The documentary, “Most Likely to Succeed”, starts off with a quote by John Dewey that says, “If we teach today as we taught yesterday we rob our children of tomorrow”, which leads into the overall theme and question, what teaching methods give students the best possible opportunities at success in their future?
In this documentary, Whiteley reveals that only 53% of college graduates are either jobless or underemployed (Whiteley, 4:17). According to Whiteley, this is due to the fact that nowadays, we have so much technology, that humans just aren’t needed anymore for certain jobs, which leads to another important question and overall theme. Should parents continue to send their kids to traditional schooling, where the education system tends to focus on skills that society today no longer values, or should parents risk sending their children to a completely new, innovated school system where educators teach “soft skills” (confidence, critical thinking, time management, ability to collaborate, persevere through trials, etc.) without knowing if this will positively or negatively impact their children’s future (Whiteley 32:47)
This documentary focuses mostly on “High Tech High”, a charter school located in California. Richard D. Kahlenberh and Halley Potter wrote a book on Charter schools, and how recently, the goal of Charter schools has been forgotten. Kahlenberg and Potter talk about how the founder of charter schools had a different vision in mind, and emphasized two important things that he wanted his charter schools to have. They were, “that the schools provide their teachers with a strong voice, and that the schools educate kids from all walks of life” (Kahlenberg and Potter, pg. 6)
This holds true for High Tech High. In this school, teachers are hired on a one year contract, and are able to teach however they want to teach. For example, there is a teacher that teaches a 9th grade humanities class, and a 9th grade engineering class, and both teachers teamed up to do a project together in which students work together to create a final project.
Two students are showcased in this documentary, Samantha and Brian, both freshman. Samantha is a quiet, shy girl, who by the end of the documentary, uses her voice, and becomes a leader in her classroom. Brian is a determined freshman that works on an engineering project all year long. He is determined to make it as complicated as he can, but does not get his project to work at the end of the year. He Is still determined and stays through summer break to finish it, and with many trial and errors, finally succeeds.
In the picture depicted above, we see Brian’s excitement once he realizes he has succeeded. This is important because it shows the determination and growth that he had, never giving up, and eventually succeeding, which is the ultimate goal of High Tech High for all of its students.
Although parents of these students were concerned that their children weren’t learning traditional skills that they would need to pass standardized tests in order for the children to get into college, High Tech High students scored 10% above state average (Whiteley, 1:20), and has a college acceptance rate of 98% (1:20), showing that their teaching methods are in fact effective.