Summer leisure and Drop-out Students

My 13 year old son was complaining the other day about how "hard" it was he had to get up and swim at 7 a.m. for his local swim club. (7 is a little early when it's cold but...) He then complained about umpiring a Little League game because a coach yelled at him.

As a calm and understanding parent I lost my temper, "They created summer for farm children to get up at sun rise and pick corn, cotton, etc... and all you have to do is play sports and relax. I had to haul hay and clean rental homes for my dad, you need to work more that is your problem!" Which of course, as a parent I am completely guilty of making this life too easy for my children, and I will be correcting that problem next summer...my motto now is if they are bored give them a chore.......

Which reminded me of an idea I had when I was in high school, and again when I was teaching high school, and again when I recently read an article in Newsweek...

In North Carolina there are several school districts that have an agreement with their local community colleges (MATC) that allows Junior and Senior students in high school to receive credits for both a skill and high school. When these students graduate they have a degree from High School and an associates degree in whatever interest them. WOW! That was my idea 20 year ago. I noticed when I was in high school that many of my friends and myself left school at 3:00 and went to work. Some were so interested in work and the skills they learned they left school to make money and pursue a more interesting skill.

We could reduce the drop out rate if we arranged a similar association with MATC for our students not bound for college. They would be ready for a job, have a diploma, and excited about their future. If they changed their mind they still have a H.S. degree and could go to college. 16 and 17 year olds get into trouble because they are bored....and they are bored because we wait until they are 18 to treat them as participants in society. We assume they are all interested in calculus and becoming lawyers, of course that is not true. Most other industrialized countries realize this and have created "prep" schools for those that will attend college. The great part about the N.C. plan is they will have a degree and can change their direction or mind to attend college, because 16 is a young age to decide your future, but at least they would have a skill to fall back on.

I remember how busy I was the last two years of high school, not studying but doing all kinds of activities, taking college courses, working a couple of jobs, and I was not even away from home yet. We need to advance these capable students forward to an area that interests them. Utilize their endless energy. Let's look at this model and see if this would help resolve our gap, dropout rate and problem students for MMSD. We have the community college right here and plenty of educators.....this is an issue that should be discussed.

Posted by Mary Battaglia at July 12, 2006 7:47 PM
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