Cotton Center, one of the smallest independent school districts in the Texas Panhandle or the South Plains, has a total enrollment from pre-k through grade 12 of 100 students. By comparison to the largest 6A and 5A schools in West Texas, some might consider these 1A schools “widows’ mites,” learning environments that make a small contribution to the greater cause.
I think not.
As an architect, I value the quality of facilities for their positive impact on learning. I also know that passionate purpose and a commitment to young people in the charge of the school board, superintendent, principal, teachers and staff will overpower almost any perceived lack of quality in physical learning environments. Care and concern make education work, not embellished edifices or excessive enrollments. The auditorium in which I spoke at Cotton Center ISD had textured plywood (T1-11) on the walls. It looked fresh, but unfinished and unpainted. Yet, as that “baker’s dozen” of juniors and seniors entered, every one of them shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and said, for instance, “Hi, my name is John. Thank you for coming to visit.” Every single student. I have talked to juniors and seniors at the largest schools in West Texas, and that powerful presence of self in relation to others is unfortunately rare. These young people in seemingly meager little schools stewed in cauldrons of American republicanism are the centers of innumerable universes. Amherst, Olton, Dawson, Sands, and Klondike are just a few other examples like Cotton Center. Many play six-man football and every able-bodied high school student is on the team. (Some can’t field a team.) They may not win, but they play; they belong to something larger than themselves. They submit themselves to the authority of the coach for the purpose of engaging another squad from another place. Cotton Center has won one game in four years. But, according to the principal and superintendent Ryan Bobo, they are improving. Mr. Bobo cares about the students more than a win-loss record. He is respectful and respected. Commands to students and their responses would be the envy of any school leader in any setting—the epitome of purposeful education in a free society. Students appear to appreciate freedom and accept responsibility. The auditorium in which I spoke at Cotton Center ISD had textured plywood (T1-11) on the walls. It looked fresh, but unfinished and unpainted. Yet, as that “baker’s dozen” of juniors and seniors entered, every one of them shook my hand, looked me in the eye, and said, for instance, “Hi, my name is John. Thank you for coming to visit.”
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