Find My Way

I am struck by a puzzling reality. How will a student find their way or find an interest when they never gain any exposures. Students who are low in reading or math must take 2 reading and 2 math classes. These don't replace their regular English coursework. With such a course load, when will they find their way and meet that elective teacher or have the aha experience so necessary for future growth. When will they try something new and gain a liking for it and pursue it during the post-secondary studies. Maybe it's the woodworking, automotive, computer, or myriad of other vocational courses that they will never experience.

Each day, I see the hundreds of students who are forever destined for failure. A lifelong failure, one that academics cannot reverse. Our students are wasting their most productive and exploratory years worrying about a single standardized test. A test that does little to boost or predict future academic success.

Let's take a tour of a hospital, factory or college; or will we miss FCAT practice time. We are creating a generation of students who will be lost and forever without a direction or purpose.

I truly believe we are not helping students find their way. The longer we focus all our attention on a test that does little to predict college readiness or success, the farther behind our students will fall. The ones the need the most direction and career guidance, get the least, because all their coursework is focused on a infinitely minute bulls-eye.