high schools

[otto_man]

I know there is a million threads on this one, and forgive me if most of the content has already been mentioned. People talk about their communities and keeping the schools in their "communities" open well I have friends and relatives in every town in wise county and Norton. I have always liked to think our community was Wise County. Our county and Norton is smaller and has fewer citizens than most cities. People talk about sports and tradition, well how many people from wise county were pulling for Burton in their run to the state girls basketball title? How many of us have went to a playoff game in any sport when our school wasn't playing? When our teams are out we find ourselves rooting for the other local teams, the teams from our community of wise county. So why would we rather send our kids to run down schools, with no air conditioning, inadequate heating, out dated sports facilities, and so on, instead of new up to date schools. It amazes me that the county can band together and become one on issues such as coal, among others, but act so distant from each other when it comes to consolidation. Bottom line Appalachia, St. Paul and Pound are just parts of the community of Wise County.

[VHSLhelper]

agree, but up to a point. Thing is, this ISN'T about communities ... it's about a handful of blankety-blanks who don't think any high-faluten edgeukasion is needed for their kid, because THEY never needed it, and, look, I did OK for myself.

[collegetrumpet2010]

People want to hang onto their mascots. the rivalries that people are trying to cling to only mean something in sports; NOT in education and certainly not in life.

Also, I'm tired of everybody assuming that just because they think they did well at Powell Valley or Appalachia means that everyone else will do well.

I did very well at Powell Valley. When I got to college, I was aware that this would be an entirely different ball game. You can still flunk out of college no matter what your class rank was in high school. I am sick of hearing "well Billy Bob over here went to Appalachia and he went to Yale." That's good but how well did he do at Yale? "Billy Bob" does not speak for all students in Wise County.

Bigger schools may not make better schools. But look at it this way: you may possibly have a wider curriculum. You say more classes aren't helpful? Look at the foreign language department: you can add more classes to it as long as you have someone to teach it. Having a German class could benefit. You can say "we're in America, so immigrants need to learn English." I agree that foreigners should learn English. But on the flipside how does learning another language hurt our students? Learning a second language boosts the development of the brain.

Our bands and choirs can benefit from consolidation. And yes, music education IS education.

[aoa_stripes]

I loved were I went to school, but the fact was when I went to college I was behind everyone else from other parts of the state. It was most noticable in Biology, Chemistry, etc.... I never had a legit working chemistry lab until I entered college. I spent most of my Sr year at Mountain Empire through dual enrollment, and was very fortunate to live near there.

Having said that, I and anyone else would be selfish and a fool to not want a better education. I just hope the decisions now and in the near future are doing whats best for the kids and not the selfish parents that sit around saying "I dont want lil Johny to be a Viking, or an Indian." Im afraid all of this embarrassment has turned into nothing but a political contest. I just hope there's still enough people out there that will put there selfish reasons aside, and do what's best for the kids.

[pvfan]

We (young adults) don't get much right according to the older folk, but I have yet to meet anyone near my age who doesn't think something needs to be done. Most people my age are heavy supporters of 2-3 new schools with new names.

[VHSLhelper]

Look at the foreign language department: you can add more classes to it as long as you have someone to teach it. Having a German class could benefit. You can say "we're in America, so immigrants need to learn English." I agree that foreigners should learn English. But on the flipside how does learning another language hurt our students? Learning a second language boosts the development of the brain.

Personally, I think HS is too late to "learn" a foreign language. I took French in 9th & 10th (being told 2 years of a FL was basically req'd to get into a good college), but had forgotten most of it by the time I walked. FL's should be taught (req'd) in elementary school... not as a HS elective.

[CoeburnCane]

Personally, I think HS is too late to "learn" a foreign language. I took French in 9th & 10th (being told 2 years of a FL was basically req'd to get into a good college), but had forgotten most of it by the time I walked. FL's should be taught (req'd) in elementary school... not as a HS elective.

Agreed on all of this. I took French for 4 years in HS and 2 in college, and I'm no more fluent in speaking it as I was before I started.

Also--I don't know if anyone has ever heard of the comedian Russell Peters--but he's a fellow of Indian descent that lives in Canada (he has dual citizenship in the US). He performs all over. I heard him interviewed on Sirius radio one day, talking about his travels and performances in the Middle East--and he said something that sent a chill up my spine...

"The crazy thing about folks in the West is that we're lazy and we don't truly want to learn anything about Middle Eastern culture. For the most part, we believe that they're all ragheads over there living in squalor, but just about anywhere you go in the Middle East, you will find a solid majority of folks who speak English very well. They see all the TV that we see. They get the same newscasts. And they know what we're saying because they see it as an advantage to know what we're about. They can understand us, but they know that if they speak Arabic that we won't understand them. They have the upper-hand in that way."

Sad but true. We should start teaching Foreign Language classes, at least 5-6 different ones, all the way through school starting in early Elementary school. I'm not saying teach them all the languages, but at least expose them to, say: Spanish, French, German, Arabic, and Chinese. Once they're exposed to all of them, they can choose a couple and keep up with learning them all the way through school.

The technicals of pulling off a plan like that I'd leave to the educators--but I believe it's starting to become necessary for us as a country to do something like this.