Does the shoe fit?

Picture a student. Let’s call him student A. Student enrolled in school around 1990 and immediately had issues. He was not following along with the curriculum as well as the other students, and his parents decided it best for him to repeat a grade. He repeated, though he continued to struggle. His testing showed above average intelligence, but student A had a very difficult time performing at the grade level. He was tested for attention deficit disorder and dyslexia, was prescribed for Ritalin, but student A was simply not getting school. He continued on from elementary to middle school, working with “learning coaches” and developing a strong distaste for all things academic. At times he would act out in school and draw attention to himself. Consequently student A was a discipline issue, though he justified his behavior by saying things like, “this is so boring, it’s not my fault, I’m just trying to stay awake”. When student A limped into high school, he was not where he should have been, academically. He was enrolled in the remedial classes and still had difficulty making the grade. Socially, he was generally well known and well liked. He played sports and had friends, but had never really found a niche of his own. Then student A found “shop class”. Shop was a general wood crafting class housed in a back corner of the school, but for student A, it was so much more. In shop, student A was able to work with his hands, operate power tools, and ultimately create pieces of furniture. He was guided by the instruction of a teacher he liked, and surrounded by students with similar stories. They were a tight knit bunch, and shop class became the highlight of student A’s day. After four long and arduous years, Student A graduated high school, barely. It was no surprise that college was not in his future, so student A began a journey of various careers, serving as a mechanic, trim carpenter, and a landscaper, among others. Student A is currently employed by the school district from which he was reared. He tends to the facilities at several schools, and uses very little of the material he was taught in high school.

Now picture another student, let’s call him student B. Student B enrolled in school at the same time, in 1990 and fell into the swing of things relatively easily. He made his way through elementary and middle school, not excelling academically, but not failing either. He had difficulty with math, and did not enjoy reading, but he managed, and remained an average student all the way into high school. When high school began, student B was somewhere in the middle of the class ranking. He also tested to have an above average intelligence, but school was not a tremendously pressing interest of his. Consequently he floated through his freshman year, not really applying himself, but also not excelling. After his freshman English teacher had a heart to heart with him, student B realized he was capable of more. He enrolled in an advanced class the next year, and started taking his education more seriously. After he saw that he was able to keep up in the advanced classes, student B started looking to the AP classes, as he knew that he wanted to attend college, and the classes seemed to be a good idea. By the time he was a senior, he was enrolled in a couple of AP classes and was making better grades than those of his freshman year. He was able to enroll in a good four year state university, and graduated in four years with a degree in business. Afterward he lived in a major city, had a good job, and benefitted from the foundation that he received in high school.

The difference between student A and student B? Only a name. Student A and student B are twin brothers. Born on the same day, reared in the same household, attended the same high school, and afforded the same opportunities. This begs the question, “is the traditional school model working?” It serves some well, but fails many others too. Some students just don’t fit school, simply put. They could be in rural or urban settings, they could be black, white, latino, or asian. Ignoring this fact is a moral dilemma, as it condemns a population into thinking they are failures and stifles a society of a potentially productive and beneficial asset. As class sizes shrink, and education reforms, I hope serious consideration is put into the ultimate ends which these means are aiming. If it is for more students to read 1984 and write term papers on its similarities to Nazi Germany, I fear we will continue to underserve a growing population, but if our aim is to create more productive members in a society, who will aid in economic growth, there has to be another way.