My son attends a huge high school. He’ll graduate with a class of about around 400 or 500 kids. There are pluses and minuses to attending such a large school. Some kids are overwhelmed and feel lost in such a large setting. On the other hand, there’s the massive course catalog. They offer everything from classes on food preparation to acting to website design to a full range of AP courses.

Last week, Jonah signed up for his classes for next year. Steve and I greedily poured over his options. We love a course catalog, which is why we ended up in graduate school for so long. The only trouble was there was very little flexibility in his schedule to actually take some of those classes. He was automatically enrolled in English, German, History honors, Algebra II honors, and Chemistry, so he had only one free period for an elective each semester. He signed up for a year-long class on architecture, and his schedule was full. All those options, and no time to take them.

Some have proposed expanding time in high school to give students more access to job-prep electives. Others say that we need a six-year high school to help lower-income kids who have a difficult time with transitioning to community colleges. Kids would have the support that they need in these high schools and could leave high school with an AA degree and important job skills.

The six-year high school concept is primarily geared towards the millions of kids who can’t manage that transition from high school to community college. It’s for that B or C student who manages to get through high school without much fanfare, but for various reasons can’t make it through the next level.  I also think it would benefit traditional, college-bound students like Jonah, who might need a year or two to mature before getting a BA. It could give him the opportunity to take different elective classes, make some career decisions, and then tackle college with real goals and greater maturity.

How would this work?

The higher ed community hates this idea. It would take resources away from the community colleges and less selective colleges. They question the ability of high school teachers to teach college-level material. But, you know, high school teachers are already in the higher ed business. They are teaching AP classes right now. Some students leave high school with a full year of college credits. Still, a move to expand high school would lead to a huge political fights.

Beyond politics, the biggest problems are money and capacity. Local towns could not support another two years of free education, but maybe if money from community colleges were redirected to high schools, it could work. There would be huge infastructure issues. Where would they put all those kids? Important details that would have to be hashed out.

There’s no question that we’re heading in the direction of expanding the mission of the local high school. There’s going to be a lot of discussions about funding and capacity. There’s going to be some bitter turf wars. But we’re definitely heading  in that direction.