This talk outlines a method of radically re-imagining the American high school. It shows how high-security, prison-like schools are actually creating more danger than they're preventing. The speaker suggests an unusual conceptual approach to fix this and argues that we need to stop tweaking an old system and instead work to create entirely new high school environments. Jennie Young is an Assistant Professor of English and the Director of the first-year writing program at the UW-Green Bay. She has a Ph.D. in English from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Her research interests include rhetorical theory and the rhetoric of education, specifically as it applies to high school students. She is also interested in creative nonfiction and its place in English composition programs and has published articles in both academic and creative journals. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx