Reflection of “Most Likely To Succeed” Film

Before watching this film, I had not heard of the school “High Tech High”. When the school was first introduced in the film, the name conjured up ideas of students learning the fundamentals of coding, and a never-ending wall of screens. However High Tech High turned out to be a lot different than what I had originally expected. The students there were emersed in an educational experience that focused on the development of “soft skills” rather than the learning of specific content. Some of these “soft skills” included confidence, independence, and critical thinking; skills that are often sought after in workplace positions. This school focuses on building skills that they hope will help students in their futures, rather than skills like memorization which are generally less useful outside of school settings. I wholeheartedly agree with this premise! Students should be taught skills that will be applicable to their futures, rather than the skills that are primarily useful in just the present moment. I loved this film and found that it brought up these great ideas that are important to ponder when deciding how we as preservice teachers want our future classrooms to look like.

I do have one wondering about this idea, however. Although the teaching of these skills is important, I do wonder if the students who graduate from this high school will have some difficulty in beginning university or college. I think this because some university/college programs, especially in the first few years, can focus their courses almost completely on memorization of facts and information. In these cases, the students may face some trouble adjusting to the university/college style of learning.

However, only time will tell if these students tend to have trouble adjusting to life outside of high school with the skills they were taught. Personally,  I do think that adjusting to a new way of learning would be just a small bump in the road. The other skills these students are learning at High Tech High will likely allow them to flourish in most situations they face, as well as make them better suited for today’s workplace compared to their peers graduating from typical school systems.

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2 Comments

  1. Recess Knitting

    I completely agree. After seeing the students of High Tech High gain such valuable experience in learning soft skills, they seem like students that would be able to learn and adapt to a multitude of educational situations. From my experience, these students will be ready for any job that comes their way!

  2. ashleyadmoore

    I absolutely agree with what you mentioned about agreeing with the philosophy of High Tech High. I am looking forward to bringing these ideas with me into my future career.

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