There are many problems associated with high school education today. Some of the issues that are typically brought up by the public and education professionals, include problems of accountability, funding, safety, behavior, ethics, test scores, and mastery of the basics. There is a movement to make a major change in the public school system in this country by providing vouchers to parents so that they can choose private schools, if they wish, in order to best educate their children. There is also a movement to revitalize public education by making it more relevant and connecting it more closely to business (VanSciver, 1997). The focus in this paper is on ways to improve education at the high school level from the point of view of a recent graduate.
The problems that high school students themselves see include some that the public sees, but some that are specific to students themselves. Students are often most aware of the shortage of good teaching. They are the ones most affected by the continued tenure of teachers with few skills for teaching and less interest. Students are often bored by lack of challenge and low expectations (Kulman, 1997). They may also be most aware of funding problems as those problems are manifested in lack of important materials, equipment, and books. Yet most students manage their high school years successfully, insofar as they graduate with basic skills that equip them for work or for entrance to college.
What is the goal of high school education? Is it simply for students to be moved as expeditiously as possible through those years, taught basic skills, and introduced to the work force? Is it to give students a wide background of knowledge so that they can cope successfully with many different kinds of situations? Is it to provide social remediation programs and values education? Or are there many goals, all important, and all juggled by school boards and school districts and education p...