Think about how a small fish would get gobbled up by all the other fish.
Schools are a bit like this.
The problem with a big school is that the pupils are only classed as numbers, and not individuals.
Children start to fall through the cracks and their needs, both academic and personal, fail to be addressed.
In a small school, it is so much easier to find out how each pupil thinks, works and learns.
The child is exposed to more information and learns more because he receives more attention from the teachers.
Although being in a smaller school seems like a better idea, it does have its downsides.
Take sport, for an example.
Here at our tiny Maniototo Area School, we don't have enough pupils to make a senior hockey team or a rugby team. We only just have enough for one netball team.
That's because many pupils in the area go to boarding schools.
But why go away to a boarding school and spend thousands of dollars per year, when you could spend $100 a year on going to our wonderful school right here in the Maniototo?
In a small school, it is way easier to get scholarships for university.
You get noticed for the work you do because there are fewer pupils to worry about.
Just imagine going to a massive school in a huge city. It'd be a nightmare.
Seriously - taking 10 minutes to walk from one end of the school to the other just to get to a class five or six times a day, five days a week.
It wouldn't be the school work making you extra tired, it would be the workout of getting to class.
What about being in a class of 30 pupils?
You wouldn't be able to hear yourself think, let alone do any kind of work at all.
But who does work these days anyway?
I wouldn't have got the opportunity to go to the gifted and talented science programme if I were at a bigger high school in Dunedin. It has given me a lot of skills I will use throughout my lifetime.
I reckon having a class of only 14 is the best thing for me. I am happy right where I am. I look at our class and I think of how we are so close. We are like one big family.
So if I was to choose whether I went to a big school or a small school, I would definitely choose the small school.
• By JESSICA SMITH
Year 10, Maniototo Area School
