Op-Ed: Should High Schools Implement Learning Projects?

The 2020-2021 school year, with instruction in remote settings, brought more challenges than most school years. Additionally, civic engagement grew more important than ever, as movements for racial justice gained momentum and democracy was threatened from multiple fronts. What was a teacher to do? While it sometimes seemed scary or counterintuitive, an important action was to get out of the way. Yes, teachers need to build strong relationships and provide rigorous lessons to scholars in order to prepare them for an unknown future, but teachers also need to let scholars engage and grow without interfering and stunting that progress. Therefore, having the scholars conduct research and write op-eds on topics important to them carried more weight and impact this year than in years past. Here is another essay that came out of that process this past school year. — Samson Patton, teacher, STRIVE Prep RISE in Green Valley Ranch

An Independent Learning Project (ILP) is pretty self-descriptive: the student chooses a topic they are interested in and it counts toward their grade. My ILP is about cooking and how I can cook on a budget. This will be especially important going to college and in order to make decent food on a tight budget. Also, I can study and understand the basics of cooking without having to compromise on school time.

ILPs are currently a privilege reserved only for students who have proven themselves to be accountable and able to work on their own. But I say that it shouldn’t just be a privilege, it should be a practice all high schools implement once per school year. I believe that this will make school more engaging and have a greater impact on students. For example,