“Most Likely to Succeed” Reflection

The documentary film Most Likely to Succeed directed by Greg Whiteley follows the process of teaching that is being used at High Tech High in San Diego, California. This different approach in teaching moves away for the idea of regular curricula and standardized testing and moves towards a more creative final product to assess their students. I found this documentary extremely interesting. As someone who came from a school that valued highest academic achievements based on test results left me feeling extremely disconnected and not interested in further education. High Tech High has given it’s students the space and time to learn in a way that builds them up as individuals, allowing their creativity to flow. This way of teaching also pushed students to move out of their comfort zone, in the film, Samantha, a student at HTH starts off super shy and quiet and by the end has blossomed into a true leader. It seems that more and more children are suffering from anxiety these days, or maybe it is just more apparent these days, but either way students need to be lifted up and supported by their teachers and schools and I don’t believe the current school system that uses standardized testing is achieving that. The other interesting point is that a post secondary degree is not guaranteeing a job post grad like it used to. That is the point made in the beginning of the film. High Tech High wishes to leave students with not just knowledge but also things such as social skills to allow for them to succeed in the real world. At the end they mention that there is not enough research to prove whether HTH’s approach or normal curriculum approach is creating more successful students, but HTH’s number of students getting accepted into post secondary institutions is very high and I think that is something to be noted. As a teacher I will think back to this film and I WILL adapt some of these ideas into my future classroom. I believe my purpose is to give students a safe space to find themselves and find what learning works for them, so I will be open to anywhere that could take my teaching.