Mitchell West

Salam High School is the best school if you're sending your kid to learn in an environment where there are other Muslim kids to be friends with. As a recent alumni, I just want to say I love this school, and honestly, I miss it sometimes. But getting to the point, I’ll go through everything one by one.For learning, most teachers have a set rubric, a teaching style, and a planned-out course schedule. A lot of them are flexible if most of the class is falling behind or if there’s a weather day. But then there are some teachers who stick strictly to the rubric. With all the homework and projects from other classes, it becomes too much. It makes the learning environment feel overwhelming and can make you not want to come to school. There is a lack of support from teachers, which is also frustrating, as they make the students learn by themselves. Also, there is a lot of homework because of Salam School's college prep status.When it comes to how teachers teach, some of them have tough methods, lack understanding, and act overly strict. Not all teachers are like that. Some are very supportive, caring, and actually want to help students grow. The school could definitely use more of them.For emotional or social support, there is honestly nothing. Unless you're talking to a close friend, you’re on your own. Guidance doesn’t help and can actually make you feel worse. They often bring up your parents to shame you even more, and it just makes everything harder. If your child deals with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, or anything similar, I wouldn’t recommend this school. There’s no real support, and if your mental health goes down, so does your schoolwork. Instead of understanding that, the school just contacts your parents and blames you for being lazy or unmotivated.On the bright side, safety is taken seriously here. Students mostly get along, and there are barely any fights. If something does happen, it’s usually small, and people make up soon after. There is a little bit of discrimination here and there, but it’s mostly seen as jokes. Most students understand where the line is, and if someone is uncomfortable, people usually stop.Lastly, for family involvement, you can bring your family into your school life. But speaking from personal experience, I wouldn’t suggest going to guidance with them. Parent-teacher conferences, on the other hand, are helpful and give parents a clear idea of how students are doing in class.