What's Wrong With American High Schools

By Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Our high schools are obsolete.

By obsolete, I don't just mean that they are broken, flawed and underfunded —although I can't argue with any of those descriptions.

What I mean is that they were designed 50 years ago to meet the needs of another age. Today, even when they work exactly as designed, our high schools cannot teach our kids what they need to know.

Until we design high schools to meet the needs of the 21st century, we will keep limiting — even ruining — the lives of millions of Americans every year. Frankly, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow.

The idea behind the old high school system was that you could train an adequate workforce by sending only a small fraction of students to college, and that the other kids either couldn't do college work or didn't need to.

Sure enough, today only one-third of our students graduate from high school ready for college, work and citizenship.

The others, most of whom are low-income and minority students, are tracked into courses that won't ever get them ready for any of those things — no matter how well the students learn or how hard the teachers work.

In district after district across the country, wealthy white kids are taught Algebra II, while low-income minority kids are taught how to balance a checkbook.

This is an economic disaster. In the international competition to have the best supply of workers who can communicate clearly, analyze information and solve complex problems, the United States is falling behind. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates in the industrialized world.

In math and science, our fourth-graders rank among the top students in the world, but our 12th-graders are near the bottom. China has six times as many college graduates in engineering.

As bad as it is for our economy, it's even worse for our students. Today, most jobs that pay enough to support a family require some post-secondary education. Yet only half of all students who enter high school enroll in a post-secondary institution.

High school dropouts have it worst of all. Only 40% have jobs. They are nearly four times more likely to be arrested than their friends who stayed in high school. And they die young because of years of poor healthcare, unsafe living conditions and violence.

We can put a stop to this. We designed these high schools; we can redesign them.

We have to do away with the outdated idea that only some students need to be ready for college and that the others can walk away from higher education and still thrive in our 21st century society. We need a new design that realizes that all students can do rigorous work.

There is mounting evidence in favor of this approach. Take the Kansas City, Kan., public school district, where 79% of students are minorities and 74% live below the poverty line. For years, the district struggled with high dropout rates and low test scores. In 1996, it adopted a school-reform model that, among many other steps, requires all students to take college-prep courses. Since then, the district's graduation rate has climbed more than 30 percentage points.

Kansas City is not an isolated example. Exciting work is underway to improve high schools in such cities as Oakland, Chicago and New York.

All of these schools are organized around three powerful principles: Ensure that all students are given a challenging curriculum that prepares them for college or work; that their courses clearly relate to their lives and goals; and that they are surrounded by adults who push them to achieve.

This kind of change is never easy. But I believe there are three ways that political and business leaders at every level can help build momentum for change in our schools.

First, declare that all students must graduate from high school ready for college, work and citizenship. Every politician and chief executive in the country should speak up for the belief that children need to take courses that prepare them for college.

Second, publish the data that measure our progress toward that goal. We already have some data that show us the extent of the problem. But we need to know more: What percentage of students are dropping out? What percentage are graduating? And this data must be broken down by race and income.

Finally, every state should commit to turning around failing schools and opening new ones. When the students don't learn, the school must change. Every state needs a strong intervention strategy to improve struggling schools.

If we keep the system as it is, millions of children will never get a chance to fulfill their promise because of their ZIP Code, their skin color or their parents' income. That is offensive to our values.

Every kid can graduate ready for college. Every kid should have the chance.

Let's redesign our schools to make it happen.

School Days....

My school. Romain Rolland. This is where I teach a long 4 day work week. This is where I had my final days of teaching. It is hard to believe that my two year stint of teaching is over. But I couldn't have asked for a better ending. One of my 9th grade classes emailed me to see if it was okay to have a party for the last day of class. A party! Why of course! The party was a big hit. We had drinks and sweets and balloons....and music! Ivailo, the kid with the big hair who always sits in the back, brought in his guitar and started playing. I was so touched. The line up included "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias, "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi, and to top it off "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver. He even sang a song that he wrote himself...in English. Quite impressive actually. It was a quick class, and sad to say goodbye.

Here is an email I got from my student Maggie after I sent her a quick email saying thanks for the party:

"I am so glad you liked it because that was the purpose! We really tried to make your last lesson great. Throughout the year we all enjoyed your interesting and exciting classes. I just got a lot of experience with you because you managed to learn us how to be more social and talkative, not to be aware of what we think and just see what is it actually like to have a foreigner as a teacher. The only thing I regret about is that we won't be able to see you again in our school, town and country, which is sad! I felt pretty good when we had to do all kinds of activities I hadn't done before. I just do not know what else to say in terms of how you helped us all to improve your language skills!!! We will miss you very very very much!:)"


How great is that! It's a very touching email if I may say so. I really will miss all my Bulgarian students I have taught these past 2 years. I will always remember them and wish them all the best in the future!

Botev Peak!

This was a proud moment for me in Bulgaria. I hiked Botev Peak. I hiked the 7700 foot peak!!! It is not the tallest peak in Bulgaria, but it is the tallest peak in the Central Balkan National Park, which includes the Stara Planina or Old Mountains. And so the story goes....

(A big smile as we finally reached the top.)

First, I headed to the northern town of Svishtov where I met up with my friend Max, a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer. With a good nights rest behind us, we took the hot stuffy micro bus to Troyan, where we then waited for the next bus out to Apriltsi. This is where the true adventure started. We stocked up on plenty of water and food as we would be out in the nature for several days. Away from the hot dusty towns of Bulgaria, but tucked away in the fresh mountain air. We managed to find a ride out to the trail head in the small village of Vidima, where we started the adventure up the northern side of the mountain. From hot melting asphalt, past mountain rivers, up the steep forest path, and a good 5500 feet up and 4 or 5 hours later we finally made it to our destination for the night. Hidja Pleven. More accurately, we made it to our mountain hut. (On a side note, this was probably the nicest mountain hut I have stayed in here in Bulgaria. They had warm showers, a firm bed, a hot meal, cold beer, and even satellite TV. Although, why bother with the TV when the views and nature are way more desirable.)

(Trail sign at Hidja Pleven pointing the way to Botev.)

Another good nights rest, and we rose early ready to tackle the mountain. I knew it would be challenging and exhausting, but to be frank, I was nervous for what lay ahead. The first leg of the hike was about 500 meters straight up hill. At least I knew what was in store. It was only going to get harder from there. The hike was amazing. The views constantly amazed me, being that much more impressive the higher we climbed. We had a few easier passes along the ridge, but as we continued on, the paths were getting steeper and steeper. The last leg of the climb was incredibly difficult as it was straight uphill for at least an hour or so. But once we reached the top, nothing seemed to matter. I felt refreshed and revitalized by just being there, looking out and taking in the breathtaking sights all around. I no longer seemed tired but ready for more.

(Paradise Waterfall)

And more is what we got. We decided to take the adventure one more step ahead and hike over the mountain, coming down on the Southern side of the mountain. This gave us a chance to see more of the protected reserves we were gallivanting through. Our next destination was Hidja Rai, another mountain hut where we hoped to find shelter for the night. I was looking forward to the hike down, but didn't realize it would turn out to be so hard. It was a steep, rocky path down in the blaring sun. We had almost reached the hut when were were suddenly caught in a huge storm. Lightening struck, thunder sounded, and hail followed. It came at a beautiful moment though. We had just reached the Raisko Praskalo or Paradise waterfall. It is the highest waterfall in Bulgaria at 410 feet. Magnificent! Had it not been storming, we probably would have hiked to the waterfall, but instead just kept going.

(The end. Tired and beat up. We made it up, over and down the other side!)

We finally reached the hidja only to discover they were all booked up for the night. But not to fret, we made friends with two kind Bulgarians who offered to give us a ride into the city when we reached the bottom. As it turned out they were very avid hikers and it was hard to keep up. It made me incredibly thankful to have Max around. I am sure he could have hiked a bit faster than was my pace, but we were in it together as he said. He was very patient and encouraging though it all. Not in any rush at all. A good hiking buddy. After 12 hours, one bee sting, and a couple of sore bodies, we made it to the bottom in one piece. I must say, this had to be one of the coolest things I have ever done. It was incredibly challenging, both physically and mentally. But man, so worth it. I cant wait for the my next climb!!

Continuing on with the friends...

Well, I think I have talked about the main highlights of my friends visit. But let me just wrap things up. We spent the next couple of days in Stara going to class and relaxing in between. My students prepared some original plays and performed them for my friends. Although I must say, I was a bit disappointed as many of the groups were not ready. Afterwards we had an open panel discussion where many questions were answered and topics discussed. In other classes, my students taught my friends how to Horo, the traditional Bulgarian dance.


From Stara we took a quick trip to Plovdiv, a bigger city that is still able to keep the charm of an old town with its traditional style buildings and homes. After taking my friends to 7 or 8 different cities, I hoped their impressions wouldn't get monotonous thinking Plovdiv was just another medium-sized city where everything is in Cyrillic. But in fact I think they loved it and thought it was unlike any other city we previously explored. It's a green city with quite a few historical sites that we poked our heads around. Along the main boulevard there are some Roman ruins, including part of a small amphitheater that was apparently uncovered in the 1970s by a freak landslide... (Not sure if that is true.) There are also an awful lot of nice antique shops as you climb up the hill toward the really historic part of the city. My friends purchased more pottery and souvenirs but alas, ran out of room in their bags for anything more.


Then it was to off to the big capital city. Sofia! Sofia is usually the first impression people get of Bulgaria. But in fact, I find Sofia to be very unrepresentative of the rest of the country. But I guess most capital cities are like this. Sofia was not the fist impression of Bulgaria for my friends but their last. For me, in the beginning, I was never really a fan of Sofia. I thought it was big, dusty, and hard to get around. I always managed to get lost and never knew where anything was. But after so many trips to the capital for Peace Corps stuff or travels abroad, I slowly found my way around and discovered many things I have come to love about Sofia. I have my favorite hostel, my favorite restaurants I always hit up when I am in town, and then there is the night life - with many places to go out (but I will get to that in a minute).

Of course there are also the sights. That is not quite as fun after the 10th time you have been there playing tour guide to guests. But like a good tour guide, I had yet to fail my friends and was not going to start. We walked around the center briefly checking out the sites. Alexander Nevski Church. The National Palace of Culture and the adjacent monument voted ugliest site in Sofia. Vistosha Street, the Rodeo Drive of Bulgaria. The 4th century Church of St. George hidden behind the Sheraton Hotel. The former Royal Palace now housing the National Art Gallery. The yellow brick road. And others.

Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time in Sofia, always discovering something new. And I have come to find Sofia to be a very eclectic city. There is a variety of things one can do here. It’s actually not a dull city at all, you just have to know where to go. And most PCVs pass along their favorite spots making the list very long of cool places . Some of those places include...the Lebanese restaurant where one can never be disappointed with the hummus and delicious salads...the beer hall where service lacks but the beers are always free flowing...Maskata, the like rock club out in the Students District...the basement of the National Library that acts as a Karaoke club at night...and the list goes on and on.

After 10 days, 3 nights of Karaoke, a few nights on the floor, 2 days of class, countless Shopska salads, many carafes of wine, one run in with a cop, a broken down car, 8 or 9 cities, many more sites, one lightening storm, some broken pottery, lots of souvenirs, a few more tan lines, a couple extra suitcases than started with, many new friends, and unforgettable stories, I think my friends had a blast in Bulgaria. I am so happy I was able to share with them what my life has been like for the past 2 years. Now when I talk about it at home, they will know exactly what I mean because they have been there too!

Dare I say it, but I think my friends came to love Bulgaria and have found it just as charming and lively as I have, even when they felt a bit lost with the backwards head nods and the ever confusing Cyrillic signs, an alphabet they cant begin to understand.

Good Old Shipka and Buzludja.

Ah, what is a trip to Bulgaria without seeing the Shipka church, the freedom monument, and the old communist meeting point. It seems these are the places I take people when they come to visit. They are close to Stara, important to the Bulgarian history, and quite interesting. I am sure I have talked of these places before so I wont bore you now.

But what I will tell you is what the girls found most interesting. Buzludja, the communist meeting point. It was built in 1974, finished in 1981. Most books and information I find on it, which is not very much, say the building was meant as a monument built in the rememberance of brave partisans who perished during WWII. Sometimes they also say it was a museum. But none of my Bulgarian friends that I have talked to seem to agree. They all say it was a meeting point, a big conference location for all the big wigs in the communist party.


Whatever the case may be, I find this to be one of my favorite things I have seen in Bulgaria. It is run down and shut off from the public. But if you just stroll around the building you will find a small entrance, the entrance we took to get in. Inside is even more interesting. With beautiful marble floors, the remnants of the old red velvet carpeting, and the ornate mosaics lining the walls,. I may paint a pretty picture of it in writing, but as you can see from the pictures, it is completely in shambles and not even that safe to be walking around. I think the shape it is in now has even gotten worse than the last time I was there last summer with my parents.


Aileen and I were the only two braves ones to go inside. Ginger and Alanna decided to avoid all the bee like insects and head back to the car. When Aileen and I finally returned we got back on the road only to discover our car had overheated. But seeing as we were in the middle of nowhere, we decided to head back to the Shipka Freedom Monument and call for help. The tube from the water to the radiator had come undone and was leaking. The car was not only hot, but there was not water! That is where my trusty Bulgarian skills came in handy again. We had a repair guy come and within a couple of hours we were back on the road to Stara where we called it quits with the car.

(This is us, looking very concerned after I called the repair guy to come help us. It turned out to be a good story.)

Perperikon

From the Black Sea to the south. We continued the adventure down to the ancient Thracian city called Perperikon. It is said to be a palace and the oldest Thracian capital.


Here is also found the earliest chirch dating from the mid-5th Century, the time when Christianity was adopted in the Rhodope mountains. It was also a major military stronghold and a city existed here until the 14th Century, when the Turks invaded the area in 1362. Perperikon is also famous for its gold production.


Perperikon is off the beaten track a bit and is impossible to get to without a car. We followed the signs leading to the old city and made a quick little hike up the hill to be amazed. The weather was hot, but views were amazing. We even had a tourist map, although the dimensions appeared to be off a bit, to help guide us through the small rock city.


From here, we made the trek back to Stara, stopping at a rock formation. Most of the rock formations in the southern region near the town of Kurdjuli originated from the volcanic eruptions that raised the land from the sea forty million years ago, and whose ashes solidified into the porous golden-colored rock. We were unable to find the "Stone Wedding", a formation that follows the legend that a wedding party was turned to stone. But we did find the Stone Mushrooms. They are large formations with brown spotted stalks and pink caps. But to me, they looked more like big marshmallows.

Neseber and Sozopol...

Nesebar is one of the oldest towns in Europe, well known with its antiquity and exotic monuments, its fascinating architecture of the Middle Ages and the National Revival period. The town is situated on a small rocky peninsula in the Northern part of the Burgas bay. In 1956 Nesebar was proclaimed an archaeological and architectural reserve and in 1983 the cultural monuments of the town were included in the list of UNESCO.

(Aileen looking like a greek goddess in the remains of an old church.)

Sozopol is another ancient town on the Black Sea. The town itself is beautiful, but I thought Nesebar was much more impressive. But as for the beach, Sozopol just topped my list.

(The 4 beach babes getting ready to say goodbye to the good life of the Black Sea.)

Both places are major tourist attractions in the Burgas Bay. And when the true summer months hit, you will find yourself surrounded by Germans, Brits, Americans, and of course Bulgarian tourists soaking up the sun and taking in the charm of these 2 cities...just like we did.

The Rental Car and the Black Sea...

Day Three - Five: To avoid some of the hassles that come along with the public transport in this country, we decided to rent a car for a few days. There was a good, cheap place in Stara where we picked up the car. As anyone who has ever driven in a foreign country knows, it can be really stressful driving on the roads not entirely knowing where you are going. This was the case with my friends. I sat in shotgun playing navigator to Ginger as she headed out of Stara and onto the highway.

(Our red Clio Renault car...)

After a few minutes we felt confident we were headed in the right direction just excited for the sunny sands of the black sea. But that excitement soon died as we were pulled over about 10 minutes into the trip. The cop held out his wand that says stop and we pulled into the shoulder. He approached the car soon to discover it was full of foreigners. He asked if anyone spoke Bulgarian and that was my cue to get out and handle the situation. I walked over to his car where his cop buddy was standing ready to show me the speed gun stating that we were going 79 in a 50 km zone. I apologized and explained the situation. After a few minutes of chatting, he let us go. No ticket and no bribe. I felt very proud of myself for taking charge and getting us out of that sticky situation. With fear in our bones, we took the rest of the ride slow and steady.

(View from Jack and Ronda's place as the sun was setting on our first night there.)

Finally we arrived in Burgas where we were met by Jack and Ronda, two happily married Peace Corps Volunteers with some amazing stories. We stayed in their wonderful apartment for the weekend as we ventured to the beautiful seaside.

(The beach of Sozopol.)

June is still considered the early season so the beaches were not crowded yet at all. The weather was great and the water warm for out lazy 2 days of beach bumming. You know that saying, "when in Rome do as the Romans." My friends and I did just that...well, sort of. The beaches here are known for the topless girls. No, we didn't sunbathe topless. Instead, we swam far out, took our tops off, and swung them around our heads. That is about as daring as we got. But hey, now we can say we went topless on the Black Sea. That's a story for the grandkids!

Friends Visiting....

I have had three beautiful friends visiting me for the last 10 days. Hence the delay in posting. They arrived on Wednesday, June 6th and went back to their lives Saturday, June 16th. We traveled all over Bulgaria by foot, bus, taxi and car. Visited 9 cities, sang karaoke 3 different times, and even celebrated one birthday. Bare with me as I slowly start posting the pictures and stories from the great adventure.

Day One: Girls arrive in Sofia Airport. We immediately head to Stara Zagora by a 3 hour bus. Freshen up a bit before heading out for a quiet night on the town of dinner and drinks.

(Me, Ginger, Aileen and Alanna)

What was meant to be a quiet night turned into a night of a bit of drunken debauchery. While sitting at my favorite bar Drums, a table of guys started buying us drinks because one of them just had a baby. (It is customary to treat people when celebrating something big like this.) When it was time to go, I think we left many wounded soldiers (unfinished drinks) on the table.

Day Two: Alanna's 25th Birthday!!! We attended class, explored the city and pumped ourselves for a bit of Karaoke. My sitemate Alex had 3 friends in town who joined us as well as some of my former students. (Alanna, the birthday girl, Aileen, and me)

It was a happening night of Bulgarian style partying. From Karaoke we hit up the disco for some dancing. And topped off the night with the lobby bar for one last drink, or water in some cases.

(Alanna walking home as the sun is coming up!)

I think it was an unforgettable birthday for Alanna and fun was had by all. But I must say, the next morning was a bit un-fun as most of us were trying to get over the hang over. My friends tell me, they are not used to this kind of partying. It is hard to keep up.

COS and my new glasses....

In the Peace Corps world of acronyms, COS stands for Close of Service. Maybe I have mentioned this before but it is hard to keep all of them straight. But you will probably here me mention my COS quite a bit. Over the next few weeks, I will be in and out of the Peace Corps office getting lots of papers signed, writing reports, and wrapping things up. This also includes the final medical exam as well.

And wouldn't you believe it, I need glasses!!!


Because this is something new for me, Peace Corps pays for my new glasses. I went with one of the medical staff members to pick out a pair. It is hard picking out glasses, especially when you have never really worn them before. The first pair is a funky set of red and light green glasses. They look much better in person than in this picture. Trust me!


As it turned out, glasses in Bulgaria are incredibly cheap. So, I decided to go ahead and get a second pair in case something happens to the other pair. I don't want to have to pay the ridiculous prices for a new pair when I get back to the states. Here is the second pair I picked. It was actually the other pair I was debating between when I got the other pair. This set is much more conservative.

And you don't have to tell me, I already know....Bulgaria is slowly breaking me (as my family says)!

INXS Comes to Sofia...

This past weekend I went to the long awaited concert of INXS.

Posters have been all over Bulgaria for months advertising the 80s Australian rock band. And it worked as fans filled the concert hall ready to rock out.

(Picture during the concert. I couldnt manage to keep a steady hand.)

I think many people were somewhat skeptical of the performance concerning the manner in which the new lead singer was going to replace Michael Hutchence, who died some 10 years ago. But I think he did a kick ass job. But I must be honest here, I never really listened to INXS much before. I just wanted to take advantage of the super cheap show and of course rock out to 80s music.

(Melody and I at the end of the show with beer in hand.)

I attended the concert with my good friend Melody and a whole bunch of miners who are working in a nearby town. I met 4 of them randomly in Stara Zagora during a night out partying, and they happened to mention they were going because after all, one of them was Australian.

(Friends Kev, the Aussie, and Matt, the American.)

And according to one of the local papers here "For those who were present at the concert meeting the old but new band was love at first sight and “they will never, never tear us apart…”"

It was good times had by all, and I cant wait for my next concert, whatever it may be!