If Students Designed Their Own School...?

Response to the article and video on "If students designed their own school... it would look like this"

Letting students teach themselves - this is a really daring decision Principal Marianne Young took.
     Monument Mountain Regional High School most likely is a quaint, modest school with a good reputation of it's students. That's the problem, this "Independent Project" course may not work out as well at other schools with poor reputations. It really depends on the students themselves who take this course. If they are not actually motivated to do anything, nothing will happen. It wasn't specified how the 8 students were first chosen, but I would suggest there be a kind of test or examination. Of course not a real IQ based test, but more of a psychological/mental capabilities exam to make sure students are dedicated to learning, and are able to manage by themselves just fine.
     Compare this to the upcoming new program here in Fraser Heights, called Science Academy. I've already applied for this program, which basically provides much higher and advanced math, chemistry, and physics courses (including first year university and AP courses). The application process is pretty troublesome I must admit, but it is necessary to ascertain that all students can handle the tough, fast-paced learning/workloads. A student profile form, activities list, and short essay needed to be handed in to the office, as well as a practical exam and essay, and an interview. This is a very elaborate and thorough application process, which I strongly believe would be needed to assess students wanting to take the "Independent Project" course.
     Another problem with this student-run-school idea that has been bothering me is about how the students choose what they want to research on. Sure there is a specific curriculum or guideline they may need to follow, but what if there is that one particular section that all students despise, and no one decides to look into it and show others? I don't think the video has provided enough information on the Independent Project, so I can't say for certain that I know what they are trying to do. If this program was meant to completely replace normal teacher-classes to student-run-classes, I don't think students will thoroughly learn all the necessary subjects. For example, if all the students for some reason strongly hated radicals in math, who would research it, or any kinds of questions related to radicals? No one. If no one even touches the subject of radicals, no one will learn it, even though it is a very important part of mathematics in general.
     The idea of having students come up with their own methods of learning, and working together on group projects is really good for leadership and collaboration skills, but I feel this can be achieved in a normal teacher-classroom as well. In our English 10 class, Ms. Lees introduced this ingenious project, Genius Hour. We get to study what we are passionate about, work in our own groups (or by ourselves), design our own project, and show what we have learned in our own different methods. In a way, Genius Hour is like the Independent Project, but in a normal class setting.
     Whether teachers or students should teach, I am leaning more to the traditional teachers side. I am completely fine with how schools and classes run currently, but if they can somehow find a way to smoothly implement student-run-classes/schools... so be it.

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