Official Review: What High School Didn't Teach Me

[Little House]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "What High School Didn't Teach Me" by Rajat Bhageria.]

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What High School Didn't Teach Me by Rajat Bhageria is an very interesting book about our current education system. Bhageria has just graduated from high school and he wrote this book to show what worked and what didn't. Having just spent his entire childhood in the American education system, he has a unique perspective on education.

Rajat Bhageria's main point is that students learn what they are interested in, what they want to learn. He has chapters about English, Social Studies, Mathematics, Arts, Research/Engineering, Sciences, and Computer Science. In each of these chapters he talks about what is important to teach and what could be left out. He also talks about how to make the courses more interesting to the student.

The last three chapters were my favorites. The author talks about Entrepreneurship, the College Process, and the final chapter is called A Revamp of the High School Experience. He talks about the projects that he did in High School and what he learned from them. The chapter on the College Process really highlights some of what is wrong with our system. Kids spend so much time trying to get good grades, good GPAs, and great test scores, they don't have time to really learn anything. All they can do is cram for the test and then forget while they cram for the next test.

The changes proposed in the final chapter are definitely steps in the right direction. Many of them could easily be implemented in schools and would help better prepare students for life. As a homeschooling parent of High School students, it is obvious to me that his ideas are influenced by the fact that he just spent more than a decade in school. I don't think that his ideas go near far enough. It is almost impossible for someone who has grown up inside the system to imagine a learning environment that doesn't look like "school." I would encourage the author to research both homeschooling and unschooling to help him see what some people are already doing.

I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. I considered giving this book 4 stars because I really enjoyed the content and hope that Rajat Bhageria continues to write and propose ideas that make life better. There were many sections of the book that really made me think. On the other hand, for a book about education, or even any book but especially one on education, there were too many grammar mistakes. This is not a paper that is graded and forgotten, a book must have all of the mistakes corrected before being published. Also, while many of the ideas would be easy for administrators to implement, there were not many ideas that would help a parent or student. I do think that parents and teachers should read this book as it give insight into what students are thinking, but they will have to figure out how to get the school to change.

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[LivreAmour217]

This sounds like a very interesting read. I enjoyed many of my classes in high school, but I agree that I didn't learn much that prepared me for the "real world," and I didn't retain anything that I believed was "useless." I remember feeling very lost and unprepared after graduation, and I was actually annoyed with my high school for not providing more guidance! I obvisously survived (I'm thirty-two years old), but I still think that teens are not being adequately prepared to succeed on their own.

Although you mentioned that there are a large amount of grammatical errors (which drives me crazy), I am still curious to read this book. I have heard many adults discuss this issue, but the viewpoint of a recent high school grad would be insightful.

[amybo82]

This sounds like such an interesting book! I think it would be very beneficial for all students to reflect so deeply on their high school experiences as they come to a close. It would also be helpful for teachers looking forward and making changes in their curricula and styles for the future. I enjoyed your review, and it has raised my interest in the book for sure!