new school idea
Freshmen coming into high school will be interviewed and placed into a class, not by age, but by interest. Students who love math will be placed with a math teacher, students who love science will be placed with a science teacher, and so on and so forth. They will not, of course, spend their entire school time with this one teacher, but this will be their "core" teacher, the one who will be assigned to advise them and support their educational goals.
One of the reasons for this method is that so often students go through school meeting each teacher for only one semester, never getting to know just one teacher very well and having no one they can go to for advice/counseling. Sure, my high school had "counselors" but I don't think this is the same.
Students will begin their day meeting with their core teacher. This first class of the day will be filled with students of different ages, the hope being that the older ones can provide help to the younger ones. It will be a class of getting to know each other projects and class discussions. Unless a student requests a new core teacher, this first class will be the same throughout his/her education.
This is a possibility for one step of the change that can take place in American high schools. It is fairly simple, not a complete reconstruction that I know should happen, but a realistic first step. Make high school more humane. Give students a reason to excel. If they have a group and a teacher interested in their progression, maybe they will try harder.
So, everything else will remain like a normal high school. Students will go to all their regular classes, but they will have this class first.
