Assembly-line schools from a long-gone era

Despite the fading of most of the steel mills from our state, the assembly-line method is alive and well. It can be observed nearly intact in many of our high schools. The traditional high school structure emerged as a parallel to the factory model that saw a division of labor, mechanical routines and large-scale production as the most efficient way to make things whether the products were steel beams, automobiles or prolific citizens.

Consider the start of seven classes a day, 45 minutes each, in rooms filled with students sitting in orderly rows writing down notes and completing cyclic exercises in preparation for multiple-choice exams. This is an efficient method of material production, but it's no way to educate human beings.

Under such conditions, it should not be surprising that the products these industrial-era schools discharges into our communities often lack the ability to join forces with others and hold in the critical analysis necessary for success in a complex society. Many of our young people are set wandering in a world they don't fully understand and have skills to influence.