Opportunity Allows American Public Schools to Win $50 Million

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SHELLEY LIN
Staff Writer

If AHS was given the chance to win $50 million in a contest, how would it be spent? If we entered the XQ: The Super School Project and if our plans were strong enough, they might actually come true.

This month, a contest with a reward of $50 million was started to reinvent American public high schools. Steve Jobs’ wife, Lourene Powell Jobs, began XQ: The Super School Project contest. According to the Los Angeles Times, she believes that students will be more engaged, inspired and motivated to graduate as well as to improve their academics in high school in order to win the prize money.

This contest requires groups of educators, students, faculties and administrators to collaborate and create a list of new plans for high schools. Such plans would include altering school schedules, campuses, technologies, extracurriculars and academic curricula.

“This contest could be extremely beneficial to schools in more impoverished areas where the [students] have great potential but the school is unable to trigger it because of insufficient funds,” said junior Andrew Kao.
According to the LA Times, one main focus is lessening the gap in academic achievement between peers of different racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds. A period of several months will be given to public high schools to complete their list and a team of judges will choose five to 10 of the best ideas to work with by the fall of 2016.
“I [believe that] if we were to remodel all of our buildings and offer newer materials, students would be more engaged in learning and more eager to participate in school. A better learning environment equals more involved students,” said Kao.

The XQ project is the most prominent plan so far, according to the New York Times. Powell Jobs has involved other advisers to help keep this project ongoing and strong. Russlynn H. Ali, an assistant secretary for civil rights of a group in the Obama administration’s education department, recently became the new chief executive of the XQ Institute.

According to the NY Times, Powell Jobs believes that there is a big difference between students’ desires for their future and school, and what the school could offer. Because of this, she is determined to complete this project and benefit schools.