High School Condensed

The choice of where to attend high school is rarely the road to instant celebrity. But opening day at Bard High School Early College made it clear to the school's first crop of students that they were at the center of an eye-catching educational experiment.

Accompanied by TV cameras and reporters, 260 intent but slightly dazed teenagers filed in last week to begin their studies at an institution that shatters the paradigm for US secondary education.

At the root of its radical approach is intensity. The public school - a joint venture between Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., and the New York City Board of Education - allows students to compress four years of high school into two, and then complete two years of college by the age of 18.

Students will face a challenging curriculum and the need for a high level of self-discipline - not a prospect designed to appeal to every teen. But for many of the adults involved, the school addresses an increasingly urgent issue: the fear that many high schools fail to make the most of the four years students spend within their walls.

"Our high schools are not as challenging as they ought to be, especially by international standards," says Jack Jennings, director of the Center on Education Policy in Washington. "Kids are not failing, but neither are they showing the mastery they'll have to have for the future."

While the younger grades have tended to dominate the education-reform debate of the past decade, reformers are currently reconsidering the size, shape, and four-year progression of the US high school. It's all part of an effort to peel back the layers of tradition surrounding high schools and to reconsider what the essence of the experience ought to be.

Boredom and negativity are conditions some educators say too often characterize high school. While poor test scores at large schools in low-income neighborhoods have been more apt to capture headlines, there is concern that the quality of American secondary education - which critics charge often fails to challenge the best learners or bolster the weaker ones - needs rethinking across the board.

Bard College President Leon Botstein has gained notoriety in recent years as one of the toughest critics of high school, contending that his work with college freshmen gives him a keen sense that the institution is obsolete.

According to Dr. Botstein, four years of high school is too long for adolescents, who mature earlier than teens did several decades ago. He sees the typical high school as an artificial, age-segregated setting that may cram kids with facts but does little to promote a love of learning or adequately prepare them for interaction with an adult world.

Either a foray into the working world or early college would better suit most 16- and 17-year-olds, Botstein argues.

It's an extreme position - and many would disagree with Botstein's belief that as many as 75 percent of college-bound students are ready for college work by the age of 16. But in some respects, his dissatisfaction is echoed throughout mainstream educational circles.

The need to reform US schools at all levels has been at the forefront of public dialogue for at least a decade now. But the bulk of recent reform efforts have been aimed at younger learners. Only in the past few years have a number of influences converged to bring a sense of urgency to high school reform.

One driving force has been the standards movement, which has raised serious concerns about the ability of high school students to pass the exit exams soon to be required for graduation by some states.

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