I recently watched the documentary “Most Likely to Succeed” written and directed by Greg Whiteley. In this documentary we get to watch how the high school High Tech High works and how the teachers at this school teach their students. High Tech High is re imagining a different way of teaching away from the current educational system. The educational system that is being used in the United States right now was developed over a century ago. It makes you wonder, in a world where everything is constantly changing, does it make sense to still be using the same educational system? A new way of teaching is exactly what High Tech High is exploring. At High Tech High, there is no set subjects, standardized tests, curriculum, etc. They find teachers that are passionate about teaching and they let them do whatever they want basically. Instead of tests and exams, the teachers assign projects and they all get presented at the end of the year to the teachers and families. Students at this school have a lot more control in their learning, they are essentially teaching themselves.

I do not really know how I feel about this new way of teaching. I personally feel overwhelmed by it, because I am a type of person who needs structure and to be organized and the way High Tech High works felt very chaotic and messy to me. I do understand that it has been over a century since the current educational system was created but it is what works, what we are used to, and what makes sense for everything, such as getting into universities, colleges, trade schools, etc. I agree with the fact that schools should not just focus on teaching us how to ace a test on a certain topic and then move on and teach us again how to ace a test on another topic. It would be nice if schools could teach us in a way where the information that we learn sticks with us. In the movie they mentioned how they made students re take a test on content they had learnt a few months ago and they all failed it but when they first learnt the content the students had all gotten good grades, this just shows how fast information leaves our brains when we are learning it in a way to ace a test. Unfortunately, almost all universities care most about GPA and grades, therefore acing tests seems like the most important thing when you are in high school. If universities could change the way they accept students then maybe High Tech High’s way of teaching could become a bigger possibility.

Something that shocked me during this documentary, was at the very end when they showed the statistics. The statistics said that High Tech High performs 10% above the state average and also that High Tech High has a college acceptance rate of 98%. Clearly, the way High Tech High is teaching is actually working but I just do not see how it could become a normal and regular occurrence. I feel like the school system needs to rely on structure,standardized tests, grades etc. but maybe we could follow the current educational system but just change the way we teach it.

Featured image from https://www.tugg.com/titles/most-likely-to-succeed