For her Senior Independent Study, Sydney Assil ’26 is writing a paper about the American education system and researching how it does or does not achieve equity compared to other countries. Her advisor is Head of School Laura Ross.

Assil said an issue she noticed in public education was the lack of equitable teacher allocation.

“[A problem is] teacher requirements and fair distribution,” Assil said. “In America, the requirements to become a teacher are more relaxed than in other countries, creating underprepared teachers. [They] make up far more of the faculty in high-need areas while well-advantaged areas typically have more qualified teachers. Part of this issue is the low teacher salaries that create little incentive for teachers to earn higher degrees.”

Ross said the project meetings are often discussion-based, and they help her gain new insights into other countries’ education systems.

“[Assil] shows me where she is in her research and what she’s been doing since the last time we met,” Ross said. “Then, we [decide on] what she’s planning to do in the next timeline. For the last four years, I have taught a class on equity issues in public education here at Harvard-Westlake as a Directed Study. In terms of working with [Assil] and meeting with her regularly, it’s been really interesting because I don’t do as much comparative stuff with other countries in my class.”

Assil said she hopes to learn how to combat the issue of unfair education and support younger students by highlighting educational differences between the U.S. and other countries.

“I’m hoping to learn what changes could be made to improve educational equity in America,” Assil said. “Through this, I want to support informed and intelligent future generations. Education and improving the system has always been my passion, and I want to be as well-versed in the topic as possible [by writing a] paper on the education system in America and how it does or does not effectively achieve equity compared to other countries.”