Saratoga News 'School for the future' lacks a lot that high schools need How soon must young people 'go to the office' By Eddie Chiao It's a place where computer workstations have replaced desks. It's a place where classrooms and hallways resemble those of a small business. It's the New Technology High School in Napa, and it's complete with movable walls and glass-block entryways. Even with all these new improvements, this "school for the future" lacks an athletics program and other important extracurricular activities. The lack of social programs should come as little surprise, since the school was funded by Silicon Valley business leaders. "Our mission is to prepare students to excel in an information-based, technologically advanced society," the school's Web site proudly states. While the concept of the Tech school is an exciting new method of teaching and learning, the 220 students enrolled in the school are missing out on an important part of high school. As a senior in high school, I'm afraid that the Tech school, with its "visionary" ideas about education, is failing to see that there is more to high school than just preparing students for the business world and higher education. High school is also about preparing kids for the real world and making them into well-rounded adults. What will happen when these students go off to college and sit in lecture halls with more than 200 students? If these Tech students claim they got lost in the shuffle at their old high schools, imagine what will happen when they're sent off to colleges and universities that have thousands of undergraduate and graduate students. Furthermore, college-level research is always done in libraries filled with tons of informational books--not Internet Web sites. Not only does high school prepare students academically, but it also creates many social gatherings and opportunities for the students to get along with each other and find out about themselves. Granted, the Tech school has dances and other activities, but one has to wonder just how much of a high school experience the New Tech can give its students when it prides itself on resembling a business rather than a school. Businesses such as Hewlett-Packard, Lotus Development Corp. and Silicon Graphics are all partners in providing the technology needed at New Technology High School. One Hewlett-Packard worker was even quoted in the Dec. 6 issue of the San Jose Mercury News saying that he'd hire students from the New Tech school before he hired other prospective workers. This raises an interesting question about the intent behind donations made by Hewlett-Packard and others. Are the companies trying to give these students a better opportunity to learn, or are they merely looking for a way to train young kids in the hopes that they will someday work in the high-tech field? By coming to this school, students would be forced to give up athletics in the hopes of receiving a more advanced education. The lack of a school newspaper means the students don't have an immediate domain to voice their opinions about the school. Since the school is only open to juniors and seniors, there is no physical education class required for upperclassmen and, therefore, sports are completely ignored at the school. JoAnne Miller, the school's external affairs director, lauded the amount of respect and the lack of distractions at the school, calling the campus a "business environment." A business environment? What scares me about this is that Miller is actually proud of having her school run like a business. Once again, we have to look at the big picture when dealing with the education of these young kids. For me, high school is also about meeting new friends and going to football games on Friday nights. High school is about finding a direction before going off to a college or university. What this Tech school is missing is balance. I'm lucky to be going to a high school where academics and extracurricular activities play a balanced role in my high school life. What the Tech school needs to do is to stop trying to resemble a business and start looking and acting more like a school. There's no question that the school has adopted a more effective way of teaching; however, in the process of being at the cutting edge of technology, the creators of the school are cutting the students off from a normal high school experience. My teachers often talk about the insignificance of a test grade or homework assignment when compared to the "big picture." They constantly remind us students that although grades are important, 20 years from now, we won't remember what grade we got on our senior research papers or how well we did in calculus. We'll remember our senior prom and we'll remember our friends. Most importantly, we'll remember our last days of our protected youth. We'll spend the rest of our lives working in a "business environment" after we graduate from college. So why rush into it? Eddie Chiao is a senior at Saratoga High School. YouthTalk invites all Saratoga youth, 18 and under, to express their views in YouthTalk. Topics are as limitless as your imagination. For deadlines and word count, contact Saratoga News editor Dale Bryant, 354-3110, ext. 31, or on email, dbryant@sjmetro.com. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, December 16, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.