When I found out I was going to San Diego, I knew right away that I wanted to visit the infamous High Tech High. I emailed a number of people with no response. However, a quick email to a fellow Canadian Chemistry teacher was golden. She responded and was very welcoming to this stranger from the Internet. She gave up a couple of hours during her day to talk to me. They have an interesting setup. They are finding ways to do GRAND PROJECTS from RHS in the regular day at the MAIN focus and the courses were boiled down to the essentials only. They have been doing for many years the vision that I created on my own just in the past 2 years and called it SHAD High.

She commented on how the name “High Tech High” may have been accurate in the past, it is certainly not an accurate portrayal of what makes them special. They are special, but not because of anything High Tech. There is about 1 computer for every 2 students. The students do not have much variety in the courses that they take. In fact, all students take the exact same basic courses. However, the teachers create these “Science  12-ish, Renaissance College, Shad Valley-ish” projects that do get the variety. Yes, they are doing a chemistry project, but there is journalism, ethics, politics, economics, art, graphic design and cinematography embedded in the project.

One project that they did had students create a sort of barcode test that would help track poached meat in Africa. So park rangers could stroll through the local markets, take a tiny sample of meat and quickly know if it was poached or not. The real innovation is the creation of a place where that type of project is possible.

I have long said that it would be a good day when our high schools look like kindergartens. High Tech High reminds me of this exact situation. I know that some key members of Miramichi also visited High Tech High. Miramichi I think is the most innovative district around. It seems that there is some commonality here.

If they can do it in San Diego, and if they can do it in the Miramichi, why can’t we do it here at RHS??