Keep ASTI Small

I have, inevitably, heard about ASTI's potential size increase, and a good summary of my feelings on it can be found on Amber Chan's blog:

Personally, I would like it if ASTI could keep its small size, instead of increasing the number of students, because then it would be able to maintain the small family-like atmosphere, and most of the students would know each other.  I really like that the teachers and students are all a very tightly knit community of families and friends, that we can all depend on.

This is almost exactly my opinion on the matter. I have been to only one small school apart from ASTI (which was actually much smaller), and because there were so few students, everyone knew each other; this also seems to be the case here. I prefer this kind of atmosphere to the massive school where nobody knows anyone above or below their grade level and people are separated into groups based on "popularity" or whatever it is.

If you have read this post, you know that most of my experiences with other people my age have been disastrous. It's very difficult to trust anyone after you've been mocked and ignored and betrayed over and over and over--even the people who seem to have good intentions. It's reached a point where I expect people to automatically dislike me, because that's what has happened in the past. This was alleviated somewhat by my two years at the previously mentioned small school, but then, of course, middle school happened and destroyed all of that. But now, at ASTI, with what Amber calls the "family-like atmosphere", I am actually becoming capable of talking to people without running away or deciding that I've just said something so stupid the other person will hate me forever. It may be entirely a personal issue, but being at a small school has caused drastic improvement in my minimal self-esteem.

And then there is the issue of individual attention to students. At the moment I have no scientific studies to back me up, but it has been my experience that many students function better in smaller schools. This is because, with a lower student-to-teacher ratio, it is easier for a teacher to give each student the academic attention s/he needs to be successful. In larger schools, such as my middle school, it was very difficult to talk to teachers because they were always busy or talking to another student who had already snagged the rare free moment.

In summary: ASTI's size should remain as it is.