In math classes you need a graphing calculator to be able to learn certain concepts. It just isn’t practical to do certain processes by hand. Without a graphing calculator in your math class imagine how it would effect how you learned the subject.

Installing the new technology allows new areas of education to open, and new techniques for teachers to teach with. Later in life we’re going to be expected to know how to use certain pieces of technology.

Whether we want to use new technology or not, we are required by the state to have access to certain technologies. Just like we have to show up to school 180 days a year, there are benchmarks for technology we have to meet. In addition to fire codes, safety codes and other standards.

It’s a reality we need to deal with, that we always feel the need to add frilly features in an attempt to enhance our classrooms. But I don’t think it’s even a matter of “it would be nice” at this moment. Some of these rooms are not working for today.

It used to be that WHS had a system by which students would go to large, medium, and small classes. There would be lecture halls (L1 type of classrooms. There used to be 3, but 2 have been filled in w/ concrete), seminar classes, and even smaller classes for more individualized learning. Thus, our classrooms were fit to accommodate these class sizes. We no longer have this system, however, so the strange assortment of rooms is inconvenient. Plus, some places really are problematic for maneuvering, especially for the disabled. And I’ve heard the air quality in our school isn’t up to par.

What I think is most important about a new high school, however, is that it’s a new start. We need to fill it with what we need. It’s an opportunity for changes in the high school system. Back in the 1960′s when this school opened, it was hailed as the leader in the country’s drive toward improving education (the USSR’s successful launch of Sputnik made us take a second look at our schools to see why they weren’t up to standards). It was innovative, new, fresh, and you wouldn’t believe how much press it got, from Time, Life, The New York Times, the Architectural Forum.

This new school, if it is to be built, must be a testament to how much our town emphasizes education, how important it is. Academics is one of the greatest assets of Wayland. We need to make it the best it can be. It’s not going to be just another school to replace the one we have now. It’s got to be much more. It needs to be as well-designed and well-constructed as it was in the late 50s, when we were very lucky to have such a wise School Committee.

I think our town became so widely recognized for its high school because we anticipated the need for better education and so we addressed it with a willingness to stick our necks out and try new ideas. What with the failure of No Child Left Behind, our nation seems, at a moment, to be about to reconsider its education system again, and, with such a need for a new high school, we have a good opportunity to recreate what happened back in the late 50s; we can possibly once more lead the country in improvements in our education.