City Schools vs Country Schools

[RThomas]

Just wanted folks to list some differences between schools in the city, and those in the country. When I was in school, I went to what would be considered a "city school". We live in a rural area now, and my son goes to a very small country school (preK - 8th with about 300 students). Let's just say that his school is much different than the one I attended.

For instance, for show-and-tell one year, he brought his knife collection. He had to keep it in the office until it was time for the presentation. But, could you image that happening outside of a rural community? Another thread here talked about how kids aren't allowed to bring their chicks to the school. At my son's school, around easter time, one of the teachers sells chicks from her classroom. The most popular color for clothes seems to be "camo".
Anyway, just wanted to know what other differences other have noticed between "city schools" and "country schools".

 

[Teach97]

that is a big school....we have 78 pre-K to 12th...I think we are back to being the smallest in the state

 

[TigerLilly]

I went from a city junior high to a country jr high & on the first day wore something perfectly acceptable in my city school. Anyone remember 'sizzler' outfits? A mini dress with matching bottoms (think cheerleading outfit). Got called to the principal's office at the end of the day & told that was not acceptable dress for school. Even in 8th grade, I was floored!
I loved that in country schools, everyone seems to have grown up together & some are even related to the teachers. Ah, I still miss small-town USA!

 

[Cat Water]

The school in my town is K-8 and it has the most students it has ever had. Just over 150. The largest class has twenty something, and that is the biggest by a long shot. The smallest class is eight. The high school has about 200 in each class, and that is a combination of five towns. One of the middle schools going to that hihg school already had about seventy kids in it. Our school is contributing 12 this year.

And everybody is related to everybody except for me. I don't know how all these kids are healthy and functional! It feels weird not having every fifth cousin of your mother's brother-in-law's father's girlfriend's hairdresser living on the same road as me.

 

[Amyable]

I thought 300 was big for a country school too... I graduated 8th grade with 3 other kids

Seems to me the community is much more tightly-knit in the sticks. And life really revolves around the school (there isn't much else out here, ya know.)

 

[Cat Water]

Quote:
Our lives out here revolve around the general store and the playground next to it.

 

[RThomas]

I guess compared to the schools I went to, 300 total students from preK - 8th seems really small!

They have gotten a little more strict. In the past when I had to pick my son up early, they would just ask me if I knew where his class was, and then send me back there to get him. Now I have to sign in at the office and they actually use the intercom system to call for him.

 

[Laurajean]

I went to a small rural school and had never seen a "city" school. Many of our friends from a nearby town would wander in at the end of the day to meet their friends from our school, and we would hang out in the lobby.

Years later, as a young adult, I moved to NYC and lived across the street from a large, beautiful school. I love architecture, so one day I walked over and decided just to go in and check out the interior. I was shocked to be greeted (in a very unfriendly way) by two armed security guards who wanted to know my business there. I innocently replied that I was curious to see the inside, having been admiring the architecture. They said "Absolutely not" and told me to leave the premises immediately. Of course, now I realize that it's a good thing that the school was protected that way (this was many years before any of those horrible school shootings), but I was still shocked at the contrast.

 

[farmerlor]

There were 21 kids in the graduating class this year. We brought our kids here because there were several hundred in the graduating class at their old school, people didn't know each other's names and of course the teachers didn't know anyone's names. There was gang activity even though it was a school that mostly catered to the "let's get junior a brand new mercedes for his 16th birthday" crowd. So we moved out here. The smaller class size let our children actually be challenged by teachers who knew them and respected their individuality and creativity. It's a little more political and religious than I like but I guess that's getting rather pervasive everywhere.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

DS is in a large city high school. For drama earlier this year, he took his sword in to use as a prop. Had to stay in the principal's office until time for that class, but she was quite fine with it as long as she knew about it and had it under control. This is not a play sword, but is a danged SHARP honest to goodness saber that he purchased in Germany and imported last summer (took forever to get it through customs). So a knife collection for show and tell at a city school might be quite do-able--if would depend on the particular administrators and advance planning.