http://webapp.library.uvic.ca/videos/view.php?vfn=Most-Likely-To-Succeed-(2015).mp4
In the hour and a half it took to watch “Most Likely to Succeed,” I feel my thinking has changed drastically. Like the narrators daughter, my interest in school also fizzled away at one point in my life. It was grade ten; I was going through a lot of personal experiences that made it incredibly difficult to simply sit in a desk and absorb vast amounts of information. I began to skip a lot, thinking “what’s the point?” “why do I need all this useless information?” and most often, “why should I come if it makes me unhappy?” High-school was just simply not as engaging as elementary and middle; it was about preparing for tests and setting yourself up for post-secondary, even if you weren’t planning on attending. But in “Most Likely to Succeed” the school “High-Tech High” takes a different approach, because they know that many students (like myself) will never retain all the information standardized curricula tends to throw at us. The teachers realize that the pressure of cramming for tests does not benefit students; that the curriculum needs to change. I’ll admit, I’d be incredibly uncomfortable on my first day at that school, but watching how the students grew and developed over the year, it’s something I wish I had got to experience when I was in high-school. While the students “missed out” on the basic facts that standardized high-school is supposed to teach, they learned valuable skills such as creativity, problem-solving, accountability, grit and more. As the students indirectly learned “soft skills,” they developed a growth-mindset that will benefit them for the rest of their lives! Even with the “avoidance” fo the curriculum, “High-Tech High” still has high test scores (10% above national average) and their students still get accepted into post-secondary institutions. These statistics are a step forward into challenging our nearly 200 year old curriculum, as they confirm that “soft-skills” are just as valuable as standardized information. This film has really got me thinking about my past school experiences, and the kind of teacher I want to be for my future students. I’m beyond excited to see what the future of our education system brings, and to be a part of the necessary change. #ChallengetheStandardizedCurriculum