Why Are High Schools The Way They Are? Essay, Research Paper

In today s world the average student goes through 13 years of schooling, four of those at the high school level. By the time the student reaches high school they should already know all of the basic skills, reading, writing etc, but do they? The basic goal of secondary schools across America is to educate America s youth and prepare them for life after high school. Is this really happening though, are students prepared for life after high school? I feel that high school is the perfect medium between elementary schooling and the real world, you can get out as much as you want. Theodore R. Sizer who wrote What High School Is thinks that America s public education system is not good enough. Dr. Charles Eliot says, It is, students just need to try harder and set their standards for achievement at a higher level.

First of all, who should decide the goals of America s education? The Commission of the Reorganization of Secondary Education has the ultimate say, but many feel that is not good enough. Many feel that society should be able to have some input in America s youth future, while others say that it should be up to the student to decide what they want to learn. If there is something wrong with high school education, I feel that the community has a say in how to fix the problem. That is ultimately tough to do though, since the Commission of the Reorganization of Secondary Education has the overall say in America s education system.

The goals of the American education system are all related together to get a person ready for the real world. These goals, which many think are not good enough, range from school to school. A former high school student said, We learned social skills, basic logical foundations, but often overlooked skills as cooperation, teamwork, and meeting deadlines. She believed, that everything you need to know is learned in kindergarten. Know of course that is not true but the idea is there, as she puts it we just spent the last 12 years reaffirming these life-molding skills.

Why should adolescents even go to school then, if they are not learning anything? You have all heard a student say I am never going to use this later in life, this is true a lot of the material taught in the classroom will never be used in the real world but much of it is very useful, and the students don t pick up on that. They think that since one thing won t be useful then it all probably won t help them succeed in the real world. Students that think I am never going to use this later in life need to change their attitude. They don t know that they will probably use everything that they learned in their whole life once again in the real world. Even if you learn something in which will no way be useful later in life, who cares! You know more than the person sitting next to you. Maybe one day that point will be useful, you never know.

In What High School Is by Theodore R. Sizer, it is said, The adolescents are supervised, safely and constructively most of the time, during the morning and afternoon hours, and they are off the labor market. That is what high school is all about. Sizer believes that adolescents just go to high school because that is what their parents did and their grandparents did. This is a great statement because many students don t know that they are not required to go to high school. You can do what ever you want to do, whether it be getting a job or being a bum on the city streets of Seattle. Most kids just keep on going to school because their parents tell them to.

Sizer said, The purpose of going to school is to pick things up, in an organized an predictable way, the faster the better. He also goes on saying In a word, school is sensitively accommodating, as long as students are punctual, where they are supposed to be, and minimally dutiful about picking things up from the clutch of courses in which they enroll. Sizer is trying to say that the objectives of high school are teaching students how to go to class on time. That is one thing that comes naturally with going to school but I don t think it is one of the main points that high schools are trying to get across, but merely a step towards setting a firm foundation to getting ready for the real world.

High school, in my opinion, needs to teach these four following areas more in depth, cooperation, teamwork, responsibility and time management. Teaching these things should be the first step in the rise of students ability to survive later in life. Time management especially needs to have a strong emphasis put on it. That alone is what the real world revolves around. For example, you can t be late for a job, or not turn in work or you will get fired, that is just the way life is. We should teach students about themselves, so they will know how to manage themselves out in the real world. They need to know how to have a healthy relationship with all of those around, whether it be a fellow student, co-workers, boss or manager, teacher, pupil or your friends said a former high school student.

Now sure these are all formulas that people have, saying they will improve high school learning dramatically. Even my ideas are only ideas, and they have never been tried out, so who know if they will work or not. High school is not that bad, a lot of people have been through it and they have made it out in the real world fine. This all goes back to the question Why are high schools the way they are? I think they are how they are because they work. They are the perfect place for a student to learn skill such as cooperation, teamwork, responsibility, and time management as well as many others.

High schools have been the same for many years, and probably won t change for years to come. Even though many of us feel that high schools are not teaching enough. I think the main problem is that students are not trying hard enough. If students really push themselves then they will achieve far ahead if they would have done nothing, and let the learning process go on by itself. It is up to the student how much information he/she wants to take in because it is all out there. It s just waiting for the right person to grasp it, the person who wants to succeed and is willing to try hard to get it.

So why do so many kids end up not learning a lot in high school? It all goes back to how hard they tried. This brings me to a good point; it is all up to the parents to keep their kids involved in school. That is why a lot of kids drop out of school or just don t care about school because their parents could care less. Parents are in charge of their kids and from personal experiences; they really can have control of what can and what can t be done. I bet the average A student has hade some rules set down by their parents, be it a bedtime or planned time to do home work.

Have we answered the question that arises here? Why are high schools the way they are? They are they way they are and they are not going to change in the near future because, they just flat work. High school is the perfect medium for the ill-prepared student and the excelling student. It is a place were basic values are learned, and for some much more can be learned. It all goes back to how hard the student tries, and how much they want to learn.