If you could run your own high school...

Pre-College Issues High School Life
61

<p>I think mostly I want to give kids the kind of education that I would have given myself if I had been homeschooled/[url=<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling%5Dunschooled%5B/url"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling]unschooled[/url&lt;/a&gt;] through my high school years. But, of course, most families are not willing to do what my family did while I was growing up (ie, homeschool/unschool). Most families, even families wishing to provide their kids with a progressive education, would be more open to sending their kids to a school that more or less resembles a "traditional" school, with class periods and due dates and such, than to a school that offers their children an unstructured learning environment and absolute freedom with their education. Unschooling in a school setting just doesn't seem like it would be an acceptable solution to the problems I see in the school system. My Castle in the Sky school would hopefully find a happy medium between the two extremes (traditional, regimented school on one end, unschooling on the other).</p>

<p>In post #37, I wrote about the three areas on which my school's curriculum would focus:

[quote]
-Writing. Everyone must be able to write clearly, effectively, and well for a variety of purposes and audiences. You wouldn't believe how many "straight-A" students are crappy writers. At my school, crappy-writerhood will be entirely wrung out of all students by the time they hit 8th grade. At least some kind of writing assignment will be required of all courses, with the exception of PE. Teachers of all subjects (excluding PE) must be comfortable with grading written assignments/essays/research papers. The emphasis on writing is largely meant to prepare students for further education and (more immediately) admission to institutions thereof.
-Cultural awareness. Students must be sensitive to the world that surrounds them and they must be understanding of cultural, religious, ethnic, political (and etc.) diversity on Earth. This understanding, I believe, is one of the biggest keys to reducing world conflict. World language, history, events, religion, and culture will be the topics of many courses and extracurricular activities; ethnic music and dance performances, as well as appearances by guest speakers, will take place on campus without charge to students; and travel/study abroad will be highly encouraged.
-Environmental awareness. This includes the human impact on the environment, climate, and ecology (human and otherwise), as well as the structure and operation of the planet, and ways that we as individuals (or as a group) can make a positive impact on the environment. There will be environmental science, human geography and organic agriculture classes, as well as plentiful opportunities to get involved in volunteer efforts relating to the environment.

[/quote]

I've since decided that along with the 1 health class, 6 PEs, and 3 hands-on classes, I would require three trimester-long courses to be in each of these areas. (These 19 [or fewer] courses--out of about 54 total, from 7th to 12th grade--would be the only graduation requirements.) If a course is AP, thus 2 trimesters long, it would count as 2 courses towards fulfilling a requirement, since kids who take AP courses should be rewarded for taking on the extra work. (Yes, APs would be extra work at my school... by which I mean that the standards would be higher and the work would be more challenging. I do not mean that more homework would be assigned!!! My AP English Language class was like that, and it was dreadful. I hated and resented it and didn't feel too kindly towards the teacher, either. There shall be none of that at my high school.) </p>

<p>Anyway, there would be many, many courses that are designated as belonging to one or two of these three categories. All courses would have writing components, but to fulfill the writing requirement the class would have to be either an English class or one that's geared specifically towards writing--like, a class that focuses on writing a reasonably long (15+ pages) scientific/historical/cultural/mathematical research paper. There would be hands-on classes that satisfy the environmental awareness requirement (such as organic agriculture--which besides the hands-on component would examine the history and environmental impact of agriculture). I can't think (off the top of my head) of a hands-on class that would seriously satisfy the cultural awareness requirement, though. Oh, well.</p>

62

<p>you were unschooled? i've read a lot on the topic. i'm so jealous! I was sort of unschooled for a while (montessori!) but my parents would have multiple hernias if I ever asked to unschool myself.</p>

63

<p>Yep, I was unschooled. I spent a lot of time tramping about the garden and woods with my brother, building stuff, playing make-believe, drawing bugs and flowers and writing poetry... we watched a lot of educational videos, PBS and Discovery Channel (before it turned crappy)... I read and read and read and read, and my parents read novels to us at bedtime... my mom wrote "one-a-day" writing prompts for me, so I wrote a page-long essay a day starting at, like, age 6 or 7... we traveled a ton (to Mexico, to Spain once when I was 12, to the UK) and my parents always took us to museums and stuff when we were abroad (it's too expensive in the States :p :()... my mom taught us Spanish and French... the only textbooks I remember was Saxon Math. I was always elated to get a new Saxon Math book. :D We unschooled year 'round. It was great. I can just imagine what I'd do if I was still unschooled... ahhh, the accomplishments! On the other hand, I've met almost all my current friends through high school, and they've become very important to me. :-/</p>

64

<p>
[quote]
Yep, I was unschooled. I spent a lot of time tramping about the garden and woods with my brother, building stuff, playing make-believe, drawing bugs and flowers and writing poetry... we watched a lot of educational videos, PBS and Discovery Channel (before it turned crappy)... I read and read and read and read, and my parents read novels to us at bedtime... my mom wrote "one-a-day" writing prompts for me, so I wrote a page-long essay a day starting at, like, age 6 or 7... we traveled a ton (to Mexico, to Spain once when I was 12, to the UK) and my parents always took us to museums and stuff when we were abroad (it's too expensive in the States )... my mom taught us Spanish and French... the only textbooks I remember was Saxon Math. I was always elated to get a new Saxon Math book. We unschooled year 'round. It was great. I can just imagine what I'd do if I was still unschooled... ahhh, the accomplishments! On the other hand, I've met almost all my current friends through high school, and they've become very important to me. :-/

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's really cool. I would like to learn that way; it sounds better than sitting in a classroom and watching a teacher lecture from a book.</p>

65

<p>me too! oh the things i'd do...and dc has so many free museums!</p>

66

<p>Free museums??? Oh my god! :eek: Well, I live in a smallish town... we do have a museum, and it's free, but it's 100% local. :p It costs a lot to get into the Seattle Center and Seattle Art Museum and such, plus it's a 90-minute, $20-in-gas car ride to Seattle from my town. :(</p>

67

<p>My Ideal School!</p>

<p>*High School serving grades 9-12, with 200 students per grade
*Private and mostly non-residential: I believe it's healthy for children, especially young teens, to live with their parents and be raised by them throughout the teen years. However, 20% of the class would be drawn from a national applicant pool of disadvantaged, talented youth who would not have access to adequate, affordable challenging schooling in their areas. They would be admitted with full scholarship and live in special dormitories on campus.
*Admissions and Affirmative Action: Admissions would be based on personal interview and an essay. An admissions commitee of academic department chairs would evaluate these applications on the basis of:</p>

<pre><code> -Intellectual Zeal
-Curiosity
-Character
-Potential to Contribute to the Class
-Potential to Grow
</code></pre>

<p>The sex ratio would be kept as close to 50/50 as possible. It would also strive for economic and racial diversity, looking carefully at minority, low-income, inner-city, and rural children whose talents might otherwise go under-developed. At least 50% of the class must be on some form of financial aid.
*Academic Advising: Every child would be assigned an advisor, who would be a full-time counselor. Each of the 10 advisors would be resposible for 20 students per grade level (a total of 60 kids for each). These advisors would conference with the students biweekly, discussing any academic issues or concerncs. In addition, the approximately 20 residential, full-scholarship students per grade would have access to the residential program counselor, who would help them adjust to the rigor of the school.
*Classes, Requirements, and Schedule:
In order to accomodate households in which both parents work full-time jobs, the normal school day would run from 8:00am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday. </p>

<pre><code> 7:00-7:50: Optional Zero Hour class or advanced science lab

time.
8:00-8:50: First Hour.
9:00-9:50: Second Hour
10:00-10:50: Third Hour
11:00-11:50: Fourth Hour
12:00-1:25: Fifth Hour/ Lunch. There would be three lunch periods,

each 25 minutes long, with a 5 minute passing period.
1:35-2:25: Sixth Hour
2:35-3:25: Seventh Hour
3:25-5:00: Extracurricular, Sports, or Study Hall period.
</code></pre>

<p>Classes would be grouped into Humanities, Maths and Sciences, and Arts. Each student would be required to take at least one full-year course in each every year, as well as completing at least two semesters of PE (which may be exempted if the student is involved in a team or intramural sport for a year). They also must enroll in a least one semester-long course designated as one that deals with cross-cultural understanding, global diversity, and awareness.</p>

<p>Also, every year, a student must enroll in a class called "Inquiry." Sorted by grade level and by the three academic groupings (Humanities, etc), students will select a topic, research it, and complete a significant project that will be evaluated by a panel of teachers at the end of the year. This class will develop research skills and hopefully engage individual students' passions. They will discuss and develop their projects in a small seminar-style classroom of no more than 10 headed by special Inquiry teachers. Students will be heavily encouraged to submit their work to regional or national competitions.</p>

<p>Classes will be heavily writing based and generally consisting of 15 or fewer students. Acceleration will be encouraged equally in the maths/sciences and the humanities or arts. It is expected that all students will be capable of advanced work and classes will accordingly be study-intensive. Every textbook must be college level, but courses will more heavily rely upon books and scholarly writings. AP will not be officially offered, but students should be more than sufficiently prepared for the class by its conclusion for the exam. </p>

<p>Students will be highly encouraged to take four years of a foreign language. The school will offer Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, German, French, and Italian.</p>

<p>*Grades: Every student would, presumably, be capable of a 4.0 at another school. With that in mind, ranks will not be issued and GPAs will be calculated with numeric scores. GPA would exclude PE, which would be taken on a P/F basis. There would be no weights. The traditional A, B, C, D, F scale would be replaced with:</p>

<pre><code> O- Outstanding. 92-100
E- Excellent. 82-92
S- Satisfactory. 72-82
U- Unsatisfactory. 62-72
NC- No Credit. 0-62.
</code></pre>

<p>The letter and numeric score for each academic class would be accompanied by a half-page long written evaluation from the teacher.</p>

<p>Most students could expect a GPA of about 78. This would all be explained to colleges, don't worry!</p>

<p>Students with 3 or more grades of U or below a semester would be placed on academic probation and required to participate in study sessions during the extracurricular period. A student accumulating 3 or more grades of NC a year would face expulsion, unless extraordinary circumstances were involved. </p>

<hr>

<p>Wow. That's so sad that I got this into it. This thread was a great idea, lol!</p>

68

<p>Leshachikha--What's your reasoning behind the different letters of the grades? Are the non-traditional letters to separate the students' grades from the preconceptions about those letter grades (the reason CCers get all upset over Bs on their transcripts)? It seems to me like those classifications might help with grade inflation, too: if there are two "very good" classifications ("Outstanding" and "Excellent"), then there's no reason to be afraid of putting someone in the second tier--there wouldn't be pressure to give the top grade (A) to anyone who shows the least bit of capability in the subject.
(...Or maybe I've got the grade inflation part backwards... :p)</p>

<p>Interesting.</p>

69

<p>Anniushka-- You hit the nail on the head. That was exactly my reasoning. Kids have a gut reaction to an "A" or a "B" or a "C." By renaming the categories, you're telling them what those letters actually mean.</p>

<p>I think that the current all As expectation is harmful because it leaves no room for improvement. If a school is doing its job and REALLY challenging its students, one shouldn't have the highest grade in all one's classes! I'd want to convey that it is acceptable and normal to not be perfect and that it is admirable to strive and better yourself. So if someone got that grade of O, they've really earned it and it's something to be really excited about. But an S or an E is nothing to be ashamed of in that context.</p>

70

<p>Well, cool! :) I like that part of your ideal school... as long as the school really was challenging the students to an exceptional degree. It wouldn't be hard to do that, though, if you've got the right teachers and everything.</p>

71

<p>mine would be like this:</p>

<p>you are free to choose whatever u want to study
id offer everything and anything (reasonable of course)
PE would be fun, again u can do w/e u want
starts whenever, ends whenever
if u are not working hard, ur expelled
u just set ur own schedule, making sure that the free times are reasonable comapared to the studying times
i wouldnt necessarily put any requirements per se, but the only way to graduate would be to study everything in ur desired subject area and making sure that u pass</p>

72

<p>Only CC people would come up with an entire curriculum for their imaginary schools.</p>

<p>I'd face reality.
-90% of kids at my school are not motivated to go to college.
-Only 15% meet the UC required course list to even be considered.
-Among these, only 8% of total has the GPA level to even be considered.
-ELC at leasts sends somebody to UCLA every year
-Nobody has applied for an Ivy in the last 7 years.
-Food tastes like horse meat.
-Various programs have been tried over the years to no effect.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure no better planning will motivate the students any further, or raise our residential taxes.
-The food can probably be improved.</p>

73

<p>No sort of entrance requirements - a school for everybody
PE twice a week all through school, but not as an assessed class
Pupils to choose what they did in PE
Loads of extracurriculars available
No classes compulsory for every year a pupil is in school
English compulsory for all but the last, focusing on basic writing skills, then critical analysis later. None of this poncy poetry when people can't spell.
No uniform
Lots of assessment through presentation
Classes taught in a way that encourages discussion rather than a teacher standing at the front and talking.</p>

74

<p>This is my vision of schools (public or private, but for this example its public)</p>

<ul>
<li>The school would be semester block schedules with 5 courses per day (Monday thru Friday), with 5 courses in the first semsester and 5 new courses in the second semester (certain courses will be double blocks pending on the curriculum, such as AP chemistry for example with the first semester block being concepts and bookwork and the second semester/block being the AP chemistry labs.)
-1st period will start sharply at 8:30. Warning bell at 8:15 so 15 minutes for students to get to class. Breakfast will be served from 7:30-8:10.
-Classes are 60 minutes long. With 5 minutes of break between classes to move from class to class (passing basically).
-Two lunch periods. The first being a short lunch or first lunch. This will be 25 minutes. It will take place after period 2. The second or regular lunch will take place after period 4. It will be 40 minutes.
-Lunches will offer a and a choice between 2 main lunches for the day as well as a salad/healthy lunch consisting of low fat courses such as salads, low fat chicken, etc; . No vending machines. Water, milk, and both apple and orange juice for beverages.
-Afterschool PE everyother day for at least 45 minutes. (so first week M-W-F, second week T-Th, and so on) Student athletes who are signed up for a sport/physical activity for the semester are given credit based upon attendance/participation in line with their coaches discretion. Basically instead of PE they report to there respective practice after school. However for the PE there is more choice then just general PE. Tae-bo, gymnastics, track and field, yoga, MMA (judo, wrestling, boxing, jiu-jitsu), etc.. will be offered to please different tastes in stead of just running laps. 1/2 credit offered per semester with 4 credits required for graduation.
-College/Career counseling afterschools during days without PE. Basically a teacher/couneselor help map a students school progress, career preparation, as well as college search etc.. This is manditory to go to but is pass/fail based on adequate attendance. Its 1/4 credit per year, for all 4 years but you must attend or you will not graduate unless time is scheduled to make it up.
-With this schedule you school starts at 8:30 and ends at about 4:00 (15 minutes of passing opposed to 5 for afterschool PE due to changing out) on PE days. 2 lunches and ample passing time give kids the necessary breaks they need.
-No uniform as its a public school. No entrance fees, entrance exams or teacher recommendations from middle school into honors program. Basic school costs, nothing major.
-Special Education, regular, honors courses freshman year. Must qualify for Sp. Ed or honors to receive those courses. Limited AP's offered Soph. year, with full AP classes offered starting Jr. Year. Only AP's offer a grade inflation (5.0 scale instead of 4.0).
-All AP courses offered. Online classes offered through school monitoring website for certain subjects.
-General languages offered are Spanish, French, Latin, Japanese, Chinese, German, Arabic, Korean. 3 credits required.
-Math covered from Pre-Algebra thru Calculus II with statisics as well.
-General English classes 9-10th grade cover, writing (essays, letters, creative), reading and analysis of literature, vocabulary and grammar. 11-12th grade add new courses focusing on certain aspects (Literature studies, Journalism, Creative Writing as well as higher level general English). 4 credits in English and 4 credits in math required.
-Sciences include Physics, Natural/Environmental, Biology, Chemistry. 1 required for each grade with honors and AP offered after freshmen year.
-Social Sciences/History offer a wide variety of classes with at least 4 credits required. Classes include U.S. History, World History, European History, Asian Studies, Participation in Democracy (government history/debate basically), Psychology, Ethnic Studies, Economics (Macro and Micro), etc.... You can take any combination of these classes as long as you fullfil the 4 credit requirement. </li>
<li>1 credit required for Home Economics. This I believe is vastly underrated. This class is not like the old home ec though. It will have basic cooking and money management but will also cover opening up accounts, taxes, filling out job applications, job training and mock interviews, and will even setup students who wish to get real jobs the information needed to apply.
-Elective classes include Autoshop, Basic/Advanced Technolgy education (combination woodshop/electronics/metal working), Marine science, Horticulture/Agriculture, Digital Media, Photography, Yearbook, Newswriting (different from Journalism as it is an elective that helps set up the schools monthly newspaper), General Art, Drawing and Painting, Sculpture, Band, Choir, Intro to Business, Entrepreneurship, Food Science and service, Art history, Anthropology studies, Human Physiology and Anatomy, etc...
-10 elective/other credits (extra core classes) required for graduation. That makes the total required credits for graduation 35 credits out of a possible 45. This gives room for kids to take graduate early, study multiple languages,study at local colleges, get a school granted work periods, or do research (another class such as the mentioned "Inquiry" class Leshachikha mentioned) and more importantly graduate with adequate preparation.This also allows those who unfortunatetly didn't pass a certain class to make it up. (10 whole credits to play with to make it up, however can only retake a class once, although the Advising and PE are hard to make up because they can't be scheduled in block, unless a certain situation arises). </li>
<li>Use the regular A-F grading scale. 10 unexcused absences result in automatic fail for a course. Every 5 tardies results counts as a unexcused absence.
-School offers a wide variety of sports/extracurricular clubs. </li>
</ul>

<p>Thats all I could think of. (LOL its alot)</p>

75

<p>Okay this will probably be areally long post, but here are all of the courses i would offer at my high school.</p>

<p>ART
--Drawing
--Painting
--Photography
--Graphic Design
--Product Design
--Jewelery
--Sculpture
--Digital Art</p>

<p>BUSINESS
--Business Law
--Sports Marketing
--International Business
--Entertainment Law/Marketing
--Business
--Economics</p>

<p>ENGLISH
--English 9
--English 10
--Holocaust Lit.
--Women's Lit.
--Journalism
--Photo Journalism
--Newspaper
--Yearbook
--Film
--Impact of Culture</p>

<p>HOME EC
--Culinary Baking
--Cultural Foods
--Clothing Design
--Interior Design</p>

<p>HUMAN BEHAVIOR
--Psychology
--Sociology</p>

<p>INDUSTRIAL TECH
--Architecture
--Engineering
--Landscape Design
--Construction Management</p>

<p>MATH
--Algebra 1
--Geometry
--Algebra 2
--Pre Calc
--Calculus
--Statistics
--"Real World" Math (ex. math in sports, amusment parks, etc)</p>

<p>PE
--Weight Training
--Lifeguard Training
--Yoga
--Tennis
--Golf
--Health
--Team Sports
--Aquatics</p>

<p>SCIENCE
--Biology
--Botany
--Zoology
--Marine Biology
--Genetics
--Anatomy and Physiology
--Chemistry
--Physics
--Forensic Science
--Medical Terminology
--Intro to Health Careers</p>

<p>SOCIAL STUDIES
--Comparative Government
--Political Science
--Geography
--World History
--US History
--Gov and Politics
--Criminal Justice</p>

<p>TECHNOLOGY
--Computer Apps
--Desktop Publishing
--Multimedia Projects
--Internet/Multimedia
--Web Page Programing</p>

<p>LANGUAGES
--Spanish
--French
--Chinese
--Latin
--Japanese
--Sweedish
--German</p>

<p>-Each class would be avaliable in AP or Honors when applicable
-Block scheduling would allow for 5 classes a day, one hour and 15 minutes long, for one semester. similar to 4X4 block scheduling but instead 5X4.</p>

<p>sorry this was super long</p>

76

<p>This is a fascinating topic, so I'm replying to revive the thread.</p>

<p>My school would not be one, but three:
* a 6-year "Junior School" with boys and girls, corresponding to grades 1-6, no kindergarten (students start at the age of 5)
* two 6-year "Senior Schools," one boys only, one girls only, corresponding to grades 7-12, each school has the exact same offerings, no coed classes or activities except for fine arts (art/music/drama)
* all three buildings would be close to each other in one huge campus
* all three schools are YEAR-ROUND, school-year divided into four quarters corresponding to the seasons, each quarter roughly consists of 10 weeks of instruction followed by 3 weeks of vacation
* these schools would be catered to "higher-level ability" students only</p>

<p>Students and parents would have these mindsets:
* corporal punishment is accepted, welcomed by the parents (ie. no lawsuits against the teachers)
* serious problems in behavior result in automatic expulsion
* it is more important to learn the subject matter thoroughly than to rush through so that one could take AP classes (this means no AP classes offered; in fact, in my world the AP and the College Board does not exist ;))
* students stick with their choices for foreign language, music ensemble, sports, etc. throughout their senior school years and are not prone to switching or quitting</p>

<p>Junior school
* school runs from 8:30am to 2:45pm
* students take the following subjects every year, every day: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Reading, Physical Education
* students take Art and Music every year, every other day</p>

<p>Senior school
* school runs from 8:00am to 3:15pm, with seven 50-minute periods and one 30-minute lunch (I don't like block scheduling)
* students take the following subjects every year, every day: English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Foreign Language
* students take Art and Music every year, every other day; students must be in band/orchestra/chorus every year
* students take Physical Education and either drama or dance every year, every other day
* no electives, every student follows the same curriculum
* English Curriculum:
** Years 1-4: the usual integration of grammar, vocabulary, composition, literature
** Year 5: American Literature
** Year 6: British Literature
* Social Studies Curriculum:
** Year 1-2: not sure, but a blend of units in history, geography, and the social sciences
** Year 3: World History
** Year 4: Politics and Economics
** Year 5: U.S. History
** Year 6: "Introduction to the Social Sciences," with units in Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology
* Mathematics Curriculum:
** Years 1-2: advanced arithmetic, with fractions, decimals, percents, pre-algebra
** Years 3-4: integration of what we call Algebra 1 and Geometry
** Years 5-6: integration of what we call Algebra 2 and Precalculus; must include trigonometry, analytic geometry, and discrete math
* Science Curriculum:
** Years 1-2: integrated with units in life sci., earth/space sci., and physical sci.
** Year 3: Conceptual Physics
** Year 4: Chemistry
** Year 5: Biology
** Year 6: a semester of Geology followed by a semester of Astronomy
* Foreign Language Curriculum
** curriculum is set up so that after 6 years students reach the Intermediate-High level in the ACTFL scale in ALL four basic skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) if students take French, Italian, or Spanish; but if students take German they will only reach the Intermediate-Low level, and if students take Chinese or Japanese they will only reach the Novice-High level (because some languages take more time to learn than others)</p>

<p>Beyond Senior School
* I see here a number of posters who don't like the idea of core classes in HS. I take a different approach -- overload the core courses in my senior schools, but have NO core or GenEd requirements in college
* whatever major students choose, they will only take courses for their major, with the exception of courses in cognate fields (for example all science majors need to take some math courses)
* although all students in my senior schools would go to college next, in my world there would be less students going to college and more going to trade/vocational schools; only students truly prepared for college would go; I think this would eliminate the need for developmental english & math courses, reverse the trend of watering down college courses for students, and lower the tuition</p>

<p>That's it for me. I would like to know what others would do if you could run your own high school.</p>

<p>BP</p>