Chapter 2 Summary Reflection

CHAPTER 2: NO MORE COOKIE-CUTTER HIGH SCHOOLS

                In chapter two, Kelly, McCain and Jukes discuss that the traditional high school should be no more. They propose that schools need to be designed/developed so that they are customized to the needs of the student to include tailored teaching and learning, more choices of attendance locations and times as well as more choices about what and how they learn. Some of the proposed ideas for these new schools were very interesting. The thought of “renting” spaces for schools and the possibility of changes of location from year to year is very foreign when you look at the traditional school. The authors pointed out that “the most important issue facing schools today is the reluctance of  those in control of education to let go of what they are used to, whatever their role in the system.” (I think that this applies not only to teachers and administrators but also to the community, legislators, etc.)

As I read this chapter, I thought of one of our area high schools that has been in the news recently. Douglass High School in Oklahoma City has been on the news because a huge number of their students were expected to not be able to graduate. Since the break of the news story, the school has been undergoing remediation processes in an effort to bring students up to where they need to be. This idea that the authors have of customizing high schools made me wonder if that would be something that could have prevented this situation at Douglass. When greater than fifty percent of a senior class is not ready to pass end of instruction qualifications, something is drastically wrong. If you look at closely you see that the youth in our high schools are facing situations such as needing to work to help support their families or having aspirations of college but being stuck in classes that won’t adequately prepare them for college because the classroom/school is designed to meet the lower to middle population. Realizing that there are situations like these and many others makes me think that maybe Kelly, McCain and Jukes might have a really good idea. We do want to meet students where they are and lift them up. I always play Devil’s Advocate, though. So, my question is, “Isn’t this similar to what alternative education programs are developed for?” If that is the case, are we proposing that all schools be “alternative ed.”? How does funding work for this? Should there be smaller neighborhood schools rather than these large schools that graduate over 1000 seniors a year? If one community is developed differently from another, how do you know that the students leaving one and going somewhere else will not have problems because things are too customized? These are just some thoughts