H-B students also, on average, took at least one AP test before they graduated, ranking it in the top 5 percent of the nation's high schools to have such a high number of students taking the exams. Still, the school is beginning to be influenced by outside forces such as the state Standards of Learning. Both the SOLs and AP tests drive instruction and make it more difficult to include the alternative subject matter and approaches that once characterized the school, said Randy McKnight, chairman of the school's English department. But McKnight believes that the school can still carry out its original mission despite changing times. I do want to hold true to a core mission and set of values that were formed in the idealism of the 1960s, but I recognize the necessity of growing and changing.
Students also believe they can have some blend of the old and new.
They love the fact that they can vote on, and hire, guests to teach special classes. They still walk around barefoot and take classes such as Existentialism and Philosophy and World War II Movies. But they also study hard in core subjects. Hopper, who takes five AP classes, said she first came to the school because she wanted to drink soda in class, but that the school's philosophy ended up becoming more important to her than the little freedoms. And with that, she walked off with friends to hang out in the halls.