It's so inspiring seeing somebody overcome the immense burden of being white in America.
Life itself is hard. To really succeed in life isn't always easy no matter the color of one's skin.
This is really the most important part -- and where we need to focus. Education opens doors. And, that doesn't mean every child has to get a bachelor's, it simply means they need to be able to function in the outside world and have a marketable skill. We need to bring back trade schools and move at-risk teens in that direction by freshman or sophomore year. We need to work with the communities to offer businesses incentives for hiring these kids after school. We need to help them form and move toward real-life goals, instead of letting them fall through the cracks.
i could not agree with you more. Back in the day, just shortly after the discovery of fire, my test scores were apparently very strong, and, against my wishes, I was put into all accelerated classes towards college prep. The classes I remember best are those in which I did the worst...Russian (two years) algebra and advanced algebra, geometry. I barely passed. Mid-soph year, I was called into the counselor's office and told, We are getting you ready for college. You've got to apply yourself more. We have you scheduled for a third year in Russian, advanced geometry and biology classes."
Once I convinced the counselor I was not interested in college, they allowed me to pick my own classes. I chose typing, shorthand, and advanced English. All of which I excelled at. In my junior year, I was offered a work-study program which allowed my being able to get a job arranged thru a school community program where I left school at 1 PM. I worked for an engineering company from 1:30 to 5 where I utilized my 100 words per minute typing and excellent shorthand skills. I loved it.
I took classes that prepared me for work, not college. My choice. At age 19, I started my own office services company and sold it in 20 years allowing me to retire at age 40. After eight years of that, I became a Realtor and had a very successful career until I retired again. I thank God that my counselor listened to me and let me take classes that prepped me for life. Not college.
I wonder where the shop classes have gone. The automotive classes. The work-study programs. The cooking classes. The very programs that allowed ME to be all that I could be and wanted to be. Everyone is not college material, either by their own expectations or because they need life skills more than college prep. We have been missing a very large boat, imo, sending kids through four years of high school and preparing them for college with little or no actual life skills. And not steering kids towards vocational skills.
Long story. I apologize. Probably one of those TLDR posts. But I absolutely think our current high schools are geared toward fulfilling "their" expectations rather than helping kids live their lives. We will ALWAYS need carpenters, plumbers, painters,mdrywall experts, auto mechanics, auto body guys, admin assistants, customer service reps, etc., etc.
Last time I posted something like this, I was,called a racist. Go figure. Anyway, your post really resonated.
