echnology has given our society convenience and efficiency. Yet, the structure of North American high schools has been virtually the same for decades. The model of one teacher lecturing to many students has been the primary experience of formal education. Now, with the Internet holding the answers to most questions answered in school, it is time that our high schools across North America reflect this growing change and allow students to learn in a more efficient way. I would like to invite all

more »

... ducators-prospective and experienced-to consider broader options for teaching high school students. I propose that we try a new structure for schools that may enable students to engage in learning in and outside of the classroom while still allowing time to fulfill the commitments that currently take them away from school. I am not focusing on simply adapting the current school system that we have, but instead completely re-imagining it. Re-imagining high school education is important because, as of 2010, 28% of students in Regina were not graduating from high school within four years of entering it (Ministry of Education). That is, over a quarter of students in Regina are failing, meaning that as educators we are failing our students. I certainly do not mean to imply that teachers currently in the field are inadequate. I am merely an entry-level teacher, and, through the admittedly small amount of teaching experience I have had, teachers I have worked with have been excited, inventive, intelligent people who consistently challenge the current norms of North American education and are implementing innovative teaching practices in their classrooms. The issue is therefore not that teachers are inadequate, nor that the curriculum is now irrelevant; rather, the way school is taught is not as applicable to our students in the current technological environment. Students learn through the content we teach, but also through how we teach it. We want to foster creativity and critical thinking skills in our students, but it is extremely difficult to simply teach these skills. Instead, we could exhibit creativity and critical T