103.9 FM WDKX
Rochester, NY
Your #1 Radio for R&B
On air:
The Wake Up Club with
Tariq, Liz
Listen Online
103.9 WDKX Live Stream
REQUEST A SONG!
Request A Song
Rochester's problems with violence, drugs, and gangs will get worse!
Why has Rochester allowed the 39% graduation rate to slip into the archives of the papers? Take a look at the classifications list at
http://eteamz.active.com/monroecounty/files/07-08classifications.doc
This link shows the population of each school and it shows the breakdown of classifications for sports. Add up the total number of students from the Rochester City schools and multiply that by 61% or .61 If you are really doing the math. In four years, this would be the number of students that did not graduate. Scary! Where do you think they are? How do you think they are making money? How do you think they are surviving? Who hires a dropout?
There are many different guests of the station, community members, and listeners who talk about the problems in Rochester. It's repetitive to listen to everyone say, "What is wrong with these kids" or "The parents this.." or "These kids have to..." etc...
I agree there has to be some ownership with these students and parents, but we have to be real, we are living in a society where school districts and teachers are taking on more roles. However, think back when you were ten to seventeen, did you really know what was best for you? Think of it this way, my role as a teacher is to make sure a kid does the best that he can, because he really does not understand the consequences down the road if he does not succeed in will say the 7th - 10th grade. Do you think a kid will act, and feel the same way at 18-20 years old as he did when he was 14-16 years old in high school? I hope not.
Thus, it is are job to get these students through high school, then when they are 18+ and hopefully their minds and reasoning skills are beginning to mature, they will have the foundation to do something that interest them and be setup for success rather than failure.
I firmly believe there has to be a huge push in the sense of belonging in school. The school district, the Mayor, and others have to come up with a game plan to implement this.
Students are not dropping out because they cannot read or do math, because they have no sense of belonging to the school, and see no reason to succeed in school.
Studies show the HIGH correlation with a sense of belonging: which means there is a strong connection and huge relationships where students feel a sense of belonging.
Graduation rates are higher, violence is lower, grade point averages higher, etc...
Let me give you one example of something that we do to promote this in our school. At about the third week of school, we stop school thirty minutes early and the entire school heads down to the gym/field house for a club day. Inside the field house we have tables set up and each table is a club or activity with T.V.s or videos, etc... A student and teacher from each club sits at the table and sells the program. The principal and vice principals hand out root beer floats for the kids. It is a great day, this is what they do in college!!
Before I write more on this make sure next time you call in to the "Water Cooler", ask the guest is if they know of any better way to attack all these problems at once, and if they have even considered a large scale and district wide push for this?
Here are a bunch of articles, I looked through a few, but have not read them all on the high correlation between a students sense of belonging and lowering violence, drugs, bullying, increasing grade point averages, and graduation rates, etc... when you get a chance glance through some of them. You can find plenty more on the internet.
Do not forget like anything, this is easier said then done. However, I would love to come up with a game plan to attack every angle of this issue and come up with all sorts of ideas to promote this and SAVE Rochester!
http://www.public.asu.edu/~atssk/ssk_jswpa03.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/21/33689885.pdf
http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/2004/2004schlesserc.pdf
http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/35/33689437.pdf
http://www.whittedclearylaw.com/FSL5CS/links/links83.asp
http://712educators.about.com/library/weekly/aa032901a.htm?terms=achievement+gap
