Why High School Must Go...

(*I know we were supposed to blog about the readings for this week..but I couldn't help talking about this article!*)


Well, I started reading this article and thought about maybe sharing it with my coworkers at my school by sending it out in a mass email.  By the time I got to the end of the article, I thought..."hmm...not sure my administrators would appreciate this."  But, I did share it with some of my colleagues.

This article: Why High School Must Go: An Interview with Leon Botstein, by Robert Epstein really is an eye opener.  The article begins with biographical information about a man I've never heard of - Leon Botstein.  Turns out he was the youngest ever president of a college at the ripe old age of 23 he headed Franconia College.  He also is a groundbreaker of educational theory.  He wrote a book called, Jefferson's Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture.  This book definitely looks at adolescents in a different light then the main stream does.  Botstein suggests, "that our culture was creating the horrendous problems of American teens - the high rates of depression, suicide, crime, drug abuse, and pregnancy - by infantilizing them."(Epstein 660)  Botstein also argues that, "...we hadn't paid attention to adolescents properly as young adults and that we fail miserably when puberty meets education; we fail to nurture young people when they have the greatest capacity to learn.  As a result, we failt to produce people with any real ambition to learn." (Epstein 660)

OK, so, do I think that we need to abolish high schools?  NO!  I, as well as many other people in this country and around the world would be out of a job...so for selfish reasons I think that Mr. Botstein in a lunatic.  However, I think that he does make many good points.  School is not for everyone.  We have a  job as teachers to help educate the youth and try to make these kids successful in what they do when they leave us.  I feel on most days that I am helping students become successful....some days it does not go that well.   But, I do not think that all high schools are doing a disservice to adolescences.

Looking at what Botstein proposes however, I can see where he is coming from.  Some students are ready for that next step in life and education early.  I can remember being a junior in high school and wanted to start taking college history and psychology courses.  When I approached my guidance councilor about it, she told me that I wasn't really ready for that kind of work load and I should just stick with my high school classes.  This conversation did discourage me in some respect...mostly because I believed her.  An adult in a position of authority told me that I wasn't ready, why wouldn't I trust her?  This is the point that Botstein is making.  We have to know when to let go of our students and let them explore the possibilities and opportunities that are out there for them.  Those student who drop out, unfortunately, they know that school is not for them.  We, as educator and adults, think that they are too young to make that decision.  They do know what is best for them!  The idea that Botstein put into action of opening an early college is truly fascinating.  These students go from eighth grade and take college classes and they are all succeeding.  This school is called the Bard High School Early College (http://bhsec.bard.edu/).  What an interesting and unique possibility for students.

Botstein is asking us to take a step back from the norms and look at teenagers in a different light.  They are not always the irresponsible, lazy, ill-equipped people we make them out to be.  Botstein's method combined with Heidi Jacobs ideas of what curriculum in the 21st century should look like makes a lot more sense to me then I thought it would.  Both authors are asking you to think outside the box and actually put you time and effort into truly helping these kids succeed.