The Peculiar Bent...

"Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover the peculiar bent of the genius of each."
Plato


I am a "putting down roots" type of person. Big, sweeping life changes have never been high on my list of favorite things to do. Nevertheless, I have experienced many such changes in my life, much like most of you I suppose.

Recently I have moved thru yet another of these significant changes. My boys now both off to college, I have made a move of over 700 miles to begin life in North Carolina, leaving behind my sons and the place I called home for nearly 20 years. It was an emotionally difficult move, and at the same time, like many of these big changes, one that brought with it a certain level of excitement and anticipation for the new life ahead.

One of the surprises in store for me would speak directly to my profession as an educator.

Now one thing I have learned about educators in my 14 years in the classroom is that many of us are weary of change. There is a certain cynicism that comes with being told on a seemingly annual basis that there is a "new" educational initiative coming - one that turns out to look distressingly like one or more of the previous initiatives in new clothing.

This time though, I'm wondering if I have not stumbled upon a true paradigm shift in the focus of public education in America. And I honestly believe that last line was not hyperbole.

My new job is as a teacher in an Early College Academy. This program offers incoming high school students the opportunity to attend five years of high school (instead of the normal four) in return for two academic accomplishments at the end - a high school diploma and an Associates Degree in either Arts or Sciences.

This program is a part the New Schools Project in the state of North Carolina. There are currently over 100 such programs in the state, meaning that somewhere between one-fourth and one-third of all such programs in the United States are here in North Carolina. The New Schools Project is an initiative designed to re-think how public education works and what it's goals must be. The program aims to help high schools become "nimble, rigorous and focused institutions that graduate all students prepared for college, careers, and life."

The early college academies are designed primarily with preparing students to earn four year college degrees. Clearly though, this option is not for all students. Fortunately, unlike the seriously flawed No Child Left Behind initiative, this program acknowledges that not all students are preparing for college degrees. Rather than expect this goal from all students, only those who are willing to take on the rigor and challenges of such a program, and who prove such through an application process, are invited to participate.

Other new school projects exist in North Carolina as well. Some are situations where an entire school has been segmented into specific stand-alone programs. Others are simply portions of existing schools that have been focused on a particular program such as Health and Life Sciences, or Science and Engineering.

I'm still new to the experience and the process. But it looks very much to me as though the folks here have taken bold steps to acknowledge and address the fact that kids are different today and that no two of them are the same in their abilities or aspirations.

What a startling concept, eh?

The days of the "one size fits all" approach to public education are hopefully slowly fading away. The good men and women who I have taught alongside for 14 years have long understood that expecting all students to follow the same path and achieve at the same level made little sense. Now, for the first time, I am seeing first hand an effort to meet these kids at the place that, as Plato said, "amuses" them.

Exciting and interesting times, it seems to me.

More to come...