Tomorrow 3,500 students will drop out of school.
I’ve spent two days a week for the last three months tutoring sixth graders at a brand new middle school southwest of Dallas. While I’ve enjoyed every minute spent with the kids, it was certainly a wake up call for me.
I’ve never known anything but private school, and while I’m grateful for my education, I’m conflicted about the country’s public education system.
We started the after-school program in hope of creating a character-building course for at-risk students. At-risk students are children who are at risk of dropping out of school. Character education is a program set up to teach children about positive character traits including respect, responsibility and integrity.
The effects of character-education programs are improved standardized test scores, improved grades, fewer disciplinary referrals and improved attendance.
The students I worked with were primarily Hispanic. Most of them were not born in the United States and English is not their first language.
Through my experience this semester I’ve come to respect education in brand new ways. I’ve decided that it’s one of the most important issues facing the children of America.
According to the Texas Education Agency, in the 2006-2007 school year there were 4,594,942 public school students between grades 7-12 in Texas. Approximately 48 percent of the public school students in Texas were at risk of dropping out of school. This number is astonishing considering it’s almost half.
Students in grades 3-11 must take standardized tests called the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). The test assesses various academic skills based on grade level. Everything from reading, writing, English languages, mathematics, science and social studies are included. The Spanish TAKS is given to students in grades 3-9. Grade 11 students must pass the TAKS before they can graduate high school.
Last year 25 percent of the 5,517 grade 11 students passed the TAKS-I test (which includes mathematics, social studies and science) – a pitiful statistic.
We can attribute dropout rates in Texas to ethnicity, socioeconomic status and gender. What we do not take into account is what school means to individual cultures. In order to start helping the students we must investigate what is being taught, how it’s being taught and what we can do to keep kids in school.
We need to recruit teachers who actually care about the students and how they are doing. At the middle school where I’ve been volunteering, the teachers are out the door as soon as the kids are on the bus. This disappoints me. Growing up, I got out of school at 3:10 p.m. and on any given day I could find my teachers in their classrooms till at least 4:30 p.m. I was shocked to watch teachers running for the door as soon as the bell rang.
Did you know juvenile crime triples when the school bell rings at the end of the day? The truth of the matter is, if adolescents cannot find excitement in group activities or after-school programs sponsored by responsible adults, they are more likely to find it in gangs.
Dallas county has 984 after-school programs but has the capacity for only 36 percent of children who need out-of-home care.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of parent involvement in public school systems. It is imperative that schools explain this to parents. But we can’t place all the responsibility on the teachers and the parents. It’s time for the government to start paying more attention to the future leaders of our world.
Approximately 64,293 children are unsupervised after school. It would behoove everyone if the government set up after-school programs in each public school district. Children need a place to go when the bell rings at the end of the day, a place where they can get help with homework, play sports and engage in positive activities. Our future generations are what’s at stake.
I urge everyone to spend a little time with the kids in their communities. Be a positive role model. Teach them that school is important and not impossible.
About the writer:
Neely is a graduating senior journalism major. She can be reached at [email protected].
