High Aspirations vs. Survival

Have you met a ten year old who says that his/her aspirations are to drop out of high school and get a high school equivalency diploma? No? Me neither. Most ten-year-olds want to be a doctor, teacher, police officer, or fireman when they grow up. 

When I was ten, I wanted to be an astronomer. The planets fascinated me and so did black holes; however, the more that I learned about astronomy and the math, tables, and science behind it, the less interested I became in it. Do I still love to star-gaze and hypothesize about outer-space and beyond? Sure, but I'm not going to ever become an astronomer.

Somewhere in the throes of late elementary, middle school, and early high school the aspirations of young kids change. There are a few who are stubborn enough to only want to be one thing when they grow up. However, many move into a survival stage and somewhere in late high school/early adulthood they start to have a new dream.

For students who spend all of late elementary through high school surviving sometimes they don't finish their high school graduation requirements. These students will usually end up walking into our high school completion program. Many times these students have been in survival mode for so long that they aren't sure how to set a goal, let alone achieve the goal.

Our class Pathways to Success has helped students identify the coping skills that help them survive, but also challenges them to look beyond the high school diploma/equivalency diploma and ask themselves about what happens after that. 

In a recent meeting, one of the facilitators for Pathways to Success said that the students tend to be more motivated if they have a "carrot" dangling in front of them. If their completion of their high school credential is a ticket to a promotion at a job or the acquisition of the job itself, then they tend to have higher aspirations. If this is their eighteenth time beginning the program with no other goal than to get the high school diploma, then the students tend to be less likely to finish.

Those students who walk in and are in survival mode may finish the coursework they need to move on to college and career, but many are in the midst of life circumstances that prevent them from having the supports they need to continue on to becoming successful citizens.

Do high aspirations help your students be more successful?

The Adult Learner with Anxiety, Depression or Both

We've seen the memes on Facebook that show us how hard "adulting" is. For those who struggle with anxiety, depression, or both it can be even harder. Therefore, how do we in adult basic education make it easier for these individuals to receive our services that are fighting these chronic problems?

At Kirkwood High School Completion programs we're teaching our students how to define those barriers and move forward with their lives. At our largest population center of students without a high school diploma, our information sessions occur about four times per month. This introduces students to the Mt. Everest view of our programs and if they choose, they can sign up for the next step immediately following that session.

We've implemented a Pathways to Success course for students to really focus on some goal setting and building a cohort that can hold their peers accountable for "soft-skills" such as attendance and punctuality. This course meets about two hours two days per week for two weeks. Once a student has attended all four sessions of Pathways to Success he/she is finally able to work toward their high school credential.

We offer two paths to getting a high school diploma. One path is our Kirkwood Adult High School Diploma, while the other is the state of Iowa's equivalency diploma known has the HSED. Students don't choose which program is right for them until after their four sessions of Pathways to Success.

By implementing Pathways to Success our persistence rate is up from last year to this year. Our current enrollment for students that meet the federal (12+ hours) enrollment requirement is up from last year and the number that have stuck around to take a post test is also up significantly from last year.

Students that we typically see in our program are those who have spent the majority of their lives living in crisis mode and need someone to help them see that there are supports in place to help them. By taking the Pathways to Success course to lead off their journey into our program, it helps to keep them moving forward.

If you have anxiety, depression, or both the medical community attributes it to a mixture of biological factors and environmental factors. One of those environmental factors could be that the traditional school environment didn't work for a student. He/she then decided that working would be a better solution and life spirals and spirals and then all of a sudden the person is in their mid-twenties without a high school diploma and he/she gets laid off from his/her job. Or worse, a person walked away from school at 17 and he/she is now 55 and gets laid off from his/her job and needs a high school diploma to find a new one. These are environmental factors that contribute to having depression. Couple the depression with having no idea how one will be able to provide for his/her family and then you have anxiety with the depression.

As educators of adult learners it is our job to put the tools in students' hands to help them cope with the barriers life throws at us. It's to show our students that when "adulting" is becoming too hard that there are resources that are available.

How do you help your students who are fighting anxiety, depression, or both?

A Forgotten 21st Century Skill

Intrigued by a colleague's tweet about "Everyone you meet knows something you don't," linked to a TED Talk by Celeste Headlee. It starts with telling you to forget everything you've been taught about having a conversation and gives ten pointers for having an authentic conversation.

Is this a 21st century skill that we need to deliberately teach? Now that teenagers get an average of 100 texts per day, is it important that we show our kids how to have a conversation? Is it okay to be sitting next to someone and send them a text when you could just talk to them? I'm sure that there's varying opinions on this.

Please comment.