San Diego High Educational Complex

Warning, I’m not a fan. The teachers are so underwhelming it’s incredible. The school teaches from an Extremely Liberal one sided point of view in all classes. History with Strebbler was a rehash of MSNBC. Spanish teacher allowed Mexican kids to laugh at American kids’ grammer mistakes, … Mexican’s with 1^st language spanish were good to go. The trolley from the boarder lets off 3 blocks away at Petco Park. Sports programs and parent involvement is less than adequate. My son made it though 3 years but just couldn’t face another year. Senior year at another public HS is night and day better. Please think twice about sending your kid here, it’s not all that.

My review is strictly about the sports facilities and the general atmosphere and the great photo shoot opportunity if you are into photography. I am not reviewing the institution (I overly pass the high school years, but those years left great memories, as I am sure this cool urban high school so close to Balboa park has left to many generations, as is the oldest one in San Diego). Since I have a close friend living very close by, many Saturday or Sunday mornings we go running around the area, specially in the basketball courts, that seem to be opened to the public.
I like to see people playing squash (or similar, maybe here is called differently, it was a popular sport in Europe during the early 90s) as well as take pictures of the San Diego skyline from there. It just gives a very different perspective. Plus, there is barely people around, you feel kind of isolated in the middle of the town. Another of my favorite activities is just watch planes coming to East to West reading to land at the airport. There is abundant parking lot, but I usually go walking from my friend’s place on Park Boulevard.

San Diego High is the oldest high school in San Diego, and still offers some of the best opportunities that any high school does in the county.
I graduated from «Diego» in 1992. After applying to 21 colleges, I got into 18, and then successfully leveraged them against one another for the best possible financial aid package. I would not have been this successful had I not been expertly prepared in the IB program (now the School of International Studies). Not only did I get into almost every college of my choice, including a number of extremely competitive and noteworthy institutions, but I spent the next four years of college wondering whether my studies would ever seem difficult.
My friends would gripe about having to write their first 20-​page research papers, and I would chuckle on the inside, knowing I’d done that before. I would go to some incredible and insane, legendary party, and my friends would study. I got to meet girls, they got to acquaint themselves with text passages. They earned «A’s» and «B’s,» and I earned similar grades in classes without ever having to break the spines of the books we were «reading.» Only one professor called me on this behavior in four years, and by that time I was a senior well on track for graduation.
Blah, blah, blah, «future drug dealers and hookers of san diego [sic]». Are you going to believe this from someone who can’t be bothered to capitalize «San Diego» (or perhaps doesn’t know)? Sure there are future drug dealers and hookers who attend, but there are at every high school, and San Diego probably brings them to a whole new level of trick-​turning and dope-​slanging excellence just as they bring everyone else to a level of excellence in their fields.
Also, don’t look at this as some rant from a myopic and bookish, fragmented individual who got locked in his locker. I also played football for two years at Diego, where I gained some awesome football skills that served me in college (although somehow not too much after that point). You can use this high school as a springboard to a beautiful and rich life, complete with every experience you ever dreamed imaginable.
I worked hard at Diego, but I also had more than my share of fun. I say with all confidence that I received a «world-​class» education from this school. Some of my teachers even continue teaching there, carrying the torch for future generations and ensuring that you CAN get a world-​class education at a public high school, even in 2009. This is a place to come and build your dreams and decide what kind of highly effective adult you want to be.
So, after all this love, why four stars? Only because there are too many students on campus, fewer open green spaces, and a «school within a school» system that prevents students from changing schools easily after they enroll that were not present back in ’92. However, the number of students forced on to the campus has more to do with taxpayers or the Ed Center than San Diego High, and this is what also reduced the openness of campus. The «school within a school» fluidity problem is entirely of their own making, however. Eighth graders choose their school usually based on which school all their friends are going to, regardless of whether it’s the best school for their own career interests, and they almost get «locked in» to that school simply because of making a silly impulse decision while still a young adolescent.
But, who really cares? You can change your school if you absolutely need to and complain long enough, and no one else in the county has both Oprah and Gates Foundation money. Who cares if the football team isn’t what it was in ’92? Then go there and make it better! Who cares if, by going to Point Loma, Francis Parker, or La Jolla (insert other North-​of 8/​private high schools here) you’ll be around more classist white people that are less likely to challenge your worldview? Just go to San Diego High and build your character! Diego gives everyone who has the drive a chance, and it is something our City and District should be proud of.

For my 100^th review, I thought I’d review a place that’s near and dear to my heart. For the last four years, I’ve had the honor of working with a lot of really amazing educators, helping to transform one of the oldest high schools in Southern California– San Diego High School.
Now, San Diego High Educational Complex, this school is one of three urban high schools in San Diego Unified to be converted into «small schools» in the fall of 2004, and I have to say that, while we’ve got lots of work left to do, it’s the best thing that ever happened to our kids. Unique schools, each based on a theme or curricular focus, and small enough for kids to feel «known».
Reserving the 5^th star for when I can honestly say that we’re able to meet the needs of each and every kid. Until then, four stars for the most dedicated teachers I’ve ever met.