" What High School Can Be" By: Theodore R. Sizer

              This report on High Schools done by Theodore R. Sizer was briliant in many ways. He was able to digg deep into the student part of what occured in a normal school day and understand the many problems. Most studies on high schools are done by test scores or percentages, it was refreshing to see that the author took the initiative and entered the high schools through the students perspective. Sizer does a great job of this by shadowing two students from different areas, through there high school day.
               Will who lives in an upper middle class suburban area is the first student Sizer talkes about and follows through the periods of the day. He describes Will as an athlete who basically remains motionless and quite throughout all of his classes. This to me was not a surprising sinario, i am familiar with the student athletes who only really participate in school durring the athletic activities after school.
                On the other hand, there was Martha from a high school in a working class neighborhood. Everyday she went through a ruitene, going to classes that were lifeless and stricked. The quote that stuck out for me the most about Martha would have to be when she turned to Sizer and said, " im not stupid, im not stupid, im not stupid!".  At that point in the report i really felt for Martha, so many students are put it classes that dont even challenge them, classes that just run through the process of school rather than really trying to make an impact on the students minds.
                I was especially surprised by the fact that the same basic ideas and practices for schooling presented by the committee of ten about 80 years ago were still present. The only difference however was the beliefe of how important science as a subject was, compared to foreign languages. The author shows a lot of emotion when he talks about the way high schools are recognized and what students go through. I find that he is completly correct when he sys that the authorites of these schools do not seem to acknowledge the weaknesses within the schools. Maybe if all high schools realized that somethings need o be changed to better the lives of there students, more kids would actually gain something more then anger or popularity from high school, they would gain a stronger education to send them out into the world.