Balance in Social Capital

Coleman argued that social capital in the family and community can promote education and the best environment for the students. We expanded this further in class saying to combat large schools, students can be arranged in teams of teachers where the teachers all share the same students and information of any issues. My middle school employed this tactic by segregating us students into four teams for all our subjects outside gym, music, and art classes. Since our high school actually started in eighth grade, the school kept the eighth graders in these clusters while we were in the high school to somewhat shield us from the older students. The structure in high school for the eighth graders actually did not facilitate a positive school environment. The students were completely networked within their team and cut-off by classes and location from other students in their grade and especially from students in other grades. School events such as pep rallies or field days were awkward for the eighth graders since they had no school spirit and no connection to the school as a whole. There was little participation at sporting events, musicals, or other school wide events. Even the participation of the eighth graders in sports, band, or chorale were restricted to special eighth grade structures of closed networks and the students ended up completely isolated from the school around them.

My network from eighth grade was completely different from the rest of my high school career once I was integrated in the band for 9th to 12th grade, clubs, gained school spirit, and a sense of belonging. Although a structure system of networked teachers sharing students may benefit the academic portion of schooling there is the community social capital of the school to consider, which was drastically decreased by isolation. Although my high school only had 300 students in my graduating class, school size of 1500 students, the clusters of eighth graders were around 75 students. I found the ability to take classes with a variety of students, post eighth grade, more conducive to learning than seeing the same kids all day long hearing the same opinions of each student. The right sized school could combine both sides to the social capital argument; networking in different grades, clubs, and students in different classes was good for diversity, but also promoted the social capital of the school to come together for an art show or the Friday night football games.