By NAOMI PALLAS

A school’s greatest duty is to challenge its students. When one is faced with an obstacle, they are compelled to overcome it — especially if a reward accompanies their success. Success in high school can lead to success in college, which often leads to success in life after school. Yet currently some students are uninterested in furthering their education after high school. Schools should take responsibility to motivate each of their students. Although policies such as teaching to the test and certain class requirements will remain in existence, future schools need to put a stronger emphasis on the reward of attending the most suitable college for each individual student, and to teach according to the students’ highest capabilities by presenting a constant challenge.

Today, most students are unaware of just how greatly their performance in high school affects admission to the college or university of their choice, and how much care depends on their education. If they were made aware of this sequence as early as elementary school, they would probably try harder to excel in their classes. When students only begin to fully understand this during their junior year of high school, they don’t have enough time to improve their work, and they have already been identified as hardworking, negligent or somewhere in between.

If students were taught to be proactive and consider their futures at a young age, they would be likely to pay more attention to their objectives and the work that they do. At a school in the future, it will become clear whether student grades are dropping due to laziness or inability to comprehend a subject, or even to teacher incompetence. Class levels such as college one and two, honors, and advanced placement will become more specific, and in order to maintain placement in a higher level, the grade requirements will be raised. The grade point average on a 6.5 scale will depend on a teacher’s written recommendation discussing a student’s performance, behavior and amount of participation in class. This weight will mean more to a student if they understand how it will affect them personally.

The future curriculum will remain similar to its current state, because an education, even if just a basic one, in mathematics, history, English and science is of great importance for all students. These classes, along with physical education, will be mandatory for the first three years of one’s high school career. Electives such as art, music and business will also be offered, but with less priority during the first three years.

Although the classes may remain the same, the methods of teaching will differ greatly. Mandatory testing will only take place during the students’ fourth year of high school, so required classes will not be taught to a test such as MCAS. Instead, students will earn how to apply their knowledge to daily life. For example, science classes will not only teach formulas for reactions, they will show when and where these reactions take place, and English classes will focus mainly on critical reading so that students gain the skills needed to understand readings, such as newspaper articles, that appear in everyday life.

Language requirements will become more strict than they currently are. They will begin to mirror those of European schools, where it is mandatory to become fluent in two languages. Students will learn one European language and one Asian language, so they are not limited in international relations, careers and cultures. These languages will be taught from the time that children enter preschool.

Because required classes are only mandatory for three years, students will use their fourth year of high school to pursue their personal interests through electives. This will cause charter schools and other schools that focus on specific interests to decrease, and lead to the integration of vocational and performing arts schools with general high schools. If one is interested in art, they will have the opportunity to take only art classes. Since the required English classes focus on critical reading, those interested in English can explore literature. Tests like MCAS and the SATs will disappear and be replaced with evaluations that apply the skills learned from the first three years of high school to those pursued during the fourth in the form of oral and written exams, portfolios and performances. These tests will be assessed by organizations similar to the College Board within each area of study. Teachers will receive merit pay based on their students’ test scores, because the scores will more accurately show a student’s knowledge in the teacher’s particular area of study.

Upon finishing their fourth year of high school, students will receive acceptance or rejection letters from colleges and universities that they applied to during their last year. Every student will be expected to have applied to at least two colleges after having discovered their main interests during their final year of high school. Due to their early consciousness of reasons to attend school after high school, graduation rates will rise dramatically, as will the number of students that will attend colleges and universities.