Two of my kids are now in high school. My son is a senior and my youngest daughter is an entering freshman. They are attending my local town high school, which unfortunately is one of the lowest ranking school in the nation.

I attended the orientation with my daughter and the principal kept touting how great the school is, while neglecting to inform the parents how terrible it is in terms of academic. Yes, the principal wanted to toot his own horn but it is a disservice to the concerned parents who are sending their children to the school.

One of things that I disagree with the principal is how he often place varsity sports as priorities over everything else. If you look at his tweets, they are all about football, soccer and other sports. What he doesn’t realize is that sports have no place in the working world. When these young adults enter the workforce, no employers care if the potential employees play football or soccer, not they care if these employees are team player in the sports team. Every employer who is hiring is only interested in one thing – is the employee capable to complete the work.

Unfortunately, the high school (not named) is not doing well in this regard. Not only the principal is bad, the teachers are not the greatest either. This goes back to the education system in the US. There is a lack of understanding of what is more important and continue to play extra emphasis on varsity.

When I attended high school in Malaysia, my days are packed with classes and homework. Yes, the constant cramming of classes are not healthy but the education system of my town took to the extreme. Nowadays instead of teaching the high schoolers the essentials, it is following the same curriculum as in higher education (colleges and universities). The academic year is broken down in 4 semesters and the first two semesters only focus on 4 classes. The last two semesters will focus on the next 4 classes.

Once the students finished the first two semesters, they will no longer need to relearn the classes ever again. If there is no repetition, there is no way the students can retain anything at all. When it comes to studying SAT for college entrance exam, they would not be able to get the scores they need to get into good colleges. Maybe that’s why the high school ranks so low nationwide.

Another big fail of the high school in my town is lack of “new blood”. The principal of the high school was born and bred in my town. Majority of the teachers are also born and bred too. They lack outside views to provide new perspective to the students. Their teaching is stale and lack substance. The world outside has progressed so far but my town education system seems stuck in the 80’s.

And finally, the school board and the principals seem care about status then the well-being of the student. From the superintendent to the principals of every schools like to call themselves doctors. They have a doctorate in education does not mean they qualify to be doctors. They are philosophical doctor not medical doctor. What that tells me is they prefer the superficial title rather than finding solution for the students.

How is it in your area or town education system?