joyce on wed 13 aug 08
At 06:23 PM 8/13/2008, you wrote:
> >
> >Elizabeth said:
> >
> >There are a lot of kids that don't need to be in school past 10th grade.=A0=
> > They need to be in trade school and it just isn't there for a
> lot of kids =
> >and that is why they drop out and get jobs, or on the job training, or trad=
> >e school, whatever you want to call it.
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------------------------------------------
> >
> >You're talking to the choir here, Elizabeth. I am in total agreement.
> >
> > It's
> >a bigger problem in California than in some other states since our students
> >are legally required to attend school until age 18 or graduation, whichever
> >comes first. They may leave school at 16 IF they pass a comprehensive
> >test that is far more difficult than the GED, and IF their parents are in
> >complete agreement.
> >
> >Very few students actually follow through since it seems to be widely
> >known that the test is meant to truly demonstrate that the student does
> >in fact understand the information, which is tested at a high school
> >senior level.
> >
> >At least when I was working, each year we often had a student or two
> >pass the test in order to enter MIT or Harvard or Stanford etc without
> >completing their senior year. In a few situations the students began
> >their freshman year at the targeted school as a student AND teaching
> >at least one class. One young man also taught Russian at their local
> >high school while attending the university. He was a non-native Russian
> speaker.
>
>We did have alternative programs which served some students well.........
>a Regional Occupational Program which allowed hands-on training
>by experienced professionals within the community.... the medical
>careers , retail merchandising and auto shop programs seemed to
>have the most success. We also have an alternative high school
>which serves the same need for other students; it, by the way, also
>had a fine art program. Still there were too many students who
>just sort of whiled away their last two years, marking time until they
>were 18....... could join the service and "be free of all this sh**. I
>loved the innocence of that last line, which I heard many times.
>
>Joyce
>In the Mojave desert of California U.S.A.
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