In the Beginning: The 1893 Report of the Committee of Ten & Creating the Comprehensive High School

     So during the countless hours I spent sitting at a desk in a class that I had no interest in, trying to imagine who’s idea it was for high school students to have to learn this stuff, I wasn’t far off to imagine a group of men sitting around a table and talking about what students should be learning in high school. When I would be in physics or calculus trying to decode the seemingly foreign language that my teachers seemed to be speaking, I would always be thinking, “Who’s idea was it to make mandatory?” Well, now I know. Thanks a lot Committee of Ten. 

     There were some subjects that I could understand the value of learning, even if I didn’t like them, like a foreign language or a writing class. After all, English is not the only language in the world and learning another language could be useful if you ever have to communicate with someone from another country, and being able to express yourself clearly is important as well. But physics? The most basic stuff can be useful, but its also common sense. The more complicated things could be useful as well, but only if you need to build an elevator or know at what exact time a ball thrown into the air will fall back to the ground, and most people will never need to know these things. Which is why it was frustrating for me to have to learn them in my junior year when I had already decided on going to art school. 

     One good point that was made was by James B. Conant in Creating the Comprehensive High School. Conant stressed the importance of homerooms in any high school  to build a sense of community between students that normally would not see each other during the school day because of the different classes they take. In my high school, a homeroom, or FA (Faculty Advisory) as we referred to them, did not only consist of students from different skill levels, but also of students from all four years. This created many mentoring opportunities and made it easier for freshmen to adapt to high school life. And as Conant had said, it really did create a strong sense of community within the school.