Most Likely to Succeed – Reflection 1

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow,” – John Dewey

I really enjoyed the documentary, Most Likely to Succeed, and particularly the quote above. If we teach the same way, with the same approach and content, then children are less likely to be engaged and feel like they are learning something relevant for them. I think a really common thought, especially in middle and high school, is what is the point? Why are we doing this? Why does this matter? I remember thinking this as a student, and I’ve heard it from current students as well. I do not have a solution for this. I think it’s important students be allowed to ask those questions, and I think they deserve an answer more valuable than “it’s in the curriculum,” “it will make sense later,” or “you just have to.”

The concept of High Tech High, I think finds a way to address some of these student concerns by giving students more control over their own learning. Their projects were a lot more hands on, with a greater focus on the process of learning instead of just right or wrong; they were able to go in depth on topics of interest -which is more valuable because they might actually remember that because they found it interesting instead of memorizing all of it for the test and then forgetting. Through this type of lesson, the film mentioned how the students were developing “soft skills,” like confidence, problem solving and independence, that will be useful in everyday of life.

Even with all these adaptations and differences from mainstream education, students were still concerned with the norm – which makes sense since those are the standards they have to survive in. They were presented with the opportunity to “actually learn” or just be “prepped for the test”, and they chose the test, even after years in High Tech High. They were aware that the current system is set up so that you need to be able to pass the entrance exam, the test, whatever, in order to get into university. Any changes we make to education have to go far beyond, and consider much more, than just how and what we teach. Where will it serve students once they’re out of school, how can grades K-12 prepare students for life after graduation? If we change one institution, we will probably have to change them all. They are all so interconnected that we have to think about how these institutions interact when we are making changes.

Our system of education is far from perfect, and High Tech High offers another perspective that comes with its own challenges. I think the fear that students in High Tech High would be at a disadvantage to mainstream students brings out a lot more questions than answers. Like what is the point of education? Is it to prepare students for University? And what does that look like. Is it to prepare children for the workforce? To create well-rounded, knowledgable individuals? Is there any one singular point or one method that’s inherently better than the others? How can we teach children it’s okay to be different, to fail and make mistakes when our system says otherwise.