Editor’s note: The Daily Emerald welcomes guest viewpoints or letters to the editor from the University of Oregon and Eugene community. This letter reflects the opinions of its writer, McKinley Coontz, and not of The Emerald as an organization.
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At 13 years old I was told to decide my career path by choosing a “small school.” In 2007, my high school was chosen to be a part of the Oregon Small Schools Initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, divided into three small specialized schools to teach students skills to prepare them for future careers. They asked incoming ninth graders to choose which school to commit to for the next four years, and by extension what career path.
While I was lucky to experience a watered-down version of this (the district got rid of the initiative completely the year after I graduated), I still saw its effects on the school community. Until 2020, there was almost no crossover between the small schools; sure they shared a campus, but schedules, grading and cultures were worlds apart. If you were in the business school you couldn’t take art, or if you were in the health school, you couldn’t take computer classes.
The Small Schools Initiative was supposed to “better prepare students… for the demands of today’s economy,” but it just created students who weren’t allowed to explore their many interests and weren’t getting well-rounded educations.
Small schools stereotyped kids, meaning any cross-interaction often resulted in bullying. This especially posed a problem when the district started phasing out the program in 2021. Students from art-focused schools often had a target on their back and were the focus of bullying from the other two.
Students may have been getting specialized skills, but they lacked the interpersonal qualities that everyone needs no matter what path you take. This is one of the biggest reasons that the school district finally decided to end the program.
This program reflects the overachievement culture that has been steadily growing in our education system. I felt pressured to do the absolute most to set myself up for the best outcome. I had to have good grades in middle school or I wouldn’t get into the right classes or clubs in high school (or even the right small school). In high school, I had to be the top of class and in every possible club, or I wouldn’t get into a good college with a good scholarship.
In college, I have to take as many credits as possible, be in multiple student orgs with leadership positions, pursue internships and so much more if I want an entry-level job once I graduate. Even if I do that and more, I am not guaranteed a job because there are hundreds of kids exactly like me competing for the same position.
In today’s world, we are stuck in the mindset of constant optimization — optimizing education, daily schedules, hobbies, relationships and more. Our culture of over-achievement is detrimental. Mental health diagnoses are becoming all too common in teens across the country.
Small Schools did help students develop higher skills. In the 2000s, Oregon students were falling behind; today, they still are. Small Schools were created to give students learning environments that larger classes couldn’t afford. Ultimately, it wasn’t worth it when our mental health and social skills were put at risk due to the pressure of academic excellence and divisive social conditions.
So, now what? Do we all strike and refuse to come back until they make entry-level job requirements, college admission and grading systems realistic again? Yes, change needs to happen, but it will take time.
What we can focus on is creating a counterculture, one that focuses on joy rather than achievement. Do things because they make you happy not because they are going to beef up your resume. Do things just to do things!
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McKinley Coontz is a UO student interested in how strategic storytelling can bridge sectors and make complex issues accessible and engaging.
