Week One Reading Reflection - Rethinking High School

In chapter one of Rethinking High School, the authors point out that in modern times, high schools have become an anachronism because they fit a model that was established back during the 1920s (20). This point stuck out to me because high schools today still follow an outdated model that is no longer effective and now results in damaging effects on youth. Instead of changing the model, high schools just add on new curriculum, such as NCLB standards, which only furthers the damage. By following such an outdated model, high schools are not really preparing students for the real world. In order for students to be prepared for the real world once they leave high school, schools need to stop functioning on this older model. The point that I would like to further explore is how high schools "make things worse" (21), since from personal experience, high school didn't really make instruction or life worse for me. The one reform that didn't sound good was size - sometimes the larger schools are more successful than smaller ones.

A number of the Second to None "Components of Reform" were woven throughout the chapter, especially Second to None's component of "Developing Powerful Learning and Teaching." Both Second to None and Best Practices High School promote a curriculum that involves students researching, solving problems, and working together, generating new knowledge, and applying this knowledge to the real world. It seems that in order for students to become informed citizens and to be prepared for the real world, schools have to prepare their students by providing them with the information, knowledge, and experience that is necessary to be successful in reality every day, rather than just cramming them with knowledge that will most likely be forgotten within a few weeks.