At first glance, high schools tend to be a lot different than they used to be. New buildings, stadiums, and computer labs have changed the appearance of high schools quite a bit. Once you get past the fancy buildings and new computers, and look at the inner workings of the high school, most high schools have not changed much at all. Many schools today are still using teaching methods taught thirty and forty years ago, but some schools are using cutting edge technology and attempting new teaching styles. Since there is no standard, each individual high school can adjust to give students different approaches to accomplish their educational goals. This leads many high schools to be hybrid schools mixing traditional with reformed teaching methods. My high school was a combination of the two types. While it had very traditional subjects and classes, many of the classes were taught in a reformed matter.
             Paulo Freire does an excellent job of describing traditional education when he says, "Instead of communication, the teacher issues communiqués and deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat" (Freire 41). In my opinion, my high school was definitely not like this. We had teachers that used this approach, but the best teachers at our high school used other methods. While Freire talks of the traditional way of teaching, my high school made sure that we learned by involving ourselves in the subjects. For example, I took a service learning class my senior year in which I spent two days a week serving our community and communities around our town. This was a very unique opportunity that let me really learn about myself and the real world. By making learning apply to real life, it made school seem less boring and more rewarding.
             Big high schools are considered to lack community and allow students to get lost in the numbers. "Large high schools make adolescent identity deve
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