A Contest You Don't Even Know Is Going On

?????????????? In some Michigan elementary schools large corporations provide grants to Summer School Programs.? These Summer School Programs are often the type is familiar – students that have failed at some course or another are provided an opportunity to make up over the Summer months, so that, they do not fall behind.

?????????????? Sometimes, schools offer Summer Programs that are not based on failure but on interest and sometimes increased aptitude.? That is, some students are excelling, need challenging work, and would benefit from the additional school time during the Summer months.? It also gives children something to do and can help families keep a workable routine.

?????????????? Recently I was made aware of a Summer School Program and an associated program for advanced students.

?????????????? It turned out that the Summer School Program for failing students was wide open.? They would accommodate as many students as were eligible and make accommodations for them.? The State would furnish the money to further train these students that had not met State requirements, for whatever reason, throughout the year.

?????????????? Now, students can end up failing to meet these requirements for many reasons.? The common fallacy in America has been that anyone who goes to Summer School is not very smart.? The fact is that in our modern, fast paced and generally uncaring modern social environment the real causes of having to take up Summer School might surprise you.?

?????????????? We can start off with one that is no surprise.? New immigrants often arrive with children whose first language is not English.? Their cultural experience has been quite something else, from wherever they have come from, whether that is from Guatemala, Bhutan or Timbuktu (which is in Mali).

?????????????? Other reasons for what is considered ‘poor performance’ in school might be economic.? Some families in our elaborate powerhouse of an economy cannot afford the basics.? Both parents (if the child is being raised in a two-parent household) might be working.? They may not have enough time or skills to spend enough time helping to educate their children.? We must, of course, keep in mind, that educating children is not only the responsibility of the schools.? It is a partnership.

?????????????? In some cases the family life, though seemingly tranquil on the outside, may be filled with private and hidden abuse.? There may be alcoholism, addiction or other issues that a teacher might not necessarily be aware of.? How can we expect even the best of teachers to be aware of these hidden issues when often not even neighbors, who live within 10 to 30 feet of such things are unaware?

?????????????? In more cases than I care to relate at a number of schools I am aware of the number of homeless children that attend is quite high.? Unbelievably many children that do go to school and do the work and put their time and energy and effort into succeeding at what the teachers have directed them to do have great difficulty.? They may be living in a hotel.? The family may rely on foodstamps to get food.

?????????????? The obstacles, in my mind, are monumental.

?????????????? I am not writing specifically about the children with these problems of poverty, however, of course everyone knows how bad it is, which begs the question of, ‘Why is it tolerated?’.

?????????????? I am writing about the children who are ‘academically excellent’.? These are the children who do their homework, have a good rapport with their teacher and others in the school, do well on tests, participate and get good grades (numbers) on State Government Required Testing.

?????????????? Those children are invited to classes for Summer School to keep them busy and also as a recognition of their achievements above the other students.

?????????????? They get an opportunity to go over items they did not understand during the previous school year, of course, which allow them to continue or excel in the coming year.? They are provided with access to materials that may even lead them to skip a grade or provide them access to some honor society in the school, locally, in the State or even farther afield.

?????????????? These are small children I am writing about.? This is a program supported by the State Government in the locations it is offered.

?????????????? How are these children selected?

?????????????? In the one case I am aware of State Grades are collected and reviewed by some body or somebody.? The idea I am trying to convey here is that, I don’t know who reviews this material.? Along with those standardized grades other things are taken into account.? What those things are, I cannot say.? I do not know.

?????????????? Then, from out of all of the students available in the school 10 are chosen.

?????????????? These 10 are referred to as the ‘Top 10’.

?????????????? If one of the Top 10 does not want to or cannot attend this special Summer School Program then the opportunity is offered to ‘11’, ‘12’, and so forth.

?????????????? Having overheard some of this information being discussed by adults a 9 year old I know said, ‘It’s like a contest you don’t even know is going on.’

?????????????? When I heard that, I agreed.

?????????????? It certainly does sound like a contest you don’t even know is going on.

?????????????? That goes for all of it as well.

?????????????? All that has been related to you hear.

?????????????? What sort of public school system is set up in this way?