Culture & Society

Scientists And Small Town Schools

High-powered high schools in a big city provide a firm foundation for future academics in the life sciences, but so do many smaller schools.
By Keith Randall, Texas A&M Marketing & Communications September 30, 2009

High-powered high schools in a big city provide a firm foundation for future academics in the life sciences, but so do many smaller schools, with the latter even excelling in some aspects, according to an unusual study by a Texas A&M University neuroscientist.

William Klemm, a professor of neuroscience in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, surveyed the backgrounds of almost 500 faculty in the university’s life sciences departments and found that many of them attended small high schools and had a rural childhood.

“The survey shows that attending a large high school in a big city can offer some significant academic opportunities, but attending a small, rural school has its advantages, too, and these may be more important for nurturing budding scientists,” Klemm explains.

The survey polled professors at Texas A&M from 19 different life science areas, including biology, entomology, animal science and veterinary medicine. Almost 60 percent of those polled attended a high school that had a graduation class of less than 300, and 41 percent were in classes of less than 150 graduating seniors.

Klemm says only 20 percent of the professors surveyed attended a “mega-school” of 500 or more graduating seniors.

While larger high schools might have better-qualified science teachers and offer an advanced curriculum, Klemm says smaller rural schools may have some advantages of their own, such as students who have been around animals and plants all of their lives and have helped their families raise both.

“It’s very common for students who attend a smaller school in a rural area to grow up with livestock. So naturally, many of them get involved in 4-H or FFA (Future Farmers of America),” he points out.

“Almost half the of the surveyed professors were active in either 4-H or FFA clubs while growing up, and their teachers, who probably did the same thing when he or she was that age, are right there alongside them serving as mentors.

“Smaller schools tend to have smaller class sizes, meaning the students get more individual attention from their instructors, so that can be an advantage the bigger schools don’t have.”

In fact, Klemm says that figures from the U.S. Department of Education show the reverse may be true: students from a rural school may be better off.

He cites studies that show rural schools are less likely to have social problems such as bullying, drug use or gangs; are more likely to provide opportunities to excel and be recognized; have more individual leadership opportunities “to be a big fish in a little pond” as he phrases it; and are more likely to be less competitive and intimidating than larger schools.

“Moreover, animal and plant-raising projects of rural children almost always have a lot of parental support and encouragement,” he adds.

“The U.S. Department of Education and its reports suggest that rural parents are more engaged with their child’s education than urban parents. There’s probably no way to quantify the importance of such extra parental nurturing, but common sense tells us it has to be an important factor in the psychological development of children.

“A person’s most impressionable years occur as a child, and childhood experiences provide rich opportunities for stimulating interest in living things that are hard to duplicate in an urban environment.”

As for Klemm, he admits he’s done his share of chores and owned plenty of overalls and straw hats: there were 65 graduates in his high school class.

“Urban children may never have ridden a horse, seen animals give birth, milked a cow or harvested a crop,” he notes. “Growing up in a rural environment has its share of rewards, and the study shows that many of them can offset the academic advantages that urban schools can offer.”

Media contacts:

  • William Klemm, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
  • Keith Randall, Texas A&M News & Information Services.

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