This weekly blog post I am going to reflect on the film “Most Likely to Succeed,” and more specifically, High Tech High. Watching this video was a shock for me, I have never seen a school quite like High Tech High.
Photo of High Tech High Mesa Campus in San Diego California
Image source: hightechhigh.org
Check out the High Tech High website!
One thing that I took from the video was that there is no “right” way to learn or teach. Every student has different needs in order to learn efficiently, and High Tech High takes this idea into account by giving students creative autonomy and prioritizing student led learning. By doing this, both students and teachers are able to learn and teach in a way that is best suited to their individual needs.
One thing that surprised me in the film was the fact that students did not have a set schedule. For my entire life, I have only known schools to have set schedules where once the bell rings, you get up and immediately move to your next class. However, I think that students having the autonomy to set their own schedule can create a better attitude towards schoolwork, and even create higher motivation levels.
Although High Tech High seems to be a highly successful school, throughout the video I kept wondering if students would struggle to make the transition between high school and college/university. The odds are that if students choose to get a post-secondary education, they will end up at an institution that functions quite differently than High Tech High.
Although I was concerned that students would struggle making the transition to college, I found out that over 90% of High Tech High graduates are accepted into four-year university programs, which is an impressive number, so obviously they are doing something right!
I was interested in finding Canadian schools that have the same or similar values and systems as High Tech High, and I have found similar schools in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and even British Columbia.
The BC school that I found is called Farm Roots, and it works in collaboration with a local Highschool in Delta BC. According to the Delta Farm Roots website, “The day at Farm Roots is structured around learning; no bell rings to tell students it’s time to finish learning about Leadership and time to start learning about Geography, for example. Life doesn’t work that way, and farms don’t work that way; this mini school doesn’t work that way either.” This school seems to have similar values to High Tech High, no set schedule, student-based learning, and lots of collaborative and hands on work. I am surprised that we have a school like this here in BC, and I’m excited to learn more about it.
Photo of Farm Roots School in Delta, British Columbia
image source: https://freshroots.ca/farmroots/
Check out the Farm Roots website!