tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4203110337754630589.post4572223691794612557..comments2024-03-23T06:43:45.246+10:00Comments on 1735099: Small is GoodUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4203110337754630589.post-7583492720491844592009-09-18T22:39:44.688+10:002009-09-18T22:39:44.688+10:00At my boarding school, the older kids ran our boar...At my boarding school, the older kids ran our boarding house all year round. We saw our house master once a week when he handed out pocket money (50 cents usually). The year 12s kicked everyone out of bed at 0700, ensured all got through the showers and were dressed properly, and then marched (yes, marched, and I mean proper marching) to the mess hall for meals. They supervised prep (homework) every night for 3 hours. Ran the sports carnivals. Did roll calls. Kept order.<br /><br />I'm a big believer in small being beautiful. Our head back then wanted the school to be no larger than 650-700 kids; he wanted to be sure that he knew every kid, and that every kid would know every other kid, and all the teachers would know every kid. <br /><br />Bureaucrats always want to centralise and "develop scale". I have experienced this in several govt departments, where depots were amalgamated in pursuit of ephemeral efficiencies and so on. <br /><br />Sometimes, this is a result of sheer laziness. If managers have 5 large depots/schools instead of 10 small ones, they spend less time and effort visiting them (assuming they ever get out of the office). Amalgamation is always driven by the self interest of the shiny-bums.<br /><br />Another reason to move to a voucher system, and return control of schools to the "community" level.Boy on a bikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14452119541546978454noreply@blogger.com