Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Has CCS got it right?
So i was doing my pwrpoint presentation for this class and i was thinking: has CCS really got the right idea with these kids? it is great that they graduate this place with a high school degree, but what becomes of them afterword? With no viable skills it seems like they are just a burden being passed on. Granted, there are doubtless a few students who have ended up really shining, but for the greater part I'm really wondering what happens to them. So for my project i suggested that CCS collaborate with unions and the trades in order to get graduating students into strong careers and high-paid work. Some of these students might end up supporting their whole families in the future, and the harsh reality is that with the low skills they have, the current job market is holding success far out of their reach. If they turned around a got trade skills as part of their general education, i think we'd see a lot more long-term success on the part of the students. Yes, many do graduate, but what do they graduate into? without some better options, i see a bleak situation.
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I asked Teresa if she would write a response to Eugene's post:
ReplyDeleteHello all,
Eugene has it right and the conversation comes up every year. Many of us, at CCS and Phoenix and even Probation officers, think a strong skill component is realistic for many students and we lament and struggle with the fact that such programs for skill building are not available. The ones that are avaible are set up in a way that young people cannot access them easily, and sometimes the ones that do exist are not appropriate for success for our students.
I especially have tried to tackle this when I had an Afterschool Program. It was difficult and it seems it would have to be a school with a skill based curriculum so students have a mandate to come and do the work of their choice. They may not always like it but a skill would be born in them and they would be thankful later in life. You know a lot of Europe has their system set up on students choosing, or not qualifying for academics, so they have a right to a livilhood occupation that the goverment offers the student.
I absolutely love the thinking and the challenging of what is, verus what seems so great and possible.
On the other hand, there are some supports for job developement and internships to help our students navigate some of the stresses in trying to find a job, or even understanding what a resume is and how to use it. Those services are offered to many on campus to help prepare them for a future worklife. Many each year are stipended in working situations and the School to Career staff do a ton of work to take students through the whole interview process, and build relationships with the job commumity so our students can be employed. They have Unions present and talk about what is possible but there is no program to train them that they can do it if they try. I even use my Community Service Programs as a vehicule to help students get aquainted with work or participate in employment trainings and such.
Finally - Keep asking and thinking about what you see and what is possible. Then dream on it ,or go to school and get yourself to a place where maybe you can make it happen!!! The world would be a better place for many of our young students if someone put together a program that really addressed just this need. There are magnificent gardening efforts and green economy jobs that lend themselves to this effort as well, and that is the future. Training our youth to work in solar, electrical, plumbing, landscape, etc would win them and those to follow a wonderful life - and for the better of us all. Skills create confidence, which trickles into a thousand other things and raises the individual out of poverty into a competent and mainstream part of all our communities. You all see the wonderful students we have, and you witness or get to be privy sometimes to their academic and personal struggles. You all have a future and you can make a shift in their world if this becomes your path!
Thanks to each of you for all you are doing. The staff have nneded you al ot this year! It has been for some one of the hardest years with the students and their behavior, while seeing such greatness atthei same time.
See you around!
Teresa Ashby
YMCA Program Coordinator
at County Community and Phoenix Academy
491-4003