That's a tough one. After putting three boys thru the school system in North Kitsap I don't have a lot of positives to say about the purpose of high school.
What high school should be about is helping to transition the students from kids to adults. It should be about encouraging self esteem, free will and aiding in the acquiring of new skills that will put the students in better position to go out in the workforce.
What I think the high school is actually for: providing jobs for a bunch of people who may at one time thought teaching was a noble profession but got swallowed up or carried away by the constant flow of administrative BS that is so rampant in the schools. Forgive me,,, my experience, in reference to my boys, was not a good one.
Now what would I like to see changed about it?
Ha, a lot...
Besides the obvious - money, I would like to see more flexibility from the staff in dealing with the kids(young adults). They - the school administration, sees the world in black and white. Its not black and white, it is gray. The students are all individuals and should be treated as such. We all learn differently and so there should be some acknowledgement of that and students be given different options for test taking, assignments, etc. if the routine path does not work for them. If a student tests better orally instead of pen and paper or computer work than why can't some accommodation be made to help that student succeed.
The schools are too big. One of the biggest complaints I have heard from teachers is that they don't have time to give each student individual attention. Of course they don't. They have a minimum of thirty five student in five to six classes a day. That's 210 different kids who all learn in different ways. So smaller schools and smaller classrooms. Maybe if the money was actually spent in the classroom and not on "green" buses and new sports equipment every year there would be more left to spend on teaching and yes, even caring about our kids.
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