Two High Schools, Please

For John, BLUF:  A new voice with a good view.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Following up on the previous post, we go back to this morning's City Life, where we had Senior Host John McDonough, Host George Anthes, Co-Host Linda Bown and guests Kamara Kay, Julie Ngor, and Champa Pang.  All were excellent.

One of the thing that stood out to me was Ms Champa Pang making a very articulate suggestion that Lowell would be better off with two high schools, rather than one massive rebuilt high school.

I think she is correct.  She says the large campus is too overwhelming for many of the incoming Freshmen.  She thinks we would be better off dividing the school in half.

Of course, she is up against the seven last words of Lowell—"We never did it that way before".

I like the idea of two high schools.  For one thing, my own experience is with a smaller high school, some 2,200 students.  And, in our school district they took the design for our high school and moved up north a few miles and built one exactly like it and everyone was happy.

Big high schools just increase the distance from the Principle (Head Master) to the new Freshman student.  The new student, no matter the intermediary staff, become an even smaller cypher in a large organization.  A student who is on the margin of good enough gets shoved back to not near good enough.

My own experience, in the Air Force, tells me that first line organizations, in the Air Force the Squadrons, if they become too big become places where people get lost and trouble brews.

Two high schools would mean that more students would get a shot at doing things, at being on the football team, at being in the Student Musical, at being on the debate team.  Opportunities would increase and students would do better.

Ms Chamnpa Pang is on target with her suggestion.  Thank you Ms Pang.

And, you can watch a rerun of the show this afternoon on LTC CHannel 8 or HERE on the internet.

Regards  —  Cliff