The number of American students graduating high school is on the rise, but with it, isn’t new ideas on what high school should be.
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I endured the ninth and tenth grade at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia. There, in the early 2000s, I was required to take an introduction to French, which I aced; to this day, I can least introduce myself in the language.
But the following semester, after exceeding even my own expectations in that course, there was no follow up, just an English class. I served out the remaining of my sentence – eleventh and twelfth grade – at University City High School, which was demolished recently. It was there that I took Spanish, and I aced that, too, but again, there was no follow-up, and today I can only speak a few phrases in the language.
And my retention for the other subjects, like Trigonometry, Algebra and Chemistry, are equally as vague, due to uncoordinated, void-of-context manner in which they were presented to me.
Since my high school graduation in 2004, no one, not one single human being, has ever asked me: “What’s the value of X if Y is 3?”
And in the many times I’ve been called upon to speak publicly, I’ve never had to enumerate the periodic table or explain what the inside of a frog looks like.
It’s not that the subject matter I consumed had no value, it just lacked cultural and real-world relevancy, which would be of greater value, especially now in a world where globalization is causing free markets and ecosystem to be more evidently mutually reinforcing, illuminating both the stiff competition a global marketplace presents and how under-prepared American students are for it.
The skills and knowledge I use to steer the ship of a fast-paced media company came from 10 years of sales and marketing experience, not 12 years of lesson plans crafted from teachers who, themselves, went through an equally dysfunctional and outdated education system.
The high school curriculum in America, as is the entire system of education, has long past its prime, making the fact that the national high school graduation rate in 2013 was at an all-time high with 81.4% a less celebratory statement.
What’s the value of a higher high school graduation rate if the institutions doing the educating are outdated and thus aren’t producing civic-minded, service orientated, businesses-savvy and technology literate individuals who can compete in a global marketplace?
The American education system, from top to bottom, needs to be rewritten to reflect the 21st century.
XQ: The Super School Project is among the individuals, institutions and initiatives aimed at doing just that.
According to their website:
“The Super School Project is an open call to re-imagine and design the next American high school.”
Over the next few months, The Super School Project will accept proposals and then partner the winning teams, providing them with expert support and a fund of $50 million to support at least five schools over the next five years.
The initiative doesn’t just call on teachers, but CEOs, who, in my opinion, offer great value in rethinking education, particularly in high school, where access to real world opportunities can put students on the right footing as they prepare to enter the workforce or institutions of higher education.
97% percent of Americans think students need real world skills to be successful after high school, according to The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s 2015 National Survey on Common Core.
It’s a novel effort preventing high school dropouts, but an even more accolade-worthy accomplishment would be making the school a must attend experience, full of spontaneity, incentives, and individual learning opportunities wherein students get to engage in the industry of choice.
We have to fix the schools, and that will take more than a fair funding formula, it’ll require big ideas and a smart use of the resources and institutions that surround the schools, including corporations.
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Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
“What’s the value of a higher high school graduation rate if the institutions doing the educating are outdated and thus aren’t producing civic-minded, service orientated, businesses-savvy and technology literate individuals who can compete in a global marketplace?” I think you are seeing the traditional high schools thru your personal lens that it should be more towards business. However, not everybody wants to go into business. Traditional high schools goal is to make a well-rounded student so by the time they are in their senior year they can decide on what career they would like to pursue. I’ve been asked everyday… Read more »