If I said that the public education at the high school level must make serious reforms–no one should be shocked. The drop out rate is at an all time high. An 8th grader 50 years ago, knew more “basics” than your average high school senior graduating today. Educators have been calling for reforms for decades.
The buzzword used to be “core knowledge”. Teach all the graduating kids the same rigorous core curriculum, to bridge the knowledge gap and you’ll turn out kids who are equally well prepared for college. The problem of course is who decides on what should be included in the core? Then the new buzz word became ‘school choice’–give parents their choice of schools and the competition will force schools to improve. While school choice does work in many situations. . .the solution, I think, is more complicated than just implementing a ‘one size fits all’ plan.
The most recent trend in secondary education however is specialization: smaller high schools that teach a specialized curriculum. This allows kids to focus on things that they are really interested in, as well as get a solid foundation in the basics. New York City is a prime example of this. There are high schools that specialize in just about every thing you can think of: hospitality and tourism, health careers, culinary arts, architecture, and the performing arts just to name a few. Selection methods differ based on the school and so it’s not just the elite getting into a few schools.
However, there are critics to this approach in secondary education. Some feel that specialization fails to give kids a ‘common experience.’ (Would it be unprofessional to interject here that I’m not sure what’s so important about the common experience?) Others say that while specialization sounds great. . .it has to prove it’s great on paper with high test scores, AP exams, and students graduating and going on to college.
One thing is definite: the more options that are available to parents and their kids, the more confusing it is to try to find a good fit. In looking at the Department of Education’s website for New York City, I found 3 separate sites: one 47 page document explaining all of the different high schools and their ‘philosophies’. I also found a separate page listing the codes used to explain how high schools selected new students. Finally I found another document that listed all the possibilities! One piece of advice for parents and kids who have the option to choose their child’s high school–start early!
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