What is the point of high school, exactly?

For years I have pondered this question. For years public education in the United States has operated as a conduit, both mimicking the 9-5 factory-style work system and preparing students for it.  

Well, bit of a news flash, both home life and work life in the United States has changed rather dramatically in the last two decades 🙂

And while we have attempted to reform 

public education, it has all been in the context of this system, bells that ring every 45 minutes and students shuffling from subject to subject and participating in activities that seem increasingly disconnected from Real Life. 

It may be time to back up and redefine the whole overall purpose of these high school years.  And maybe create a whole new system to match.

So, what is the purpose of high school? I think most people would say that we want to prepare students for the Real World.  The problem is that the Real World is both more complex and more practical than the situations found in a typical high school.  

In the Real World, we do things like both write and do arithmetic at the same time, to solve the same problem.  We don’t do our writing in the living room and then move to the kitchen to complete the math.

In the Real World, we pay taxes and manage bank accounts and pay off our credit cards and serve people and do meaningful work.

In the Real World, we do car maintenance and get ourselves around town and get regular exercise and cook good food.

In the Real World, we [ideally] communicate clearly and have civil conversations even if we disagree.  We can interact cordially with those whose stories are different than ours.

In the Real World, we are part of something bigger than grades and pleasing teachers and being popular.

So, perhaps the issue is our definition of the Real World.  If high school is to be a laboratory in which to practice for the Real World, we really need to mesh the actual expectations of the Real World with what happens within the four walls of high school.

Or maybe we need to be really bold and expand those four walls to the Real World, while our students are still in high school.

The posts that follow in the next few weeks will touch on many slightly radical ideas I have to address these issues, just to get the conversation flowing.