At Risk In High School

Contained in the works of "Write and Wrong" by Anna Quindlen, and "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood" by Leon Botstein, the term: at risk, is frequently used for students who are projected not to have a higher educational background. Certain policies are the reason some students have little to no interest in education and eventually become just another statistic. Connie Heerman tried to help her struggling high school students by incorporating a plan similar to the one in "The Freedom Writers" but, was suspended. Leon Botstein states that high school doesn 't prepare students for the real world because of the lack of seriousness. School board officials should better connect themselves with their teachers and allow them to incorporate anything beneficial …show more content…
I relate to her students because I was her student at one point. The high school I attended was unaccredited, and really was just taking us space in the neighborhood. My high school was at risk, a failure, and the dropout rate is high. We didn 't have any after school programs really, the only thing we had was the National Honor Society, which you had to have a 3.5 grade point average. Not many people were in the National Honor Society. Coordinated by Mrs. Black, she was my teacher as well, just like Connie Heerman. To me, Connie Heerman and Mrs. Black are just alike. Mrs. Black had petitions being handed around like batons attempting get new after school activities. She proposed after school activities such as: Trivia Night, Taco Night and Open Gym for Basketball, but none of them got approved because of the neighborhood 's crime rate. Mrs. Black took her ideas to a town hall meeting that was held at the local central office to voice her opinion. She suggested the school board fund after school transportation to keep students off the streets to help the crime rate. Once again, her idea was denied. Nobody could seem to understand why everything Mrs. Black thought about what get rejected. We wondered if our school board had even taken her ideas into consideration. Nobody knows. Although, Heerman lost her job, Mrs. Black didn 't. The similarities that Heerman and Mrs. Black shared was seeing potential in students that are at risk and pushing for their students until they couldn 't anymore. The differences that they shared are none. Mrs. Black still holds the same position at my high school, and although she never could get anything started, what she got started for me when she was denied was a fresh start. A fresh start that led me here in college. The way she inspired me was tremendous in a special way. The way Heerman inspired