“Are you with me now” A J Ryder
Calvera: What I don't understand is why a man like you took the job in the first place, hum? Why, heh?Chris: I wonder myself.Calvera: No, come on, tell me why.Vin: It's like this fellow I knew in El Paso. One day, he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him that same question, Why?"Calvera: And?Vin: He said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
From Seven Samurai to my favorite Eastern Western - The Magnificent Seven
For far too many, College for All “seemed like a good idea at the time.” Of course for almost all of these folks who thought it was a good idea, college was where they went after high school. This surely impacts the way they see outcomes transposing their life trajectory on all life trajectories. This translates to making decisions and finding the evidence to support it i.e. decision-based evidence making rather than evidence-based decision making. Now a survey for 2016-2018 College Alums comes out and these are some highlights:
A Bachelor’s degree remained a compelling path for many but was not without risk.
Professional Certificates* emerged as a strong option.
Alumni wished for more career experiences in high school, those who received them often saw stronger outcomes.
For us this last bullet on more career experiences in high school is important whether you are going to college or not. Career experiences are for all students and not just for some students. That said, can we now move in a direction for all students? We’re ready at BPL.
A few proposals….
A week ago, Jeff Palladino put me in touch with Adam Greene founder of Rocking the Boat, a non-profit started in the South Bronx to discuss their growth. On a side note, one of our first Harbor Freight Fellows Francisco Cabrera did his Harbor Freight fellowship at Rocking the Boat so I was really familiar with their work. After 25 years they are starting their next site in a new park in San Francisco and Adam wanted to discuss how we grew our schools. In the past few weeks, I’ve been on lots of calls where people are asking me similar questions about the growth of their non-profits. We had a great talk about growth and the interesting part is that in October right after our TYBO gathering with Dennis up in New Hampshire, I’ll be heading down to Mystic Seaport to do a keynote for the Teaching with Small Boats Alliance (TWSBA) Conference. Rocking the Boat is a long-time member and Adam is on their board. All that is coincidence enough but there’s more. Over the summer, Joe Youcha – Chair of the Board of TWSBA, Scott Boldt and I brainstormed yet another new avenue for skilled trades work, this time in maritime. We now have a proposal almost ready to launch at or near the conference date. Similar to Harbor Freight Fellows and the 311 yet, different because of the connections to government, unions and industry this proposal could draw the attention of a collective group that Joe can assemble. With the B-U platform and the high need to find the youth who want to do this work, we could be onto and into something that is sorely needed – yet another new form this time in maritime.
And…
Anthonette, Andrea, Scott and I completed responses to five questions given to us by the San Diego Foundation. We are hoping that some or all of what we proposed around B-Unbound, The International Big Picture Learning Credential, Equity Fellows and more BPL schools resonates and we continue the conversation.
We have the best intervention systems in the world but what about prevention?
I’m always taken back by the number of police, EMT’s, physicians, social workers, psychologists, politicians that are almost immediately at the scene of a tragic shooting at a school. I’m convinced we have the best intervention/response systems in the world but what about prevention? Since Columbine we have argued that advisory systems where students are known well by an adult in the school minimizes alienation. You are seen and heard in advisory and an adult knows you and you know you can go to them. Same is true for Real-world Learning experiences where you first explore and then ultimately, you are doing things you want to do with people you want to do them with. These are places where you go to seek meaning in your life. These are design elements of prevention. Where are we on advisory and real-world learning in schools and communities? Should we be as good or better at prevention than intervention?
Be well!
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