Following "Boost" period, described in the post below, we have a 35-minute "crew" period. While "boost" consists of 10 - 12 students, "Crew" has fifteen or more in it. Students use this period to ease into the normal school routine, to get some food (free at the school cafeteria), and to learn a few everyday things not normally discussed in regular classes.
During one of the crew periods, the teacher in charge had put up a number of signs on the room's walls. They read "technical school," "junior college", "four-year college", "graduate school," etc. The discussion we had concerned education, and where one would prepare for the career one wanted. If you wanted to become an auto mechanic, would you go to a four-year college ? If you wanted to become a software engineer what kind of institution would you attend ? Where would you get the education you needed to prepare you for the life you wanted ? The teacher asked questions and asked the students to go stand under the appropriate sign for their intended vocation.
The seed of the idea that students are going to go on to high school and then to college is planted early on in the minds of these middle school students. Understand that most of them have parents who may never even have finished high school. And one can guess that because the student population is drawn from one of the poorer sections of town, almost no parents have any idea about what college is about, and certainly no experience with it.
[I think back to my own upbringing and the fact that not only did my brother and I grow up knowing about college and what was involved in getting into one, but that also the only question in our minds was not "Am I going to college?" but rather "Which college will I be going to ?"]
Also on the wall is a large sheet with questions written on it that students in the class have asked: "How long is a class period at college ?" "How many students will there be in a class ?" "How many classes will I have each week ?" "What are classes like in college ?" These are answered by the instructor as the questions come up.
And now comes one of the most amazing programs this middle school offers: the "College for All Program."
I know of no other school that offers a program like "College for All." In this program, students who have been on excellent behavior and who have signed permission forms from their parents, are taken on a special trip that visits a number of college campuses. These include the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of California at Santa Cruz. They overnight down south, the boys in one motel or hotel, the girls in another far across town. A number of faculty members accompany them everywhere. One of the highlights of the trip, too, after viewing the University of California at Santa Cruz is a visit to the Santa Cruz. During the trip, students meet regular college students, occasional members of the faculty, and other college personnel. If the college is in session, they actually sit for a while in selected classes just so they can experience what they should expect from higher education.
The point of all this is that it strengthens the conviction in students that they will definitely go to college. I contrast these middle school students with those of the high school where I taught for several years and which is described in earlier posts in this blog. These middle school students depart from the 8th grade knowing a lot more about college than most students graduating from the city's high schools.
A program such as "College for All" obviously costs a lot of money to operate. Somebody has to pay for the chartered buses and the hotels or motels and the food. And since the students' families are extremely poor, they certainly cannot ship in anything but perhaps a small amount of spending money. So who foots the bill ?
Mostly corporations. Some one somewhere in this school -- and I haven't yet learned who -- operates an outreach program to solicit donations from corporations. There may be other school soliciting money from corporations in the area, but I have not heard of any. In addition to corporate donations of money, the school holds a raffle each year. Tickets cost $10 each. Prizes range from a giant screen TV (donated by a corporation, I am sure), to microwave ovens and a host of other excellent prizes.
The "College for All" program is just one more example of the innovative way this school makes every possible effort to provide the students with as good an education as possible.
During one of the crew periods, the teacher in charge had put up a number of signs on the room's walls. They read "technical school," "junior college", "four-year college", "graduate school," etc. The discussion we had concerned education, and where one would prepare for the career one wanted. If you wanted to become an auto mechanic, would you go to a four-year college ? If you wanted to become a software engineer what kind of institution would you attend ? Where would you get the education you needed to prepare you for the life you wanted ? The teacher asked questions and asked the students to go stand under the appropriate sign for their intended vocation.
The seed of the idea that students are going to go on to high school and then to college is planted early on in the minds of these middle school students. Understand that most of them have parents who may never even have finished high school. And one can guess that because the student population is drawn from one of the poorer sections of town, almost no parents have any idea about what college is about, and certainly no experience with it.
[I think back to my own upbringing and the fact that not only did my brother and I grow up knowing about college and what was involved in getting into one, but that also the only question in our minds was not "Am I going to college?" but rather "Which college will I be going to ?"]
Also on the wall is a large sheet with questions written on it that students in the class have asked: "How long is a class period at college ?" "How many students will there be in a class ?" "How many classes will I have each week ?" "What are classes like in college ?" These are answered by the instructor as the questions come up.
And now comes one of the most amazing programs this middle school offers: the "College for All Program."
I know of no other school that offers a program like "College for All." In this program, students who have been on excellent behavior and who have signed permission forms from their parents, are taken on a special trip that visits a number of college campuses. These include the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of California at Santa Cruz. They overnight down south, the boys in one motel or hotel, the girls in another far across town. A number of faculty members accompany them everywhere. One of the highlights of the trip, too, after viewing the University of California at Santa Cruz is a visit to the Santa Cruz. During the trip, students meet regular college students, occasional members of the faculty, and other college personnel. If the college is in session, they actually sit for a while in selected classes just so they can experience what they should expect from higher education.
The point of all this is that it strengthens the conviction in students that they will definitely go to college. I contrast these middle school students with those of the high school where I taught for several years and which is described in earlier posts in this blog. These middle school students depart from the 8th grade knowing a lot more about college than most students graduating from the city's high schools.
A program such as "College for All" obviously costs a lot of money to operate. Somebody has to pay for the chartered buses and the hotels or motels and the food. And since the students' families are extremely poor, they certainly cannot ship in anything but perhaps a small amount of spending money. So who foots the bill ?
Mostly corporations. Some one somewhere in this school -- and I haven't yet learned who -- operates an outreach program to solicit donations from corporations. There may be other school soliciting money from corporations in the area, but I have not heard of any. In addition to corporate donations of money, the school holds a raffle each year. Tickets cost $10 each. Prizes range from a giant screen TV (donated by a corporation, I am sure), to microwave ovens and a host of other excellent prizes.
The "College for All" program is just one more example of the innovative way this school makes every possible effort to provide the students with as good an education as possible.
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