Jefferson Parish Efforts

It seems that the State of Louisiana has one of the highest rates of high school drop-outs among it’s pupils. The majority of these ‘drop-outs’ occur when students fail their freshman year. The reasons given for these students dropping out ranges from the general problems teenagers face and also school issue can be a factor too. If these problems can be solved before the freshman year finishes, students are much more likely to finish high school.

Jefferson Parish has been conducting a scheme to try and keep high school students in class for the last two years. Students who fail classes are given the opportunity to make up the credits on computer based classes after school or during study hall. It seems that the school district is succeeding in keeping their students.

All students don’t learn in the same way. Many cannot do well in ‘lecture’ settings where they must take notes as a teacher speaks. These students are being given other opportunities to succeed in their school careers by taking a different kind of class. The ‘computer labs’ are overseen by a teacher and at the end of the course, the students take a nationally devised test.
These may also bring to educators attentions the fact that not all students are meant to go to college. We should be encouraging our students to achieve academic excellence, but this does not necessarily have to take place in a university. Many local vocational colleges are popping up which provide courses in plumbing, construction trades, cosmetology, massage therapy and many health care positions. Students can learn a ‘trade’ and be employable as soon as they graduate.

Teaching our children that working for the things we need or want not only builds character but gives us a sense of achievement. These courses can produce positive, productive members of society who contribute to the community rather than become a nuisance.