Malcolm Shabazz City High School is a four-year public

alternative high school Alternative High School (AHS) is a public senior high (secondary) school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada; which teaches grades 10 through 12. AHS is currently located at the Clinton Ford Centre, which was home to the former Clinton Ford Elementary Sc ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...

, USA. It was named in honor of the activist

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

, also known as Malcolm Shabazz. It was founded as Malcolm Shabazz High School in 1971, changing its name after merging with City High School (founded 1972) in 1979. The school is located at 1601 N Sherman Ave., the same building as Madison's Sherman Middle School. Shabazz is known for its informal atmosphere (students refer to teachers and the principal by their first names) and emphasis on individuality and social and political activism. According to former a social studies teacher, Gene Delcourt, "Shabazz was designed to be an alternative school for the sake of it being an alternative school, rather than it being a last chance for diploma completion or the last chance for kids who were falling through the cracks. When the school was founded, it was originally founded by students who were motivated to learn something other than what mainstream schools were teaching. Teachers responded to that by teaching their passion."

Admission

Students must apply for admission to Shabazz, with new students being accepted at the beginning of each semester.

Academics

Shabazz operates on a quarterly schedule. It offers a varied selection of courses, including The First Amendment (social studies), science of global warming, rap as poetry (English), and American Sign Language. All new students are required to take an anti-discrimination social studies course called Mirrors. Students at Shabazz have dual enrollment with their "home school" (neighborhood school within the Madison Metropolitan School District) and are eligible to take courses at both schools.

Service Learning

Shabazz is a National Demonstration Site for Service Learning and is considered a "leader school" in the

service-learning Service-learning is an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service in order to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs. Service-learning involves students in service proje ...

movement. Service-learning projects are incorporated into courses such as Project Green Teen, "an environmental service learning class that addresses authentic environmental needs in multiple communities", and Road to Indian Country, a social studies class on contemporary Native Americans that involves a week-long service trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

References

External links

* High schools in Madison, Wisconsin Educational institutions established in 1971 Memorials to Malcolm X Alternative schools in the United States Public high schools in Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-school-stub