Signature schools will be of value only if they prepare students for real life
Signature schools are an old idea.
Well, they were called “industrial schools” in 1881. The Tuskegee Institute, one of the first schools giving complete education to Southern Black people — now called Tuskegee University — still stands today. An “industrial school” such as the Tuskegee Institute gave students general academic education while imparting “practical knowledge ... knowing how to make a living after they had left”.
We can agree that the high school system in place until now was not preparing public-school students as fully capable of improving their communities as active members. As we revolutionise Bermudian education, we need drastic changes in what our student outcomes are. Young people need to graduate ready to thrive and be successful. We need to learn from industrial schools, which successfully prepared formerly enslaved persons and poverty-stricken Black children…