GOPUSA » Commentary » Segel: Education Is Not King Along the Texas-Mexico Border
Under-education and low voter participation rates, they go hand in hand. With lots of family living along the border, this has personal, if saddening, meaning for me. We must INVEST and not DIVEST.
-Angela
We must invest! Sadly, for the near future in Texas, things are going to be very difficult for educational funding. Things that appear to be increasing student success at low cost must be shared.
ReplyDeleteDropout rates go down as students focus on their own futures in a way that is both credible and physical. In 2005 our inner city Dallas ISD middle school bolted a 350-pound vault to the floor in the lobby to function as a time-capsule. It has spotlights on it and is in an obvious place of respect passed several times a day by all students. Thousands of former students already have letters to themselves about their plans for the future in the vault, and over 95% will write one before they leave for high school. Their letter is based on one they receive from their parents about their dreams for them.
The students know they will be invited back for a 10-year class reunion at which they will open the vault and get both their letter, and their parent's letter, back. They know they will then be invited to speak with then current students about their recommendations for success. They are warned to be prepared for questions like “What would you do differently if you were 13 again?"
The high school which has received the majority of School Archive Project students has gone from an average graduation rate of 34% (2000 to 2007) to one of 60% for the Class of 2010, with 70% anticipated by 2013! That high school started a high school version of the Archive Project with their own vault in 2009. Google dropout and Dallas to see details. This priceless project costs about a dollar per student and only requires a vault and a volunteer teacher very interested in seeing students again in 10 years. That teacher spends less than 30 hours a year managing the project. Seven schools in Dallas now have School Archive Projects.