Sunday, September 24, 2017

Against consolidation

Consolidation is short for school consolidation, the process whereby smaller, usually rural schools, are replaced by a larger school:

It is my basic belief about elementary schools that consolidation is not the answer; the schools should be small, well equipped, and have superb teachers, highly paid. Expensive, certainly, but all good things are. Peace is expensive; freedom, the basis of peace, is even more expensive. Life itself is extremely expensive.

Rachel Peden, The Land, the People (Bloomington, IN: Quarry Books, 2010).
Rachel Peden (1901–1975) was a newspaper columnist, also known by the pen names “the Hoosier Farmwife” and “Mrs. R.F.D.” A terrific writer.

comments: 4

Slywy said...

IIRC, my high school had 1,700 students, and the class about 560, give or take. You had to be exceptional athletically to stand out. Or in negative ways (bad behaviors).

Fresca said...

Peace is expensive; I was guessing that war is more expensive--did a quick search, and so it is, according to this 2016 report from the World Bank [re the Middle East]:

www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/02/03/by-the-numbers-the-cost-of-war-and-peace-in-mena

Michael Leddy said...

Diane, your class alone was close to the population of my high school.

Fresca, yes, way more expensive, and not something to want. I like Peden’s blithe insistence that things worth having are worth paying a lot for.

Frex said...

Right--after all, people do accept paying a lot for things they want and value, like a good car or piece of clothing they love.