Global Learning Curves

A top photo-op field trip this year: Tustin High students at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, England.

While a number of students were able to finesse trips abroad, many more did their learning closer to home--and, in some cases, from classmates who were themselves from abroad.

Plenty of hours were spent listening to lectures, glued to a computer, behind a hot stove. There were less appetizing moments too. As one biology student put it, dissections are “just plain gross.”

Want more suggestions? Here you go.

CAMPUS FIXES

Computers for every student; no teachers over the age of 40.

--Tim Koenig, 18,

Anaheim High

I would like to see an instant teller [machine] giving back the attendance slips, better programmed teachers and mechanical pencils.

--Rosa Medina, 18,

Santiago High

A game room offered only with admission, and a lounge where we can take a 30-minute nap with cookies and milk.

--Runjhun Bhargava, 18,

Western High

Toilet paper in the girls’ bathroom; smoke-free bathrooms; the school painted more than once every 35 years; lockers that actually fit books.

--Kelly Hertzing, 16,

Sonora High

I would like to see computers on every desk, clean high-tech bathrooms, a new hands-on science department, brand new, state-of-the-art stadium and an indoor pool.

--Christian Morales, 18,

Tustin High

I’d take away the classes which waste time, you know, the ones they say you’ll need in the future.

--Anh-Thu Alex Do, 18,

Los Amigos High