The Role of High School

My wife and I repeated a discussion tonight we've had a number of times. She believes, as many in America do, that anyone can become anything they want if given the right opportunity and the right education. I maintain that everyone has inherent limitations that will permit them to achieve only so much, regardless of effort and opportunity. At heart, it is a nature vs. nurture discussion.

I'm the first to admit that upbringing and opportunity play an extremely large role in how much a person achieves. However, I can also demonstrate a number of situations where people succeeded despite a horrible upbringing, or became a colossal failure or psychopath while raised in a normal, loving environment. For me, nature has predetermined the zenith of your capabilities, nurture determines if you achieve your full potential.

I see the conversation as no different than the conversation of talent vs discipline. For some, talent will allow them to achieve superior results without having to practice their craft. For others, like Rod Smith of the Denver Broncos, they will work harder than everyone else and make up for a lack of natural talent with heart, determination and hard work. If Terrell Owens put as much work into his craft as Rod Smith does - or Jerry Rice did - he would have every receiving record in the book.

Americans have bought into the myth that "opportunity" is synonymous with "capability". America ostensibly provides everyone an equal opportunity to succeed - through equal access to education, and anti-discrimination laws. Whether or not you make the most of the opportunities is up to you. To believe that just because you are permitted to try means that you will undoubtedly succeed is why American Idol is able to entertain so many viewers with the horrendous singing of the hopefuls who actually believe their tone-deaf souls can win the competition.

Taking this another step further, to assume that everyone has a chance at college is laughable. Roughly 20% of the population attains a college degree, yet our High Schools focus curriculum on college preparatory material. Providing everyone the opportunity to obtain the requisite education to apply and gain acceptance to a university is noble and admirable. Neglecting 80% of the population and not preparing them for success in the world without a college degree is derelict and shameful.

The role of High School is to prepare our children to be successful adults and citizens - not to prepare them for college. For every student taking AP English or Calculus, there are four who need to learn how to read their lease agreements and balance their check book. For every student in debate class, preparing to be a lawyer, there are four who need to learn how to disassemble, repair, and reassemble a combustion engine, or how to type a formal email. By focusing the efforts of a school - and measuring its success - on the number of students it prepares for college, we inevitably neglect 80% of the population.

We need to view our educational system as an investment in our future tax base. If we assume it costs $200,000 to educate a child from ages five to eighteen, we need to ensure we have prepared them to provide a net return of $250,000 in taxes from ages 18 to 78 after deducting the cost for shared services (police, fire, roads) and used services (social security, medicaid, welfare). If we fail to prepare the non-college bound students for a semi-skilled job upon graduation - mechanic, typist, machinist, courier - we have prepared them for a life at minimum wage or, worse yet, a life on welfare or in jail; none of which provides a return on our investment.
We rant and lament pages and pages of ink on the poor fiscal management of our government. We debate the cause of our education system losing ground to other countries. We demand more money for our schools and teachers. But we never seek a solid return on our investment. We never seek to prepare those who will never attend college to be productive citizens. Instead, we ask for unearned diplomas and easier college admissions. We need to recognize that college is for the mind what professional sports are for the body - a place for the elite, the highly talented and the most disciplined. Not a place for every average Joe hoping to have a piece of paper so he can make $15 an hour.

It is time we demand that High Schools teach life skills to everyone, ingenuity to the gifted, and menial skills to the mentally suspect. We all need mechanics as much as we need doctors. We won't have a home unless we have both an architect and a carpenter. Though we will never value both roles the same financially, we must value them equally socially.