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Health & Fitness

Contemplating College Readiness at Newark's Arts High

At Newark's Arts High, readying students for college goes far beyond glossy brochures and talking to admissions counselors...

Like many public institutions today, Newark Public Schools has a declared set of priorities, or what many call a “mission statement.” An essential part of that mission, which is communicated in all of our online and print publications, is to create high school graduates that are “college and career ready.” Today, I’d like to share my thoughts on what some aspects of “college ready” mean, to me, as an educator.

 

Today’s colleges and universities communicate a set of bewildering messages to would-be applicants, students, parents and even high school teachers. On the first hand, and this has always been the case, there is the message of exclusivity. A university or college is a physical place, typically surrounded by elaborate walls and gates. Though these features are no longer visible on most urban campuses, we see them accentuated in the traditional campus. From Rutgers in New Brunswick to Princeton to Harvard, the campus is, geographically and architecturally speaking, a “place apart.”

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Though some schools do maintain open admissions systems, the prospect of applying and “getting accepted” to a university remains one of the greatest concerns – and stressors – affecting our high school students. Year after year students and the professionals that guide them evaluate what it takes to “get in.” Which college has the lowest acceptance rates? Who is more likely to get a fat packet in March and April than the dreaded “slim envelope”? At any time during the school year, my talented Arts High students are constantly peppering me with such questions as “What looks better on an application…good grades or extra-curricular activities or community service?” And of course, I’m constantly asked to provide meaningful, well-written recommendations.

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The problem is that this principle of exclusivity, of privilege (and I blame the universities and their competitive admissions offices entirely for this) fails to help students in understanding how to become “college ready.” This is where I get to the other side of the equation.

 

In this day and age a university education has little or nothing to do with meandering brick walls, elaborate metal gates, pristine emerald-green lawns, and neoclassical temple-like buildings. Understanding how to get into college and succeed there is not about fraternities, dormitories and mascots. It’s about attaining, processing and generating knowledge, or more specifically, how a student utilizes and interacts with his or her professors. Whether it is in class, in front of a regal academic structure, in a formal paper or through a quick email, students need to know that the actual university, for the most part, is its faculty. Almost everything else is secondary, and that’s a fact. The relationship between faculty members and their university is exactly akin to that of journalists and the newspapers they work for. Take the journalists away and all you have are computers, laser printers and industrial presses. An empty building does not make for a newspaper…its professionals do. And so, of course, goes the university.

 

So let’s return to my mission, and one of the overall missions of the district. I need to push my students to become “college ready.” And if I’m stating that this means interacting positively with college faculty, how can I do this on campus at Arts High, here and now, while at the same time teaching the required high school curriculum?

 

In prehistoric times when I was in high school, this was nearly impossible, or only possible with great effort and expense. College professors rarely if ever visited my high school (I graduated in 1988). Admissions counselors did, of course, but they were salesmen. And I cannot remember a single school-sponsored campus visit during my teen years. I’m sure some teachers might have proposed it, but considering the logistics involved in transporting students to a college campus en masse to interact with faculty…well, that just wasn’t going to happen.

 

Today, everything is different, at least in my classroom. And it’s all because of teleconferencing, or through the use of Skype, Microsoft’s free and powerful software that brings professors and students face-to-face.

 

I’ve wrote about this a bit before in earlier blogs, but now that the school year has ended and I’ve gotten a chance to really review and weigh the benefits of last year’s activities, I think I found a real keeper. And that’s why, for the past week since school ended, I have been setting up Skype sessions with university and college professors all over the world for next Fall’s classes.

 

I have found so many professors around the globe to be enthusiastic about this process. They want to talk to our students, they want to see what’s “coming down the pipeline.” And our students are no different. Students wonder, “Who are these mysterious, nearly ‘all powerful’ educators that I’ll be paying a fortune to teach me?”  You put these two forces together and you usually get the equivalent of academic dynamite.

 

So here’s what I have lined up so far, for next September and October.

 

To discuss and field questions from my Arts High students about Puritanism, Witchcraft and Quakerism in early colonial America, I’ve reached out successfully to professors at Exeter University in England and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From across the Atlantic, Dr. Laura Sangha will explain these concepts from an English perspective. Dr. Sangha will describe to the students how the state-sponsored Anglican Church and persecuting laws drove the Puritans from England.

 

From his perspective at Harvard University, Dr. David Hall will discuss how Puritans brought their ideals to America and shaped the nation we have become, for better and for worse.

 

Importantly, each professor will also discuss his or her own research and unique ideas concerning this crucial time in American history. They’ll be bringing their own expertise right to the students.

 

Students will not passively listen to these presentations. I’ll require them to pre-write and then ask comprehensive questions that demonstrate their critical thinking skills. Students will also have to write essays on their perceptions of the professors, regarding accuracy, attitude and cultural leanings. These essays will not be mere opinion pieces…they will have to be studded with examples.

 

Of course, the concept of “college ready” is a vast one. I do believe, however, that this kind of early interaction with scholars and professors at some of the world’s finest universities will be highly rewarding for my Arts High students.

 

Additionally, I am presently sending out dozens of emails a day to professors and scholars all over the nation and globe on almost every conceivable subject that I’ll be covering. As the confirmations continue, I’ll be sure to keep you informed.

 

Once next year begins – and for myself it can’t start fast enough – I’ll be sure to blog more about how these sessions went. Educators have to take risks and experiment with new technologies in the never-ending quest to bring education into the 21st century. I thank you for joining my students and I as we journey on.

 

 

 

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