While watching Most Likely to Succeed directed by Greg Whiteley, I realized a lot about our current school system. Although the American school system differs in some ways from the Canadian system, in many ways it is the same. Although, thankfully, Canada does not have a SAT or other large testing system that dictates whether we are expexpted into college, school is still formatted in the industrial standard, with grades taking precedent over everything. 

I thought it was really eye opening to learn that the current school model was originally designed for preparing students to work in an industrial setting. With the rise in technology, as shown in this film, with AI systems beating the world famous chess and jeopardy players, many jobs are being replaced with machines. This said, it shows how important it is for education to reflect what the current situation in the world is. 

Unfortunately, many schools still only focus on an end goal of a grade, which gets into college. In the scene where highschoolers were interviewed on whether they would rather learn math to help them in the future and to actually use, or to just ace the test, I found it disheartening the response was just to ace the test. However, I also find myself relating to that sentiment. Especially in the higher grades, school seemed to be only a means of getting a grade to get scholarships for university. Even now, I have to sometimes get my head in the mindset of education as a place to learn and grow, not just to a receive grade. There is a lot I want to learn, and most of which I find very fascinating, but I find myself held back by the weight of only caring for what my mark is in the class. Its so difficult to see the way these students also have had this mind set installed in them. Students are taught how to memorize and regergitate for tests, instead of learning and being curious. 

Image from hightechhigh.org

With the High Tech High school, I thought the project based learning was a very interesting idea. I’ve heard of systems like this before, where they have some overall theme for the year and all subjects use that theme to teach, which helps get students invested. In this system, where they all create something, I think it’s a great way for the students to really interact with what they are learning. The soft skills mentioned that this school is developing are unquestionably important when it comes to everyday things, especially life after school. What job is going to get you to sit by yourself and take a test? I can’t think of any. Yet, when you think of times in work, or elsewhere, when you will need collaboration skills, leadership abilities, and confidence, endless situations apply. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, I thought this documentary discussed some great points on how education could, and possibly should, look as we head towards a future filled with technology. I really resonated with the quote that “Education is a complex human system” and how no school is exactly the same, just as how no group of students are exactly the same.