Week Two – Most Likely to Succeed
The documentary Most Likely to Succeed (2015) made me think a lot about my definition of success, not solely in relation to my education, but also with other hobbies and interests in my life such as streaming. Success as a concept has felt very ethereal and abstract in recent years for me, and it’s taken me a long time to figure out what success even looks like. I’ve concluded that success involves pursuing interests that make me feel passionate about life while being able to participate in supporting other people. What I found so interesting about this documentary is that when the same question is posited towards students, their response is that success means that they are able to pass standardized tests to become employable.
I’ll be honest in saying that I believe that when the students say that, it’s because they have been conditioned by society to view passing tests and finding careers as markers of success, which is troubling. I think that if our goal as educators is simply to teach students how to pass tests and find careers, then we are failing our students in developing curiosity about the world and a desire to grow and learn. I was very shocked that students responded this way in the documentary, and as a teacher I hope to inspire students to define success on their own terms by encouraging them to pursue what makes them feel passionate.
One of the things I do sincerely appreciate about this documentary, however, is the way that it shows how High Tech High is trying to disrupt the assumptions of traditional education. I think that one of the best ways it is able to succeed in doing this is by having so many different resources and technologies available to students who have a topic or curiosity they want to pursue. Most grade schools I have been to in my life haven’t been able to afford to update their computers in years, let alone materials and resources for learning about engineering and tech.
This access and understanding of resources and technology has such a potential for a positive impact in education. It makes me sad to think that the passion of so many children is limited so heavily by issues like a lack of different technologies and resources at school that would otherwise allow them to pursue their interests as lifelong learners.
