades. The biggest class I've had at this school was 28...i think...and the school "campus" as we call (university wannabes...lol) it is huge and still growing...YAYYYYY FOR CANADIAN SCHOOLS THAT WASTE SPACE :D :D :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Our class of 6 is totally awesome. I mean, can it GET any bigger?</p>
<p>We're over 3000 and the higher-level classes (AP, GT, etc) are the most cramped due to an insuffient number of teacchers and an administration that places the most emphasis on being just better than minimum.</p>
<p>6, as in 1 2 3 4 5 6? or is this a typo?</p>
<p>6 as in 1 2 3 4 5 6</p>
<p>My School in kind of small. It's pretty good though. It's like a small town school. Most of the people know each other though they don't always talk to each other. I wouldn't want my school to be too big because then people don't know each other and there get to be too many groups. Etc.</p>
<p>There are about 4000+ kids at my school. My average class size is 30. I personally dislike it... too many classes in T buildings, and not enough parking spaces. A new school is being built currently.</p>
<p>My school has 2,700 kids in it. I, personally, really enjoy it. There are good and bad sides to it:</p>
<p>Good: Offers around 15 (don't know the exact number off the top of my head) AP classes and has a full IB program.</p>
<p>LOTS of people to be friends with.</p>
<p>Many, many classes to choose from.</p>
<p>Lots of clubs and sports offered.</p>
<p>Have better sports teams as a result of the amt. of people.</p>
<p>BAD: Lots of competition in Stud. Gov't elections. (yup, i'm in stud gov)</p>
<p>Class sizes border on pretty large. (18 in my smallest, 38 in my largest)</p>
<p>Don't know everyone. (its impossible, even for just my class)</p>
<p>While it may sound bad, I'm convinced larger schools are pretty much good, they offer TONS of programs. However, if they get up to 4,000 (yeesh, that sounds horrible, raindrop!), I think that it would be a good idea to build another school. Oh well, that's just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>i personally don't mind a big school that much. we have about 3,000 in our school right now, and it can get pretty annoying when you are trying to get to your classes on time because the hallways become more congested than the Parkway at rush hour. And it can become a more competitive environment for some people. You don't get much personal attention from your counselor or teachers. But yeah, it has its pluses... our sports are pretty solid in the state (our football team made to the state final for last couple years), more diversity, and more activities.</p>