Have you heard about this? This is true: The Journal Star reports that District 150 is considering changing the name of Manual — first known as Manual Training High School — to better reflect the new programming put in place as part of restructuring. Yeah, they’re thinking of calling it “Automatic Diploma High School.”
Their new curriculum works on the Pareto principle: 80% of the students pass by learning 20% of the material.
I thought it was already named. The 9th grade has been called “Manual Success Academy”–Mr. Sierra said, “Let us decide.” The 10th-12th grades has been called Manual Talent Development School”–which was really stupid because the word “talent” usually doesn’t imply anything academic–well! Maybe it should be changed to “the school to be closed.” Certainly the 7th and 8th grade with only 102 students should be shut down.
“The Uplands Chubby Balding Honkey Meat Grinder”
Ken Hinton School of Fine Arts and Real Estate Investments
Prego man, “Ken Hinton School of Arts and Real Estate Investments.”
Now that’s funny!
Can we set aside jokes for a moment? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that despite the grading school, despite the ineptitude of the administration and despite the best efforts of a portion of the students to ruin the experience for the rest of the students, there are STILL a majority of students who do wants to get a good education and who try to learn.
If you want to get a great education at Manual High School — or Woodruff or Peoria Central or Richwoods — you CAN get a great education. Likewise, if you want to just put in your time and get the hell out, you can do that, too.
It must be disheartening to attend a school that other people who live in “better” neighborhoods are determined to turn into a sick joke.
Billy, I hope you understand that, after giving my life to Manual High School. I have no desire to turn it into a sick joke–frankly, I would rather that it close than for it to continue down its current path. Also, I believe that anyone who really wants to get a good education can still get one at Manual (PHS and Woodruff) because there are teachers at all the schools who can and will do their best to provide the teaching and guidance to those who want it. That said, I have serious misgivings about the Johns Hopkins program, which demands that all academic courses be reduced from one-year courses to one-semester courses. Richwoods parents would be pulling their children out if such a program were to be instituted there. For my entire career, people in better neighborhoods always looked down on Manual–and I spent much of that time defending Manual against those who didn’t know what they were talking about. The last 15 to 20 years have been different–discipline and literacy problems (ignored by 150 administration) have increased to the point where teaching is difficult, at best. Also, I agree that it is a minority of students who destroy the learning environment–which is why I believe an alternative school is an absolute necessity to allow the majority to get the education that seek and deserve.
Sharon, do I read you correctly that you would prefer to see Manual close just because you don’t concur with the Johns Hopkins Talent Development High School methodology?? That’s inflicting a lot of pain on a lot of people over a single issue, and doesn’t sound like what one would expect from somebody who has “given my life to Manual High School”…
Steve J: Do you know anything about the Johns Hopkins model; do you know anything about what is going on at Manual now–and how the teachers there feel about what is happening? You say it’s a single issue–it’s the whole curriculum, which is now inferior to that offered at the other three high schools. I disagree as to whom and what is inflicting the pain on whom. I believe Manual students are the ones who will suffer in the long run–they would be better off in one of the other high schools–it is their best interests that I have in mind. Are you one who is complaining about the harm and “pain” to be done to 1,000 Woodruff students by closing Woodruff? The simple fact is that closing a high school will inflict pain. If it must be done, then the simple question is which is best: inflicting pain on 1,000 students or 500 to 600 students?
Sharon, you talk about the John Hopkins model a lot but I am not sure I am clear what you are referring to. Is this the link to find more information about what this means?
http://web.jhu.edu/CSOS/tdhs/index.html
Jenny: Thanks for the link. I believe that is the hype–the reality may be something a bit different. But right off you can see that this is a program for underperforming high school students. I happen to know personally several young people who are currently enrolled as upperclassmen at Manual–but are not underperforming. (I’m not sure that the “underperforming” part has been publicized so that parents can know what their children are getting into). They got caught. They and their parents were put into the position of having to choose between staying at Manual or transferring to another school for the last year of two of their high school education. Besides that, transferring out was not an easy option–150 didn’t encourage it. Some parents that I know did take their high schoolers out of Manual because of the new curriculum, etc.
As taxpayers, of course, everyone should be aware that this program, like the Edison program, is costing extra. Besides the “up front” costs of “buying” the program, there are all sorts of hidden costs associated with this program. In case you all didn’t catch it before, Manual no longer has dean(s), they have a Climate Coach. Also, they have a “Reflection Room,” where students evidently go to reflect on their bad behaviors–that is the consequence for their behavior. Is it a room of mirrors (with some smoke)–I don’t know.
Latest rumor from Terry Knapp. Woodruff students will be placed at the following schools:
30 to 50 from the Proctor area will go to Richwoods
All from an area called City Scape (on other side of Valeska Hinton) will go to Peoria High.
The rest will go to Manual.
I certainly expect and/or hope that Woodruff parents will object strongly to sending their students to a school that follows a program clearly stated to be for underperforming students.