At some point in the 1970s, the German economist E.F. Schumacher published a book of essays on long-term sustainability and small-scale economics. In Schumacher’s words, his thesis was that, “production from local resources for local needs is the most rational way of economic life.”
An unknown Keynesian economist before he published Small is Beautiful, Schumacher became an overnight intellectual rock star, with praise from the likes of the New York Times and the London Times hailing it as one of the most influential books since World War II.
And nowhere was it more popular than with people living in small towns. Drawn to Schumacher’s model for small-scale economic equilibrium, nicknamed the “enoughness” doctrine, small town advocates finally had some substantial evidence that “smallness” was a quantifiable virtue in its social, economic, and environmental sectors.
There is little doubt that Chestertownians felt that way. For decades, some would say centuries, the town of Chestertown, Kent County, along with Washington College and the Chester River Hospital, all have taken a particular pride in their “smallness.” Rather than aggressively seek growth in terms of general population, students, or patients, this community has unequivocally sided with the “small is best” argument.
Indeed, this real desire to remain small has translated into an almost unparalleled success. For almost 250 years, Chestertown has maintained a population level of 3,500 to 5,400 residents, while Kent County grew from 14,000 people to a whopping 21,000 during the same period.
This smallness is true as well with our major institutions. Both Washington College and the local hospital have made being small an essential part of their character. The College was planned for about 200 students in 1782 and it now hovers around 1,400 almost 238 years later. The hospital also has grown incrementally since its founding, primarily to expanding medical technology rather than an increased patient load.
In short, we like smallness; we live here because of our smallness, and we want to continue to keep it small in the future. But does smallness actually work anymore as a viable alternative to high-density, high-efficiency urban life?
The good news for smallness is that most experts agree it continues to offer significant social and environmental advantages over bigness, but the economic leg of the “small is beautiful” theorem seems to be falling apart.
Nowhere is this more painfully noted than with our public schools. Currently, Kent County has approximately 1,800 students in its entire school system, or about the size as just one mid-sized urban high school. In the abstract, creating a first rate K-12 education experience for only a few thousand kids doesn’t seem like a significant challenge, and yet the cost of smallness has a profound impact on our schools.
In terms of state funding, the small size of our student population is a serious disadvantage in the state of Maryland which allocates school funds based on a per-student formula. Nor can Kent County’s schools rely on a large county tax base to fill in the budget gaps. At the same time, that same state education system has mandated administrative and accountability policies that have added significant overhead burdens to Kent County Schools operational budget. Unlike a large and growing school system like Queen Anne’s County, which absorbs many of these costs given the size of their student population, KCPS must draw funds away from instruction use to be in compliance with federal and state agencies.
The same holds true for the Chester River Hospital, now part of UM-Regional Shore Health. Years ago, smallness was a significant positive differential when patients were choosing a surgeon or hospital. Compared to the cold and indifferent care found in larger hospitals, Chester River could compete with their intimate patient care and services with larger institutions with far more impressive reputations. It also could promote the Eastern Shore’s quality of life to help recruit and maintain medical professionals.
But now, with two working professionals having young families, our smallness has significantly reduced the opportunities for specialists and their working spouses to relocate to Chestertown. Smallness has also impacted the number and types of procedures done at Chester River in a statewide health system that now rewards the statistically best clinical outcomes at the greatest volume, i.e. large urban hospitals.
And the price of smallness is also impacting Washington College with its tiny student population of 1,400 students. Without having a large student body, which for liberal arts colleges these days averages north of 2,500 students for peer institutions, WC has fewer dollars to compete for faculty and scholarship assistance while at the same time must continue to offer similar programs and facilities of larger schools to remain competitive.
While Schumacher was not wrong that small is, indeed, beautiful, what he could not have predicted in the 1970s was how expensive smallness would turn out to be in 2016.
The answer to this new reality is not to end smallness but make it work more efficiently, and that means to new alliances and partnerships. From working with Queen Anne’s Public Schools to reduce administrative and maintenance overhead to having Washington College partner with another small school, like its former historic sister school, St. John’s College, to collectively reduce these non-academic expenses. Or in the case of the Chester River Hospital, work with the University of Maryland in good faith to redefine the role of what a small community hospital should be in the twenty-first century rather than cling to a twentieth century model.
Regardless of these kinds of options, the essential ingredient for finding the solution for smallness is another small town quality, namely trust. No partnership can succeed if trustworthiness is not present.
Unfortunately, trust in Chestertown, like every other place in the United States, is now at an all-time low. Distrust of institutions, large and small, and the people who run them, have sadly become the norm in our society. Unless our community can fight off this national trend, any effort to save the best of Chestertown’s smallness will have little long-term impact.
Patti Willis says
Well said, SPY.
Jane E. Hukill says
These sentiments could also be applied to our national political scene; trust is of the essence but as President Reagan said “Trust, but verify.” Thank you for a well written editorial.
Edmund Gordon says
Well done and worth reflecting upon.
Billie Beck says
At one time Chestertown was a super “little” Town. We had everything we needed, nothing like today. We had 3 or 4 shoe stores, 4 or 5 clothing stores, 2 Jewelry stores and one of them is still exactly where it was back then, 2 furniture stores, a store where we could buy any and all items we needed for sewing. Today a person is lucky to be able to find thread. I won’t go on and on but back then it was a nice town, plenty of students to fill the schools as young couples stayed in town and raised their kids here. Wonder what happened….ummm….. I know, it became a retirement community. That explains it!! I can’t think of a thing a person couldn’t buy right here in good ole C-town. I could go on and on about life in Chestertown back in the day but I doubt many can remember back that far. I just hope the folks running things today do find all the things they are looking for and enjoy it here as much as we did back in the day.
Laura Skinner says
Havre de Grace used to have the smallness factor that was grand to raise a family. The saying used to be “don’t speak bad of a person to another HdeG resident because they are best friends, family or enemies.” Now when I go to the grocery store I don’t know a soul.
That’s gone. The only store that has survived is Lyons Pharmacy. And with big chain stores “out on the highway” (Rt.40) like CVA and Riteaid it’s in my mind, how long will Lyons last? Although Lyons has a relatively new owner, Kenny, it has retained a small town store.
We have a hugh community of McMansions. Brought in great property taxes but put a strain on our water/wastewater plants. Our town has spent large amounts to get the wastewater plant up to the task of handling the influx of people. Tens of millions of dollars just for the wastewater plant. The water plant has had some improvements over the years but the main workhorse of the plant was built in 1956. That is almost 60 years! Can see it now, New plant coming our way. How much will that cost?
People don’t realize what a strain it costs our infrastructure, increase in police force and school system. Although, thank God, the schools do well (overbuilt in the 1960’s) that there is enough room in the elementary schools.
I would have preferred to stay a small town. Our hospital is now owned by University of Maryland health care system. The plans are to build a new hospital with emergency center, testing laboratory and X-Ray center. All hospital beds are to move to BelAir hospital. So no hospital beds or surgeries will be available to citizens of HdeG. No ICU. No medical surgical unit. No cardiac unit.
Our small town is buried in the progress for progress sake attitudes of our City Council. Bye HdeG, where 5 generations of my family grew up, married, had children, died and buried in the small town. It was nice knowing you.
joe diamond says
Yea, right!
Our children grow up in a beautiful setting where most parents drive out before dawn and return after dusk for employment . A select few parents have local work. At some point the kids hit the road for real jobs and a chance to begin a family.
I am reminded of the sign…CLOSED, gone to America.
Joe
Kay MacIntosh says
The community is indeed eager to “work with the University of Maryland in good faith to redefine the role of what a small community hospital should be in the twenty-first century.” We are ready for open communication and creative leadership, but we need to know we have a voice at the table as the future of our health care and economy are being decided. Thanks for starting another thoughtful conversation, Spy.
Marty Stetson says
A well written article and observation. I think it can work here in Chestertown, if we go at it with a positive attitude. We can never change it back to what it was forty years ago or more but we do have a great town and it will survive and flourish if we look on the bright side and work to maintain what it takes to make a great small town. An example is to keep our hospital, work with Washington College and continue to improve the quality of the public education here in the area. I have often said, there are not many “Norman Rockwell like the towns left in the U.S.”, we are so lucky to live in one.