BREAKING THE CYCLE
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It was a “given” that I would graduate from high school and go to college. Both my parents had been the first in their families to do that, and it was expected that my brothers and I would follow their example. My son and daughter were raised with the same expectations, and we are hopeful that our grandchildren will do the same.
In all the years and all the places I have taught, I have found that college expectations are not the norm. During the past school year, I lost one student in a traffic accident, I had one senior suspended the month before graduation and another arrested as he walked off the stage with his diploma. Believe it or not, these last two incidents were victories for the teachers and administrators who labored to make the system work for these students.
The student who was arrested is currently serving a reduced sentence for his actions, and he will be released next year. He is the first in his family to earn a high school diploma that will allow him to start his education at a community college and later transfer to a university for a baccalaureate degree.The student who was suspended had a mother who was an alcoholic, and she was heading down the same path. Through a series of counseling sessions and help from the administration, she was allowed to complete her senior year and graduate. She is currently enrolled in George Mason University with a scholarship, and she is passing all of her classes. With determination and continued support, she will be the first in her family to go to college.
These successes are not the work of a single teacher, but the cooperative effort of a faculty and administration committed to helping every student reach beyond high school into post-secondary education. My biggest challenges this year are the three students whose parents want them working after school each night to help support the family. I may lose one of them on his 18th birthday.
We have to break this cycle. Every student who goes to college will pass that desire to their children, encouraging them, and the cycle will be broken for that family. Simon Peter was called by Jesus to leave his profession and follow him. That broke the cycle for Peter. He became a follower, and the world has been changed by his discipleship. When we break the cycle of short-circuited education, we change eternity.
— Myron Hanke
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Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist