What High School Can Be

   From reading Theodore R. Sizer’s What High School Can Be, I can say that I relate with Will, the high school basketball star that Sizer followed around through his day of classes, and I’m sure that many other high schoolers can as well. While I didn’t usually sail through the entire day without saying anything or opening a book, and my five foot one self was clearly not the star of the basketball team, I can still relate with the way that Will must have felt. 

   Sizer points out the waste of time of both the teachers and students, as well as the waste of resources, when students are not committed to or excited about what they’re learning. Many high school students feel this way as well, but it was never more apparent to me than it became in my senior year. By the time applications were finished and everyone had visited perspective colleges, everyone felt like they were done with high school. Many people, including myself, felt like when they went on Christmas break the school year ended and there was no point in returning in January. We all felt like we were stuck in a bunch of classes that didn’t matter in a high school that could not hold a candle to the colleges that we had visited. 

   There was one class, however, that I did take very seriously, especially in my senior year. To me, the only class worth staying up through the night for (or two nights in a row occasionally) was my art class. I probably spent more time on art homework in my senior year than I did on all other subjects combined. It was one of the only things that I actually enjoyed or even cared about, which was probably why I spent so much time on it. 

   When Theodore Sizer says that the way to get students more interested and involved in their work is to make it more challenging, I would have to disagree. Making something harder would only make a student frustrated if they are not actually interested in the subject. Students will get involved in a subject if its interesting to them, or if the teacher makes it interesting. Making a subject that a student doesn’t care about more difficult might only make them care even less. I think that many high school students, especially seniors, would probably agree with this, and I think that Sizer should probably get a little more in touch with his inner high schooler.