Oakland School for the Arts
"The difference is that at OSA, you feel more of an underlying kinship with the rest of your peers..."
Oakland Technical High School When I was younger, I use to carry composition books around the house and use my wardrobe as a locker. I use to pretend to live the life of a Disney Channel high school student, going to their normal classes, otherwise know as the dining table, and having my mom ring the tea bell every ten minutes, as one class was way too unamusing to play out for a whole hour. I had felt as though the elementary school life I lived did not suffice my expectations and I was ready for what I had imagined to be a greater thing, high school. Not any special high school necessarily, just a normal, public high school like the ones Miley Stewart or Raven Baxter attended. That was the dream.
Little did my tomboy, jock, unartistic ten year old self know, I would be attending a small arts charter school from sixth grade onward. Though as of now, I still do not wish that I’d be in any other position as I feel extremely grateful to be able to come to such an environment and be surrounded by likeminded people, I still do often wonder what it would be like if I had ended up in a conventional high school.
To gain some insight, I resorted to interviewing my old friend Maya who’s been going to Oakland Technical High School (Oakland Tech) for two years. I asked her everything from what her classes were to the people she went to school with and what really struck me, were the contrasts of social dynamics between the two schools. Though Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) is a smaller school, I found that we get along with, as well as associate ourselves with more people as opposed to those at Tech. As Maya, and another friend I interviewed, Emily, confirmed, Oakland Tech’s dynamics were more cliquey.
Emily, who’s now a senior at OSA, transferred from Oakland Tech after her freshman year. When I asked her to compare her knowledge of the people around her as well as how well she knew most of them, OSA versus Tech, she said, “I didn’t have many people I connected with at Tech because they were so involved in their little cliques already. But at OSA, it’s cool because all grades interact with each other and even though there are friend groups, people tend to be pretty friendly towards everyone.” She then went on to say how she believed that a part of the reason why people at OSA were able to interact more amongst each other was because we attend an art school, therefore making us generally more open minded toward each other. Then she added how when there are so many people who attend Oakland Tech, it additionally makes it more difficult for everyone to interact with each other.
Though she does enjoy how we all don’t seem as pressured to stick to our own groups at OSA, when I asked her about the negatives of going to a smaller school, she responded with, “It’s easier for everyone to know each other’s business.” Immediately, this reminded me of an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote that had resonated and stayed with me since this summer,“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.” This had impacted me in such a sense, because looking back, during my five years at OSA, I realized how there was never something that happened that didn’t eventually circulate back around and through the community.
Everybody knows everyone here, regardless of if they’ve ever interacted or not. In my (one sided) experience, the difference is that at OSA, you feel more of an underlying kinship with the rest of your peers as opposed to Oakland Tech. Despite how much you may like or dislike them, it’s feels as if it were more of a family dynamic. Like the first cousins twice removed in which you get along with really well or the uncles who you really dislike, it’s no 2006 Disney Channel, but it well succeeds my elementary school dreams.
Little did my tomboy, jock, unartistic ten year old self know, I would be attending a small arts charter school from sixth grade onward. Though as of now, I still do not wish that I’d be in any other position as I feel extremely grateful to be able to come to such an environment and be surrounded by likeminded people, I still do often wonder what it would be like if I had ended up in a conventional high school.
To gain some insight, I resorted to interviewing my old friend Maya who’s been going to Oakland Technical High School (Oakland Tech) for two years. I asked her everything from what her classes were to the people she went to school with and what really struck me, were the contrasts of social dynamics between the two schools. Though Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) is a smaller school, I found that we get along with, as well as associate ourselves with more people as opposed to those at Tech. As Maya, and another friend I interviewed, Emily, confirmed, Oakland Tech’s dynamics were more cliquey.
Emily, who’s now a senior at OSA, transferred from Oakland Tech after her freshman year. When I asked her to compare her knowledge of the people around her as well as how well she knew most of them, OSA versus Tech, she said, “I didn’t have many people I connected with at Tech because they were so involved in their little cliques already. But at OSA, it’s cool because all grades interact with each other and even though there are friend groups, people tend to be pretty friendly towards everyone.” She then went on to say how she believed that a part of the reason why people at OSA were able to interact more amongst each other was because we attend an art school, therefore making us generally more open minded toward each other. Then she added how when there are so many people who attend Oakland Tech, it additionally makes it more difficult for everyone to interact with each other.
Though she does enjoy how we all don’t seem as pressured to stick to our own groups at OSA, when I asked her about the negatives of going to a smaller school, she responded with, “It’s easier for everyone to know each other’s business.” Immediately, this reminded me of an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote that had resonated and stayed with me since this summer,“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.” This had impacted me in such a sense, because looking back, during my five years at OSA, I realized how there was never something that happened that didn’t eventually circulate back around and through the community.
Everybody knows everyone here, regardless of if they’ve ever interacted or not. In my (one sided) experience, the difference is that at OSA, you feel more of an underlying kinship with the rest of your peers as opposed to Oakland Tech. Despite how much you may like or dislike them, it’s feels as if it were more of a family dynamic. Like the first cousins twice removed in which you get along with really well or the uncles who you really dislike, it’s no 2006 Disney Channel, but it well succeeds my elementary school dreams.
