The film, Most Likely to Succeed was interesting and insightful, and I learned a lot from it. First, it showed how the educational system, particularly the US, but generally everywhere in the world, fails to prepare students for the contemporary world and job market. Traditional schools use standardized tests that make students memorize stuff to pass examinations that don’t help students acquire the skills they need to succeed in their future careers and life. It also highlighted how technology can now do jobs that people did, and schools did not change to meet the needs of students. Finally, I found it fascinating what one of the speakers in the film said about what employers are looking for candidates they want to hire. He points out that when employers hire and go through resumes, they don’t care about grades or universities people graduate; they are looking for people with soft skills such as creativity, cooperation and leadership skills, which is necessary for people to succeed in their jobs. So if that is the case, then one wonders why schools do not focus on teaching those essential skills that will help students in their future careers. Most importantly, the film has opened my eyes to the deficiencies in traditional schools and the changes that need to happen; however, it was also inspiring to see extraordinary positive changes. For example, so amazing to see how schools and teachers are taking bold actions to move from standardized tests to more inquiry-based teaching and learning.
I especially appreciated High Tech High school’s philosophy on teaching and hands-on and inquiry-based approach. As a result, students have opportunities to learn for themselves and with their peers and develop skills in collaboration and teamwork, leadership and public speaking skills, which are valuable skills students will help need in their lives. After watching the film, I asked my 11-year-old grade 6 daughter what she thinks about school and what changes she would make in what schools teach. I was surprised by her response. She said, “I feel like school doesn’t teach things like how to do your taxes and how to buy a house which are the things people need to do in life” I was taken back by her response because she is right doing your tax and buying a house, saving money are essential things that people need and need to learn how to do. Still, we don’t value teaching those skills in school, and we have to know that later. I thought this was a good idea because schools don’t teach these skills, and she is right; those are essential life skills people have
I like how the school centred students’ agency and used inquiry-based learning to help them collaborate and create their knowledge. Students seemed to be entirely different when they first came and presented their projects. The first day they came to tech High school seemed unmotivated and less self-directed but became a quite engaged and collaborative team. It was nice to see how Samantha, a timid student at the beginning of school, found her power and became a confident leader. It was pretty inspiring to see how students worked so hard on their projects, collaborated and presented their creations. A speaker in the film made a compelling comment that I thought summed up what students in Hight Tech High did. He said, “the most fantastic feeling comes from creating something that has not been there before. That is just so powerful.
