1. The traditional high school curriculum is deeply flawed. The traditional curriculum is misguided and poorly organized, with students doing too little, sitting still and listening too long, thinking independently and critically only infrequently, and too often cultivating passivity and indifference, rather than effort, focus, and excellence. Why do students study discrete subjects, instead of completing demanding, interdisciplinary projects, case studies and assignments that require students to be active in the creation, refinement and presentation of a high quality product? Why is the school day divided into subjects that are unrelated? Why do assessments encourage a "cram and dump" approach where students try to memorize as much inert content as they can before an exam only to dump what they have stored to make room for the next unit of inert content, leaving them without enduring understanding of the subject? Why can teachers not take all the time they need to ensure that students truly understand academic content before moving on to the next task?

2. School is not a positive place for many students. Large high schools can be difficult places for many students who have not developed the resilience that follows from adult experience, or who feel threatened in a place that is chaotic and indifferent. The social climate of a school is of paramount importance, because miserable students cannot learn and because students' social well-being is critical to their development as active, informed, and capable adults. High school students are just beginning to learn who they are and what they can be, and school needs to be a place where they can figure this out without being subjected to ridicule or isolation.

3. Schools do not treat students as stakeholders. In most schools, administrators and teachers do not make clear to students why they are studying what they are studying and why they are studying it in the way they are studying it. Students are often overlooked in matters that would benefit from student input. In other words, the people for whom the school exists are often ignored or diminished.

4. Schools leave long-term student success to chance. High schools rarely confront directly that they must prepare students to complete college successfully and to excel in whatever professional path students choose. Preparation towards these ends cannot be left to chance. Why do high schools not teach students the social skills, academic practices, and work habits that would ensure success in college and in anything students choose to do after college?

5. The educational opportunities available outside school are neglected. Schools operate as though they are in a vacuum apart from the world in which they operate. Schools do not dedicate themselves to preparing students to be active, informed, and responsible adults, and they do not use the world as a source of current, relevant, and demanding educational content or off-campus learning opportunities. Teachers should make clear the real world connections between academic content and the world beyond school. Schools should create activities for students to learn outside of school.

6. Schools lack clear goals. Without clear goals concerning what a high school graduate should know and be able to do, the high school curriculum will be ineffective. Curriculum and instruction must be designed backwards from a school's goals and expectations for its students.

7. Schools use student time poorly. Students spend an enormous amount of time in high school, and they get too little meaningful guidance and instruction in return for their time because the curriculum is not relevant and engaging, and important content is not explored in depth. Too few schools have designed coursework and instruction around the student, and few are committed to keeping students engaged and satisfied with the academic work and school climate. As a result, opportunities for real learning are lost. Teachers often rush through important material to cover huge quantities of information in a superficial way. Thus, too little time is spent on what students need and want to know.

8. Schools are slow to innovate. If a new idea, tool, or practice will help students learn, it should be adopted. This is not always the case in traditional schools. For instance, schools are also slow to adapt to changes in information technology, so important educational resources and opportunities are not employed.

9. Parents are left out of high school. Even though high school students are approaching adulthood and often seek to avoid spending time with parents, it is critical that parents receive regular communication from the school and participate in the high school community, so they know what their students are doing and can share in their children's growth towards college. Parents should be encouraged to observe classes and to work with their children and other students as a resource where parents have expertise. The list of problems is regrettably long, and could continue for pages. These problems reveal a failure of imagination in traditional education. The Ideal Schools curriculum is designed to address these shortcomings.