Whatever it takes...
Aug. 2nd, 2009 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joshwritingWe got "Whatever it takes!" pins on Tuesday, as symbols of our commitment to do "Whatever it takes!" to reduce the "dropout" rate.
Meanwhile, in the interest of fairness, I have to share that I now understand why I was so frustrated with the Summit.
Here, from the Summit website, are Maine’s Three Key Objectives for the Summit:
1. Highlight the numerous initiatives currently going on within the state using the 15 dropout prevention strategies (Clemson University) and the 5 promises (America’s Promise)
2. Have student groups develop a branding mechanism that all initiatives aimed at putting an end to the dropout epidemic can utilize
3. Raise a broader awareness of the dropout problem in Maine
Given those three objectives, I have to admit that Summit achieved its goals. Period.
Here are two things I would have expected to have as goals:
a. Learn what has and has not worked in current and prior programs.
b. Explore new ways to increase high school completion.
Silly me. Clearly, I had inappropriate expectations and should have read the advance material more thoroughly.
Meanwhile, in the interest of fairness, I have to share that I now understand why I was so frustrated with the Summit.
Here, from the Summit website, are Maine’s Three Key Objectives for the Summit:
1. Highlight the numerous initiatives currently going on within the state using the 15 dropout prevention strategies (Clemson University) and the 5 promises (America’s Promise)
2. Have student groups develop a branding mechanism that all initiatives aimed at putting an end to the dropout epidemic can utilize
3. Raise a broader awareness of the dropout problem in Maine
Given those three objectives, I have to admit that Summit achieved its goals. Period.
Here are two things I would have expected to have as goals:
a. Learn what has and has not worked in current and prior programs.
b. Explore new ways to increase high school completion.
Silly me. Clearly, I had inappropriate expectations and should have read the advance material more thoroughly.
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no subject
Date: 2009-08-04 10:23 pm (UTC)I'd gladly have dropped out if I'd had a choice, even though I loved to learn. What made me want to go to college wwas when, in my junior year of high school, I learned that some colleges were coed. By the next year, I also wanted to get out of the house. And this was even though I had some good teachers, and driving interests in government, religion, and, though I did too little with it, science. If somebody'd said "branding mechanism" to me then, I might have thought of those cattle of the old west with designer burn marks. I sure did a minute ago!
Even at its best, elementary and secondary education often felt a lot like prison. Sometimes college did, and law school sure the hell did. I figured I had to do the time in order to get the goodies. I'm grateful to the good teachers who actually cared, who knew something and could how to think, for the part of the experience that felt useful, at times truly inspiring. I don't know how you put those qualities into an "initiative," but I guess you can catalyze their development with some teachers and other relevant adults.