Joe: Just returned from an unexpected visit to Edmonton last week, to attend my grandmother's funeral. It was good to go back and drive past my old high school. It brought back memories that lead me to the educated conclusion that the education I received in Edmonton back in the early 70's is still more state of the art in comparison to the way in which we educate students today at the secondary level.
Here were the facts in 1972-75 at Harry Ainlay Composite High School in Edmonton, Alberta Canada I will try to keep to a bulleted list of things that made high school great there. (I would go back to my high school days in a minute.) * School hours were 8:00 AM - 4:00PM ( give or take a half hour) *All classes were offered at multiple times of day, so each high school student chose their classes around their personal schedule (no need for late start, you could choose it. *A college or academic track was simultaneously offered at the same time a Trade track was offered in the same school * There was a program for everyone whether you wanted to focus on college, work as soon as you graduated or opted for both *The campus was an open campus and students came and went according to their class schedule *High school was run more like college in an effort to prepare you FOR college *Students purchased their textbooks at the school bookstore and were completely responsible for them, they could resell them if they so chose. *Teachers took attendance and the attendance record was part of the report card that also showed the grades *Teachers would bend over backwards to help students that needed and asked for assistance *By the same token they had little time for students who skipped class and chose not to show up *There was no effort to assist those who were truant, they either rose to the occasion or they failed the class *There was little intervention by the school system for students who did not want to do the work *Students were expected to graduate before or by their 18th birthday, and if they failed to make the grade by that time, they had to pay the system for credits through a type of GED course or by correspondence courses. * There was little misbehavior in the classroom, because largely those that didn't want to be there didn't show up thereby allowing the teacher to teach instead of find creative ways to make incorrigible students behave. That is not their job. *Parents were involved because it was THEIR responsibility to make certain their child was performing, not the school's or the teachers. *Public schools is paid for by taxation much like it is here, but textbooks in the high school's were the student's responsibility and it worked well. *We had a full range of athletic and artistic opportunities available as well. *Each high school drew students from a defined attendance area, and school choice was not offered or needed, because all high schools offered largely the same types of program tracks. *Keep in mind that Canada also uses the metric system of mathematics which greatly reduces many of the problems that our students struggle with in regards to conversion to the English system. I believe we are the only country that teaches the English system and the whole rest of the world has gone metric long ago. This means that our students need to master both. We lag behind in Math test scores and this is one of the statistically proven reason. ( Attended a seminar put on by SPPS at the Midway Sheraton in 1999 where an expert mentioned this as one of the big problems holding our students academic achievement back, and he had the empirical evidence to prove it. * Canadian students ( in Edmonton anyway) spend from the end of August to the end of June in school each year. They put more time in than we do. They get the traditional two week winter break and a one week spring break. * Many of my high school credits from Canada counted as College credit when I came back to Saint Paul for my college education. * Summer school was never offered. You got your work done during the year or you failed. Social promotion did not occur. Sorry for the long list, but I thought all of these points are worth considering when we think about the way we educate here. When will we stop reworking education every four years when there is a change in the White House and/or a change at the State Capitol. Education should be something we don't redo every four years, that factor alone contributes more to our under achievement than anything. Overall, just a few comments, as I DO work at Arlington High School and I believe as far as High Schools go in Saint Paul, we do a great job in the in the current system. First of all, I would have to say that we are misssing the boat when we are not offering a Trade track in every high school and only focusing on sending students to college. We demean unintentionally those students that are not college bound by making them feel that if they don't go to college they cannot be successful. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know a student at Arlington who is trying hard to pass the Basic Standards so he can graduate, because he already has an automatic job from his uncle who lays flooring and carpeting. This student knows that this is what he wants to do for a living. He is not a candidate for college and he is looking forward to working in the trades. He told me that the minute he graduates, he will be taken into the family business and start out making between $25.00 - $40.00 an hour. How many of the people on this list make that much??? So can he be successful without a college degree, by all means! Why are we not seeing this? To many students are being squeezed into a mold that doesn't work for them, and we need to CHANGE our thoughts where this issue is concerned. I will give one final example from my high school years. I had a friend that was one year ahead of me in school. She decided she wanted to be a beautician. Our school had a Beauty Culture program where she spent most of her time. We also had a working salon much like Aveda has in Minneapolis, right in our school. Students and community members could come and pay for services at a reduced rate and the students would get their hours needed in their practicum in this way. I got my haircut at school all the time. The day after she graduated she started a fulltime job in a salon nearby and made a great income. She was a RAGING SUCCESS! Once we provide opportunities for both academics and trade officianados then we need to RAISE the bar for student behavior. We need to RAISE the bar on what we expect from parents. We need to intervene less and let our students who choose to misbehave FEEL the consequences of their behavior, by allowing them to fail. I am a parent and I find that the best taught and best received lessons are lessons that happen as a result of allowing in a controlled way my child to fail and experience the ramifications of behavior. When you have high expectations of students and instill a "sky is the limit" mentality, they will soar. If you expect the worst that is what you will get. Respectfully submitted, Pam Ellison Como Park Saint Paul _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [email protected] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
