The Money Quote

So subtle, I almost missed it.
From a recent parent email:

"Hopefully, we'll see an improvement in grades. That's the goal and objective."

Interesting...I thought the goal and objective was an improvement in learning.

The Emperor Has No Clothes

Three days ago I participated in a meeting for a student who is in our Exceptional Children's (EC) program (i.e., Special Education). The purpose of the meeting was to reevaluate his Individualized Education Plan (IEP). This student is failing all of his core academic classes; he is also receiving D's and F's in his elective classes (something almost as rare at my school as the white rhino). He is enrolled in the lowest levels of each class that we offer at our school for ninth graders including:

• Standard-level Science
• Standard-level History
• Inclusion English (which means there is a special ed teacher in the classroom in addition to the regular teacher)
• Career-track inclusion Math (which means that there is a special ed teacher in this class also and that this math is not a part of the college-prep curriculum accepted by the University of North Carolina)

A sad situation for sure. Now here is where the situation gets even sadder: This student's parent says, "I just want to make sure that he gets through high school so that he can get to college, where things will be easier." Then the Exceptional Children's Coordinator, the student's EC caseworker, his math teacher, and I all look at the mother and nod in agreement. No one says anything.

I hate to be fatalistic, but it seems unlikely that, given this student's performance so far in high school, that college will be an option. But there is this idea out there that all kids should go to college, or at least have the option of going to college. The President says it, Senators say it, educators say it, parents want to believe it, kids believe it. But the reality is that not all kids will have the option of going to college, and perhaps--although this may be educational heresy--not all kids should.

My school really offers no vocational options to students. As an arts magnet school, we basically offer the college prep curriculum and an abundance of art electives. How is the student mentioned above being served by my school? It doesn't appear that he will become an artist (given his performance and interest in his arts classes) and the academic work is killing him. Even if he is able to graduate in 5 years after repeating the ninth grade, what will he be prepared to do? How will the classes he will have taken--World History, Physical Science and Earth Science, Spanish 1, Career Math, Clay 1--prepare him to be a self-sufficient and contributing member of society?

The fact is that we (educators) don't want to tell people that they should begin thinking of options other than college prep--such as vocational programs--and parents and students wouldn't want to hear it even if we said it. But it seems that at some point as a society we need to pull our heads out of the sand, realize that perhaps college is not for everybody, and consider the possibility that there's nothing wrong with that.