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The current high school system is in dire need of some major reforms in the way it functions. Students are more or less required to learn at the same pace as everyone else; the average students pass their classes, the intelligent ones get an honor roll plaque, and the weaker ones fail. Do any of these encourage intellectual expansion or growth? The average student will stay put grade-wise and get an average job with an average company, the strong student will be convinced that he or she does not need to work to succeed and will live an unfulfilling existence, and the weaker student - whose self-esteem has been slowly chipped away year after year by peers and grades alike - will continue to fail unless more money is spent for a tutor, a measure that rarely succeeds. While it is highly unlikely that a system such as the one I will outline will ever be implemented because of economic reasons, I believe that it is a goal we can work towards, small steps at a time.
The system I propose would work following these principles:
1) Instead of teachers (whose employment loss will be dealt with later on in this text), professionals will be employed - perhaps one to three per field for an average high school of around 600. Each would be a specialist in his or her field, trained specifically for it - the English professionals would not be allowed to fill in for a mathematics professional should need be.
2) At the beginning of each year - beginning still in September - the student would choose as many subjects as he believes he can handle in the next ten months. If the student has trouble choosing or deciding how much he can handle in the coming year, guidance counselors will be on hand to assess the student's skill level and recommend (but not assign) classes. For each class, the student will be given a list of objectives he will be required to complete by the end of the school year, and one or two deadlines for major works - such as independent study unit essays or oral presentations - will be given. For the rest of the work, though, the student is completely on his own: he is free to complete the assignments at whatever time he feels appropriate, but all work must be handed in a month before the next school year begins, i.e. by the end of July. Certain assignments - but not all - will be marked as 'required', and the student will be required to have a passing (60 %+) grade average on those assignments to be assigned his credit.
3) At ANY point during the year, the student can request that his examination for that subject be administered. There will be a large room in the school devoted entirely to examinations. There will be two times every day to take his examination - in the morning or in the afternoon. Each 'period' will have supervisors assigned that closely monitor the work of the students and are notified what the student is allowed to have. If any sign of cheating is detected, students are immediately removed from the examination room and attributed the mark of 0 on the exam, and will not be allowed to take the subject for 12 months following his expulsion from the room. Also at any time following his exam, the student can request that he be given his credit - at this point, an average on 100% will be made with 50% being his assignments and 50% being his exam mark. As you can see, with this system the student is required to obtain a passing grade in both his exams and his assignments; otherwise he will fail. If the student requests his credit and has a mark inferior to 60%, he will be warned and given a chance to improve his mark. The student can retake the exam up to two times - with a different exam given each time - in order to improve his grade to the passing point, and can complete any assignments he did not previously hand in (any previously completed assignments cannot be again handed in). If the student still does not pass after completing all his work and taking the exam three times, he will have failed the course and will not be able to take it again until the next September. An average of 60% of more before the end of July will net the student his credit.
4) After obtaining a required amount of credits (around 30), the student will be given his high school diploma. Following the university system of certification, the students will receive a better diploma the better their grades are - for example, a 'magna cum laude' for the 90%+ students, and a 'standard' diploma for the 70%- students. Certain credits will be required for the rewarding of the diploma, such as a number of math and language credits. All others will be optional, though, and should ideally span every subject from computer science to microbiology. The less popular a subject is, the fewer professionals will be hired to manage it, and a professional could do dual duty for two similar fields.
5) There will be no 'school' proper, but there will instead be a facility in which there is a library - as large as the populace can afford - as well as a computer lab, a gymnasium, a chemistry lab, and various other facilities. Comfortable desks will be provided in quiet work rooms for students to complete their assignments, a cafeteria will be there for lunches, and professionals will be constantly on hand to answer any questions the student may have about his work. In addition, it would be preferable that one or two recreation rooms be provided with televisions, couches, pool tables, chess tables, etc. so that students could have a free and comfortable place to relax should stress and pressure get to them. No student will ever be required to attend the building, except for examinations and oral presentations, which will be done in front of 10-12 people responsible for grading, but attending is strongly encouraged, and bonus marks may be attributed to students who have proven exceptional in their attendance. This building would offer a comfortable, stress-free and social environment for students to learn, expand, and make friends.
There are, obviously, holes in this proposal; I will attempt to fill as many as I can here. As to the question of teachers losing employment, they can be offered positions as counselors or 'graders' - a different class of people altogether will be needed to grade assignments, to minimize personal attachment and bias on the part of the professionals. Those with sufficient knowledge in any subject will be offered positions as professionals.
Students can theoretically, with this program, complete a course in which they have extensive knowledge in a matter of weeks or even days. To combat longer vacations, students can request another course at any time. This will have to be approved by one of the many employed guidance counselors. So, with this system, students can progress at their own pace - strong students can complete all of their high school within one or two years, and the weaker ones can take as long as they need to complete all their courses. Because the students can select almost any course they want, each curriculum is tailor-made for the students.
The biggest problem this proposed reform faces, though, is one of cost. It would cost a lot of money for governments to hire the amount of people necessary to maintain such a system. But I believe that it would be worth every single penny - students would no longer come out of high school bewildered and confused as to their future, but as informed, smart, and forward-thinking citizens.
If you have any questions as to the specifics of this system, feel free to contact me with any concerns you have at the address at the bottom of this page and I will do my very best to answer them and append this manifesto with them.
This document is Copyright © Matt Mongrain 2001. All rights reserved. Reproduction strictly prohibited without express permission of the author. To submit questions, comments or corrections to the author, e-mail Matt Mongrain at loudspeek@mail.com.
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