Alternative Schooling Methods, We're Not Buying Them

Liverpool High School, along with many other schools nationwide, are opting for a less traditional learning structure to better suit students and to close budget gaps. But are all of these changes necessary and will they ever work?

Last month, Liverpool School District Superintendent Richard N. Johns proposed a plan that would split its high school into six academies. This plan would create a small academy for high-schoolers who need a small learning environment and an academy for the remaining freshmen and sophomores. Once a student has completed 10th grade, they could enter a fine arts academy, an engineering and mathematics academy, an academy for college bound students, or an academy with a more traditional structure, according to an article in the Post-Standard. More detailed descriptions of these academies have not been released.

Students and staff at Jamesville-Dewitt High School seem to have mixed responses towards this change. "Students would have the advantage of a smaller grouping and teachers get to know the students better," said science teacher Amalie Quinn of the proposed plan. "It seems like it's bringing the idea of having a major in high school," said Marian Glauber, chair of the social studies department.

Freshman Darrin White thinks that academies would be a great idea because "it would allow students to focus in on what he or she wants to do and just excel in that area."

While the academy setup seems like a good way to focus on one interest, there may be some flaws to this plan. Principal Paul Gasparini said that splitting into academies is "based upon an idea that was popular 10 to 15 years ago that smaller high schools produced better results." He also said that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded schools to break into smaller academies in 2001, but they stopped funding because the experiment failed to show that students did better in a small learning environment.

Senior Abraheem Khatib thinks that splitting into academies would be somewhat helpful, but it would take some time to re-structure. Sophomore Mariah Mosher also thinks that this setup would be too complicated. "Making schools, organizing kids, and finding teachers would be hard," she said. "I would go to a traditional school because they have more of a variety [of courses]," said Mosher.

"It's great for students that know what their interests are, but sometimes their interests aren't set at that time," said Mrs. Quinn. She also said that the purpose of school is to broaden students' horizons rather than narrow their outlook.

So, what does this new trend mean for our school? "Liverpool is bigger than us and it would be hard for us with our size to offer very many choices," said Mrs. Glauber. In other words, J-DHS probably will not restructure into a variety of academies any time soon.

Liverpool has decided to postpone this project for at least a year after a vote on March 15.

Another non-traditional educational system has recently emerged. High schools in Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont are beginning a new system in the fall of 2011 to allow students to graduate high school after 10th or 11th grade if they pass a board exam. This plan will help these states financially, cutting the costs of education. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007, education costs $9,666 per student every year.

After graduation, students can enroll in a community college. Students can also continue through senior year if they would like to attend a more competitive college.

Utah State Senator Chris Buttars has also offered a plan that would eliminate senior year to help close his state's budget gap.

Mosher thinks that students should be able to have the choice as to whether or not senior year should be eliminated.

Mr. Gasparini embraces the idea of having students graduate early. "I don't have a problem with that, but students have to want to do it too," he said.

However, in this tough economy it would be very hard for a person at such a young age to find a job. Their other option is college, but some people are worried that they wouldn't be prepared.

Mrs. Quinn thinks that going to college early might be a good idea for some students, but others need that year in high school to mature. "High school helps [students] feel ready for adult expectations," said Mrs. Glauber. "People should take advantage of free education," added Mrs. Quinn. Mr. Gasparini said that students who graduate early can't take as many classes and that it is tough for them to take a lot of electives. However, "if [students are] mature enough to want to graduate early then they're mature enough for college," he said.

Would students at J-DHS like to eliminate senior year? "Me, no, because I'm an overachiever," said White. Mosher also agreed, saying, "I don't want to miss out on all of the fun things about senior year."

"If I had the option to graduate early, I would probably say, 'yeah.' But I also wouldn't mind staying an extra year," said Khatib.

Mr. Gasparini believes that this idea might become an interest for more high-schoolers, though there are a few problems. "A number of students like taking electives, sports, and theater, and if they graduate early their involvement is limited. This will eliminate a large number of kids from graduating early," he said. He also said that students who like to take many AP courses would not be able to graduate ahead of time. "Parents won't want [students] to graduate early because they're not ready for their sons or daughters to go away at 16 or even 17," he added.

"Should we be revamping our offerings so a bigger chunk [of students] can graduate in three years? I don't think so," said Mrs. Glauber. "If you have good teachers working with happy students, you're going to achieve better results," said Mr. Gasparini.

While schools all over are changing, it looks like J-DHS remains traditional.