In the first week of class we were asked to watch the 2015 documentary film “Most Likely to Succeed”. The film deeply questions our current education system, its roots and its approach to content and pedagogy. The film focuses on a high school in San Diego, California called High Tech High. The teachers and students of High Tech High have chosen an alternate path to the typical North American education system. A path that focuses more on tangible skills, collaboration, problem solving and tackling contemporary societal issues head on. Since the film is from 2015, I was curious to see what other projects have come from High Tech High since the release of the film.
High Tech High does a particularly good job at creating projects that result in real world positive change. One such project is the grade nine students Tiny Homes project. This project combined the disciplines of Humanities and Physics to build three tiny homes for artists in the San Diego community. The students raised the money and built the homes in collaboration with the artists themselves. Check out this youtube video for more info on the project.
I find this project so inspiring because the result is so concrete (haha). The youth are able to work through the issues, collaborate and have something very real to show for their efforts at the end. They are able to make a connection with the artist, work together to make someone’s vision come to life and positively impact members in the community. This kind of learning will stuck with students not only because it was hands on but because they made their community better than it was when they started.
This project brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from the Canadian yoga instructor Ryan Lier. I think it perfectly describes both the ethos of High Tech High and the learning objectives they try and bring about for their students.
Everything you do affects everything else. You, and what you do matters.
Ryan Lier
The tiny house project is such a perfect example of the ground breaking work that can be done in education when positive social change is at the forefront of learning objectives.
