The Real World

In my continuing effort to push your thinking - and make sure you find items in your Bloglines accounts when you check them, here is my latest quote from the book I'm reading.

Do you change supervisors every 40 minutes in the real world? Not to mention job tasks or team members? In what real-world job is the sequence of tasks (classes) so unconnected to the larger product? What college student attends eight lecture courses a day running back-to-back with only one short breather? We introduced two-hour interdisciplinary class periods and demanded exhibitions - projects - rather than short-answer written tests. We provided time during those two hours for presentations, seminars, group work, and independent study. We built in time for tutorials and coaching. We insisted that this was more like the real world, not less.

I'd ask you to ignore for the moment the massive change in our schedule this would entail, and just focus on the idea. Do you think a school like this makes sense? Why or why not? And if not, what would your ideal high school look like?