Moral Life In High Schools Essay, Research Paper

In every high school, the term moral life means something different. In the study, The World We Created at Hamilton High, by Gerald Grant, Grant states that moral life means the personal and public values the community, both local and national, wishes the school to instill in the students. Throughout the book he tells how the Board of Education makes changes in the school and community to give it better values, even if the students and teachers are not happy. A similar book that describes how a high school works is, South of Heaven, by Thomas French. French describes how moral life existed at Largo High by telling about the student s lives, and how they handle the changes of the school. These two books take place at two different time periods. The World We Created at Hamilton High takes place around the 1960 s, and South of Heaven takes place at the end of the twentieth century, but they are similar in the way that the authors showed what it was like to be in high school.

Moral life at Hamilton High was very hard on the students and teachers. New programs were added such as the desegregation process, the mainstreaming experience, and the ESL program. Most of the teachers hated these new programs and felt it was very difficult to teach with a variety of different students in their classrooms who were at different levels. In South of Heaven, the school, Largo High, was basically just the opposite. This school was divided into two different sections. In the basement of the school they had the Pod where students who were having a lot of difficulty in their classes, or who were skipping classes all together and very close to dropping out. This was called the GOALS program, and was designed to keep kids in school by placing them in smaller classes with more attention from teachers. The rest of the school was for student’s average or above that could handle the everyday stresses of high school and their classes. Hamilton High put all different levels of students into classes, while Largo High separated them to better benefit the kids who needed more help.

Down in the Pod at Largo High, teachers had to work hard at keeping the students interested in staying at school. These teachers knew how to act and what rules had to be set in order to maintain a good environment for the students. In the regular part of the school teachers and administration are not as careful setting models of moral conduct. In chapter five of the book a conflict rises between YY, one of the students, and Ms. Westfall, the schools principal. YY has written an editorial in the newspaper attacking one of the programs at the school. Ms. Westfall believes that it was not YY s opinion, but someone else s. Ms. Westfall was wrong in accusing YY of writing an editorial that was not her own opinion when she has no proof. She was too worried about her school program being ruined to care about what she was doing to YY. I think most teachers provide students with models of moral conduct, but it is not always clear and consistent.

My high school s portrait of moral life was more similar to the one at Largo High than Hamilton High. We had a classroom specially designed for students who had trouble in their classes and needed special attention from a teacher. I think that this is a better idea then either of the two schools in the books. Hamilton High made a big mistake by mixing all different levels of students together in the classrooms, and Largo High separated the students with lower abilities all together. At my high school we also had levels of classes. Level four was the highest and called honors classes, level three was next for students with average, and above average abilities, and level two was the lowest for students who had difficulties keeping up in regular paced classes. All of these classes and levels were held in the same building, and the same teachers that taught the level four classes also taught the level threes and twos. Students did not feel separated from other students, and if someone needed more help they could go to the special help room, which was located in the computer wing.

Moral life of schools will change as time goes on and more changes are made in the world. If Grant wrote another book on Hamilton High today it would probably be a lot similar to Largo High or my high school. In the 1960 s the only thing they were worried about was desegregation, even if it put a lot of stress on the teachers and students to work in an environment with all different levels of kids. A portrait of moral life is different for every school because what might work for one school, might not for another.