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As part of a collaboration with Bard’s Early College program in New Orleans, The Hechinger Report has been asking teenagers to share their opinions on everything from discipline in the schools to the value of a four-year college degree.

The students often came down on very different sides of the issues.

Sixteen-year-old Brianisha Frith, for instance, argued that young Teach for America instructors have brought much-needed energy to the city’s schools, while her classmate Kenyatta Collins, also 16, wrote that “some students feel like the teachers don’t know much about us apart from stereotypes.”

The early college model, which has become increasingly popular around the country, allows high school students to take college-level courses.

Contributing editor Sarah Carr spoke recently with New Orleans Public Radio news director Eve Troeh about the project. The segment includes both Frith and Collins reading excerpts of their essays.

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