If you don’t grab opportunity, someone richer and smarter will. I tell my students that they can go to college. Many voices in their lives tell them otherwise.
We of education and a measure of success owe it to the youth today to provide them with a vision.
Furthermore, hope for college and a life beyond. In the 1980’s, it was possible to finish high school and start a lifelong career. Since then the factory system along with the assembly line has died. The service jobs are all still there but they don’t pay enough to pay the bills. Uneducated people in the service industry end up renting rooms with other low paid people and the family unit suffers all around.
I have a respect for those in the service industry but it is a lie to tell our young students today that is all they need to have the American life they see on tv and the silver screen. We’re raising dropouts who know the good life as they have perceived it. They don’t understand that a cool sports car is owned by people who have a college degree more than those who deal drugs.
We need to tell them our success stories.
Even if we never lived in a poverty situation, everyone who is educated and thriving in our society has a story. When we tell kids our story, we are fighting against ignorance and propaganda. We are providing a clear light in a hazy grey universe.
Take a ten year old’s mind for instance, I teach this age of child as my job. Ten year olds are immediate creatures. This means, they want the reward now. The further away the reward, the less interested they become. I show them stairs and explain They are on the 4th grade step. Every step is another one closer to their dream. Have them visualize their dream. Nurture their dream with them.
We should never forget that where there is no dream, the people will die.
After all, as great as we think our careers are, would we do them for free? I know I wouldn’t. We need to get kids the buy in that any person would have. If we don’t we will see more and more kids drop out. As I said before, there really is no dream anymore for the uneducated. They may get lucky but I am talking the law of averages. We owe it to them to wake them up. I know it can feel tiring when they don’t respond right away. Strain to do it, you can sleep when they’re older, educated, and successful.
Your thoughts?
