What did we look at this week?

This week we were asked what the movie “Most Likely to Succeed” produced by Ted Dintersmith and Tony Wagner and directed by Greg Whiteley.  It is a documentary that looks into how school is constructed and how it can be outdated compared to the job field today and where it is headed. It is focused on the high school called “High Teck High” where they have a less traditional approach to how students are taught.

What do I think about High Tech High?

In class this week we were split into groups and we talked about different takeaways from the film and our opinions on the documentary. I think that a big thing I learned from the film was how the school system was designed around the Industrial Revolution and factory work. It does make sense when you think about it if you own two factories you want them to produce nearly identical product but that is hard to do if you have two very different sets of workers with different educational backgrounds, this is why the school system we know today was designed. If both sets of workers had to go through a similar schooling system, then the workers would have similar skill sets and are then able to produce similar products once in the factory system. But now a days factory work is few and far between because workers can be replaced by either robots or computer systems, so the idea of schools that produce students that have gone through a system to create worker better suited for factory work is becoming outdated. The jobs that will take longer to replace by robots and computers or that will not be able to be replaced by computers are jobs that involve creative thinking, complex problem-solving skills, or being able to empathize with the people that you encounter in the job. Schools need to switch how they are teaching to better suit students with these skills rather than just being able to memorize and repeat facts.

I found it very surprising that teachers get to teach based off their passion and not just the curriculum. I think that this in the end would lead to better teachers because when you are teaching something you are passionate about and care about you often will be more involved with the topic, be better at explaining it, and help spark kids’ own passion. I do, however, think there could be a potential problem with the fact that teachers do not really push students to meet the deadlines of exhibitions.

For some students I think this approach could be useful and they might strive in this type of environment but for some students it might be too much when they take on a certain project and have not learned time management skills yet. Instead of completely letting go and not really following the students’ progress you could personalize it where you ask your students who may need or want the odd reminder that they should be finishing certain parts by certain times. Something I would like to know is the long-term results, although these schools are just becoming a thing I am very curious to see how kids who attend inquiry-based school versus kids who attend a regular school would compare. 

The school itself!

Below you will find different photos of the school from their website so that you can get a better idea of what this school looks like and understand that High Tech High doesn’t mean that everywhere you turn there is some fancy new technology. Along with a map of all the different campus’s and the different schools on campus. On each campus there is a High Tech High, High Tech Middle, and High Tech Elementary.

These are the maps of all the different campus’s they were created by Veronica Grajeda.

These photo’s don’t show much but if you want to see more then High Tech High’s Website has so much information like virtual tours, recorded info sessions, and so much more.