What a pressure cooker environment, Palo Alto, both at Gunn and (less so) at Paly. It's kind of nauseating to read that a student said, "Gunn is a really good place if you want to study all the time, but that's not good for you." Yikes.

Michael O, what makes you think Paly is less of a pressure cooker than Gunn? Because Paly's football team historically beats Gunn's? Things have actually equalized in both academics and sports and the old stereotypes should be put to rest.

I'm wondering why they chose unique students to interview instead of regular students. These students aren't good representations of PAUSD high school students. Maybe the regular students had nothing good to say. . . since they are doing homework weekdays and weekends while their teachers relax.

[Post removed due to hearsay.]

I know some of these students and they are grounded kids with drive and purpose. Good for them.

@Paly Alum: All I know is what I'm reading and the Gunn students sound more academically stressed in this article than the Paly kids. It's what many people say (the grades are higher at Gunn, whatever that means), but I imagine the difference isn't enormous. Remember, a student at the 25th percentile on the SATs across Palo Alto has a score higher than the 75th percentile nationally, meaning the bottom students here are similar to advanced students elsewhere, on average. That must be hard for the kids.

I appreciated hearing the perspectives of these well-spoken young people.

As has been mentioned on these threads, the Hoover kids go through Terman and then on to Gunn, and that kind of environment clearly suits them. The JLS Connections kids get split between Gunn and Paly, and they're probably a little better off at Paly especially with the block scheduling, but they still don't have a project-based curriculum, and there is no place for that end of the academic spectrum at all at Gunn (yet).

The administration should find a way to extend project-based whole-child-oriented instruction into Gunn for the Connections kids, and others seeking that kind of balanced, intrinsically-driven, integrated instruction.

It's really important not to assume there are any one-size-fits-all programs at the high school level, some kinds of solutions work well for some learners and stress out others. We have the kind of program that works for the Hoover kids, but not the Connections kids.

True, since Paly has easily beaten Gunn since the beginning of time, they have taken a two-year break from competing against each other due to lack of competition. Paly has historically had better sports teams but Gunn has caught up with some good teams these last years. And Paly is not easier academically than Gunn.