Response To Amber C.

Here's Amber's blog post!

Today, we had a PTSA meeting at school, and we came to the topic of the possible size increase for ASTI.  Mr. Fong talked about how AUSD was planning to increase ASTI's size to 400 students, but the grades levels would be from seventh grade to twelfth grade.  The students would not be at the portable campus only, but supposedly, we would have the seventh and eight graders at a different campus, and the ninth through twelfth graders at the ASTI and COA campus.  Even though it is somewhat a good and a bad thing to be able to increase the size of ASTI, I personally would like it better if we could keep the ASTI size the same as it is now.

I also feel that ASTI should be kept small. The reason why ASTI and all it's students and teachers are so successful is because of the size. No school I've ever been to could ever keep up with the students like ASTI does, and if we make the class sizes bigger, the teachers would have more teenagers to deal with, and the incredible system that's been set up would all go down the drain. The way the schedules would be made, with part-time college classes throughout all four years, doesn't sound as appealing as having the two years of regular high school and the two years of college. If we jump in our freshmen years, we won't be ready. ASTI wouldn't be the same.


I really hope ASTI stays the same size. I mean, if ASTI's size increased right now and tomorrow I had to go to school with as many classmates as I did at Lincoln, that'd be the same as if I'd gone to Alameda High. But I chose to go to ASTI because of the student size. In a smaller school it's less likely for there to be bullying because everyone knows each other too well. They end up knowing who's nice and who's not nice. The not nice ones are avoided and the nice ones are cherished. If ASTI were bigger, I truly believe the bullying would increase substantially. 


Well, I don't know what's going to happen, but I sure as hell hope ASTI stays the same.