Sammamish High School - Thunderbird Yearbook (Bellevue, WA)

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Than ,I t Teachw simply congratulating them when they succeed in other kinds of courses. I almost wish that while the student was in high school, he concentrated more on academic courses because he is not really needed on the labor market when he graduates. It is after he graduates that he should go on to vocational training. Mr. Connoway: The thing wrong with that idea is that if we had a minimum age level for leaving high school at the age of 18, then it would be OKto say that the students should take as many academic courses as possible. It would be great if nobody would drop out of school. The first thing to do in order to meet what you say, is to up the age limit for leaving high school to 18. Then we would have a captive audience to give academic courses to. But when kids are going to leave school at 18 still not suitable for the labor market, then I think the American high school is doing what it should by giving them some oppor- tunities to work in other courses. lnterviewer: Should there be required courses? 1' , Wa-st K - W '9vfeaw,.q . ea ale X if ts Q ,sim M Q I . ...cs . ' i'a:a5.:a :-1- H . . .. N Mrs. Radke: Yes. Ideally, it would be better if, for example, we required a student to take so much English, and what kind of English could be left to the student. I think a student should be required to take a certain amount of science and math simply because if he doesn't understand the society he lives in, he is going to be less able to direct it himself. I would much rather see people directing society than society directing people. lnterviewer: Comment on the student who disrupts classes, constantly disobeys rules, and fails many of his classes. Mr. Connoway: The student that you described takes up a great deal of somebody's time. This is one of the reasons that sometimes the public doesn't understand when concerned teachers say I'd do a much better job if I had fewer kids to work with. If I had a bit more time to spend. There are still parents who say our job is solely to teach. But that isn't the job that comes to Sammamish at 8 o'clock in the morning. It seems to me that our job is more than just teach.

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'6Yet l just Plain Don't Have the Time to Give Her All the Help I Should. lt's Criminal. Mrs. Radke: I have a little girl who has a great deal of difficulty with reading and con- sequently, with most of history. Yet she tries and she comes to me for extra help and I would love so much to have a period a day because here is a student who is willing to make the effort. She'll go out of her way to come for help, yet I just plain don't have the time to give her all the help I should. It's criminal. f'We'll have it as soon as the public is willingf, Interviewer: Is the problem a lack of teachers? Mrs. Radke: I think it is a problem as far as our basic philosophy is concerned. I am sure that the basic personnel is there. But the reason there aren't more positions available is that the school districts are dependent on the public for money. As soon as the public decides that it is willing to pay for this type of education, we'll have a better chance of having it. Interviewer: Comment on the student who works for grades, because of the so-called pressures put on him. Are these pressures real? Mr. Connaway: The pressures are real. We put them on the kids by giving report cards. And if a kid has a bent towards a good university, they're putting on limitations too: a minimum 2.5 to go here, a minimum 600 on the college board verbal to go there, a rank in the upper upper upper of your class to go someplace else. Should we remove these pressures? Yes. How? Get rid of all the people who establish the limitations. I can't say that the University of Washington ought to abolish any kind of standards. But on the other hand I think that a guidance counselor here at Sammamish could get any graduat- ing senior into some college across the land. Sometimes, I kind of shudder at that, but it's true. I've been a guidance counselor long enough to know that anybody can go as long as they have the money first and the brains second. Maybe it's 4th or 5th on the brains. Interviewer: Is there an emphasis on a certain area of study at Sammamish? Mr. Connaway: To my knowledge, there isn't. I've heard these little gripes here and there about the fact that it exists, but I don't have the time to get involved in depart- ment griping. Adults are much more difficult to argue with than kids, and I just argue with kids. MI can do anything I want. Interviewer: Do you get much cooperation from the administration at Sammamish? Mr. Connaway: That's one of the reasons I'm still at Sammamish, because I can do anything I want and a few times I've done a couple of things that have gotten us in trouble. With that production last year and the John Birch Society, and the film the Parable, this year, we got into a bit of dutch. It's really interesting to see how far behind us Mr. Torgerson and Mr. Knoell and Dr. Brubacher really are.