Newsweek has ranked the top high schools. The first Maine high school, in Yarmouth, showed up 289 on the list. Cape Elizabeth high school snatched 764th place. Bangor high school came in 948. The local high school, here in Kensington, Md., ranked 648.
What makes a good high school is a good question, but it’s not the right one. I say: What makes a good education? I recall the recent study that found many graduating college students couldn’t manage basic tasks, like comparing ticket prices (ha, the real reason rock concerts cost so much!) or figuring the cost of a sandwich and a salad (ah, the real reason for the popularity of McDonald’s Dollar Menu).
I am a strong believer in a classical education, all the more so in today’s technologically obsessed societies: Reading literary classics, studying ancient and world history, mastering basic math, understanding why and how things in the natural and mechanical worlds work and developing strong story-telling skills (and so appreciation of the Arts). I am a strong disbeliever in over-zealous focus on memorization and the use of dry, mechanical tests, which require lots of memorization, as way of ranking schools and also using that ranking to determine public funding. I would rather see kids learn critical thinking and real problem solving skills.
Most importantly, the kids need to understand context—that they are not solitary beings, that the whom they are was shaped by historical development of humankind and the cultural eddies in which they were raised. Related: They live in a global context, where the actions of one person can affect the lives of many. Today, down on the National Mall, actors will speak against atrocities in Sudan. While I find some of actor George Clooney’s overly-liberal politics offensive, I nevertheless respect his headlining a rally designed to raise awareness about one of the world’s many crises. How many schools actively make current events—and kids’ context in relationship to those happenings—a priority?
Consciousness—”I think, therefore, I am”—is important. Education should also raise conscienceness. There’s no conscience in memorization, nor conscious awareness, either.
Photo Credit: Simone Di Filippo