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Ronnie
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Together, community can make Flint youth a 'Promise'
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, September 10, 2006
By Dale Weighill
JOURNAL READER
The local educational and philanthropic organizations that are exploring the development of a "Flint Promise" should be commended. Flint Journal readers will recall that the purpose of this effort is to examine whether a scholarship program modeled after the now well-known Kalamazoo Promise is feasible in Flint.
The logic of the Kalamazoo Promise is compelling. If a lack of money is a barrier to pursuing post-high school education, simply remove the barrier by guaranteeing a full-ride to those students who graduate and meet attendance requirements. Students, therefore, have an incentive to stay in school: A "promise" that their college tuition will be paid for if they graduate from Kalamazoo public schools. Such a plan has the added benefit of serving as an economic development tool for the Kalamazoo area, increasing property values within the city, and attracting families that otherwise might choose to live in the suburbs.
Flint could certainly use this kind of a boost. As articles in The Journal have documented, students in Flint schools are not fairing well. In 2004, 60 percent of all Flint ninth-graders had below a 2.0 grade-point average. Additionally, a staggering two-thirds of Flint's high school freshmen do not make it to graduation. In today's knowledge-based economy, such statistics are the equivalent of unconditional surrender in the fight for good-paying jobs.
A scholarship program for Flint graduates will certainly be helpful to those who manage to graduate and it will likely serve as an incentive for some to stick it out until graduation day. For others, however, hopelessness runs deep and the outlook for the present and future is bleak. A promise of financial assistance several years from now in exchange for hard work and a better grade-point average today will not be enough.
The deep-seated nature of Flint's educational challenges calls on us to broaden the conversation to include a discussion of other opportunities to increase the graduation rate in Flint high schools. The approach to poor student performance and a high dropout rate, in other words, needs to be holistic and not solely focused on whether we can generate the resources to create a Kalamazoo-like scholarship program.
We need a multifaceted plan, one that intervenes in the lives of Flint students before they reach their high school years. We need a plan that recognizes the seriousness of our present crisis and calls upon the entire community - residents, businesses, government and nonprofits - to take coordinated, decisive and long-term action.
In addition to the scholarship aspect, I would suggest that any "Flint Promise" worth its name should include the following components: (1) All Flint students who need one will be matched with a caring adult mentor; (2) all Flint students will have access to safe, quality after-school and summer recreation programs; and (3) Flint's business, nonprofit, government and citizen sectors will work together to make this happen.
Imagine a Flint Promise that consisted of the adults and adult organizations in this city - businesses, unions, government, nonprofits, houses of worship, funding institutions and others - committing to the simple notion that every child should have a caring adult in his or her life, as well as year-round access to quality after-school and summer recreation programs. If history and research are any guides, the benefits of such a program would include not only improved social and educational outcomes for young people, but would likely have a positive long-term effect on crime and economic development.
Such an effort will obviously require substantial financial resources to develop and coordinate. Unlike Kalamazoo, however, a Flint Promise should challenge the entire community - not just a few anonymous philanthropists - to take action. For example, local businesses or city government could provide employees with paid time off to mentor children or volunteer in schools. Service clubs in the area could offer financial resources to support a school or classroom. A church or other house of worship could recruit volunteers from its congregation to develop and staff an after-school program.
I suspect there will be little debate as to whether Flint could benefit from such a communitywide, comprehensive approach. The economic and moral imperatives are clear. The question is: Do we have the will and the leadership to bring it about? For the sake of Flint's young people, I hope our collective answer is yes.
Dale Weighill is president and CEO of the Resource Center, and a political science instructor at Mott Community College. |
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Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:51 pm |
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Biggie9
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"If a lack of money is a barrier to pursuing post-high school education, simply remove the barrier by guaranteeing a full-ride to those students who graduate and meet attendance requirements. Students, therefore, have an incentive to stay in school: A "promise" that their college tuition will be paid"
isn't that the way it is today? File a FAFSA, if your family income is low enough you can qualify for grants [don't have to be paid back] or loans if your family does have income. If not you can get loans to go to school, yes you have to pay them back, but the interest is relatively, and the repayment terms are generous. Fix the college loan process first. They presume families can spend tons of money for your college age kid...like you don't have a mortgage, have to eat etc.
This of course will be good for Flint kids, but the only the ones who already are taking their education seriously anyway. But where does this leave students in the surrounding districts like Westwood Heights, Beecher, etc?
Some of those districts also struggle with performance of kids attending graduating etc.
Still, if people want to help the Flint school children, its better than not helping incentivize them. I'm just not sure of the incremental benefit versus what programs are already out there, but people don't know about.
I like the idea though that the promise should be more than just a free ride to college. More students need assistance just to attend school, like a security, mentoring [beyond just academics], recreation...but how do these overcome the environment these students are immersed in the other 16 hours of the day they aren't in school?
That's the real challenege, not getting some entities to pony up the $$ for college tuition. |
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Biggie |
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Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:34 pm |
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