SCENE 1: a girl aged ten has decidedly given up on her interest in math. her mother has called a parent-teacher meeting to understand why. while parent and teacher are discussing the child (effective of, “she brings home this test, and so i ask, ‘what did you do wrong?'” – “her level is… WAY below…”) the girl sits between and cries, saying nothing.

What are we trying to get out of the K-12 school system? Most Likely to Succeed takes charge in guessing at what we have been, and should be, focusing on in what I figure are the following ways:

  • Technology is advancing faster than our education system prepares students for the workforce, resulting in an insecurity in the job force as tech takes over
  • Students are equally disengaged in our education system, and unprepared for the world beyond schooling
  • Soft skills support the necessary fundamentals to achieve curricular success to a necessary degree, and achieve developmental success to a superior degree

Most of these things I agree with, to an extent. The world is changing quickly, and it’s challenging to keep up. A general listlessness at best, or nihilism at worst, seems to be growing as the world at our fingertips grows in turn at a rate that we are in many ways unable to handle. It is well time to call attention to the priorities and values that shaped our current conditions and consider what is tradition for tradition’s sake, and what has gotten us further from our intentions.
What struck me the most about this film was High Tech High’s gusto to go radically forward for the sake of innovation. In no small part, it gets a *hat tip* from me – the courage necessary from educators (forsaking job security), parents (betting on their child’s future), and students (going into unknown and uncomfortable territory) is a formidable foe, when it is so appealing to take the path of least resistance. And the results speak for themselves: the stats back them up (they performed just as well, if not better, on standardized tests) and the change was palpable (we all agree that Samantha is the hero of the story, yes?).

Here’s what makes me think twice:

High Tech High’s name implies its location in San Diego, which is considered a US tech hub. This had me wondering what models we will innovate because they are faulty, and which we will innovate because they are no longer shiny. I agree that automation has brought a higher priority on critical thinking skills, and I have seen the effect of that in my own work. What I’m not sure the HTH model caters to is the demographics that are not in the extreme setting of life-or-death competition amongst their peer group (reasoning that the US uniquely ties healthcare to employers), or demographics that are not necessarily encouraged to go out and take the most independent, prosperous, or otherwise “successful” route possible (those who do manual labour, take on family businesses, or provide family and community care).

Surely this model is working well when students get to lean into things that interest them, build character, and understand themselves as part of a community – we all want that. Will High Tech High redefine “success” in school systems? Time will tell.