Mar 04
Let’s get started. Juices flowing. Minds knowing.
Here’s a question:
What do you think is the most important need in Columbus County concerning our youth - the next generation?
Here’s another question:
What suggestions do you have to address this need?
March 5th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
The News Reporter’s recent article on low graduation rates statewide and locally is surprising.
Statewide only about 68 percent of freshman actually graduate. According to Fuller Royal’s article, local graduation rates are not any higher. When broken down by school, West Columbus High School had the highest graduation rate – 68 percent – followed by Whiteville High School (67.6 percent), South Columbus High School (66.1 percent) and East Columbus High School (55.7 percent.)
Columbus County is not alone. Few counties have high graduation rates but I think it is a good idea to look at what those school districts are doing to keep students involved and engaged.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Our youth need inspiring role models. We need leaders who are proud of the careers and their roles in our community. Our future leaders need to see leaders who strive to dedicate themselves to the community and not to themselves.
When children look up to people who are successful and respected here, they want to grow up to be like them, and to become valuable leaders in our community.
March 8th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
The question should be “how do we get the parents more involved with the youth”. The first set of role models should derive from the homefront. We need to bring the family back home and find a way to keep our youth from seeking family relationships in the streets, on the TV, and on the internet..
March 9th, 2007 at 12:40 am
I agree that we must get families involved. Parents are their children’s first teachers and very first role models. We cannot start keeping teens in school when they are in High School, we must start before they become so discouraged that they quit. We must start in the early grades (before they begin to feel failure) with community and administrative support for primary teachers in both instruction and discipline. Smaller classes and trained support personel would be a start. Planning time for teachers would help. Most of all we need parental involvement in the classrooms and in their children’s lives. Parents who show their children the importance of reading and education..and who set high standards for their children…within their child’s develpmental range, will be rewarded! As will their children!
NCLB (No Child Left Behind) sounds good on paper but it is discouraging our teachers and our destroying children’s enthusiasm for learning.
Your baby walked when she/he was ready, not just because suddenly he/she was 8 months old or because a baby down the street began to walk.. Why do we expect our children in Columbus County to learn to read exactly the same way?
Classrooms on the same page, moving on, no time to go back and reteach the child who was absent or who did not understand….you are setting these childrne up for failure..AND THEY WILL LEAVE AS SOON AS THEY LEGALLY CAN, but really left earlier, feeling hopeless and helpless.
Begin where we are, help those we can but go back to the beginning and you will see true success 10-12 years down the road!!!
March 12th, 2007 at 5:42 am
I went to West Columbus High School in the 70’s. I was a “gifted” student (according to every state and federal test I took). I left WC without hope for a better life. I took all advanced classes. Agricultural classes were a joke. English was taught well depending on the teacher you had. Every teacher had another agenda they followed. U.S. history was taught not by the book issued, but, by a teacher’s whim. Phys. Ed. was the biggest joke of all. Teachers were not roll models. They let a sensitive young man (me) slip through the cracks. I hated school! As for role models outside the school, who knew that there were any? Most of the people that I was taught to look up too were criminals in later years. I graduated, but, look at all the ones that didn’t. School it’s self needs to change. Children need to look forward to going. Teachers need to TEACH not preach about their religion or take the class out to the farm and stop by the store if they sit in the back of the truck and not be too unruly. I am sure a lot of you remember those days. Has school changed? How do we know? Think about when you were in school.
The great and powerful Rydag9
March 13th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
the main factor that determines if a child will do well in school is the educational level of the mother. Many children in the area live in homes with parents that have limited educations, low skills and little interest in their children’s education. Our schools have weak leadership over many years and the local people don’t understand just how limited the system has been to our children. Children with the ability and support to learn are left in classrooms with unmotivated teachers/students and old buildings. When youth from this area leave for college they quickly learn just how limited their education has been and the price they pay is high. Few students from the area travel or attend major schools. They have limited social skills to cope and many times no desire to go outside their comfort zones. Our school system encourages inhouse promotions and hire many youths that attend UNCP. They may have learned basic skills to teach but few have understanding of fine arts, travel or the desire to explore people that are different from what we know each day. How very sad? Change will be slow and parents will be forced to give extra time and enrichment activity for their children. READING, MATH and Science skills are basics that many children don’t learn in the system. Many can’t write or read basic information even when the remain in school the 13yrs. What happens to the drop-outs? will they fill the new prison in Tabor or be hired to guard them at low pay? Will we support them with high cost of medical care due to no insurance on the job? Will they smoke in our buildings and eat fried foods at the local grills? Poor health care, low skills of adults and low paid jobs are all keys to our future. Male role models in the homes and drug free communities are much needed. Can the paper promote posititve activity as much as listing the court activity to fill up the pages? Change of attitudes and actions by many is required.
March 15th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Positive Economic Growth
While I feel that that would help a lot of things, I think I have more questions than answers.
I was a teenager in the late 80’s early 90’s in a small rural town similar to whiteville. I lived in a great community that gave many opportunities to teenagers grow as an individuals in a positive ways.
What I had:
Caring parents that pushed me to be my best, while allowing me to be myself.
Caring parents that showed an interest in my education and supported my teachers.
Caring Teachers that pushed me to be my best.
Community leaders I could look up to as role models.
What percentage of our youth have these things in Columbus county?
What of these things can the community control/help with?
What we had:
When we had free time we had plenty of positive outlets
Community Centers
Entertainment Enterprises such as bowling, arcades, and local greasy spoons.
Sports
Work (Agricultural and Small Business)
We have much of this in Columbus county. Do we have enough?
When I was a teenager, no one thought hanging out at parking-lots all night on the weekends was great fun.
While I think I’d be board out of my mind, I frequently see teenagers hanging out in parking-lots. That may just be the “in” thing. Is it?
What we didn’t have:
Cell Phones
Text Msg. (I know same thing as cell phones.)
Highly available, easy to access, internet connectivity for a majority of teenagers
More than 4 TV stations (Unless you had one of those cool 8′ or bigger dishes. I didn’t know of anyone that had one.) Direct TV came in 1994. Also we had no cable.)
A noticeable drug culture. Except for some of the usual “Marijuana” head suspects, I could not tell you who had drugs, where to get them, and what were the choices.
There are many students, who are not part of the drug culture, that can tell you all of that.
There new distractions and many new influences. (Compared to 15-20 years ago)
These are not bad, except the more visible drug culture, they are just new. Each of these innovations bring great benefits, but also potential problems.
Have we addressed the potential problems adequately?
Does our youth know proper cell phone etiquette?
Does our youth know how to be responsible online citizens?
Do they know how to filter out the bad noise from the good noise on TV?
Are we using the right strategies to address the drug culture issue?
I don’t want to sound like the “back in my day we had to walk 10 miles uphill in the snow” guy.
Change is good, change is inevitable. We must be careful to identify potential problems as we change, and take steps to manage them.
While my forecast for Columus county youth is partly cloudy with a chance of showers right now, I have a positive feeling that the sun is just around the corner.
There are many folks working hard to improve the outlook for youth in Columbus county. I know they are making a difference.
March 17th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Kinsman has a very valid point/quetion.
Unfortunately, this is a question that I don’t have an answer for. For some kids, the family relationship may never have a chance on the home front. That saddens me, but is a harsh reality.
Working for the school system I see teachers that have built positive relationships with kids that may not have them at home. I hope that when/if these students have children of their own, the cycle might break and that they have positive relationships with their children.
Not a teacher, but want to help? Volunteer. You can be a positive role model at the schools, community organizations, churches, etc. Trust me, you can make a difference, even if you can only spare a little time.
While I was truly blessed with good parents. I remember several volunteer community role models that helped shape my life in a positive ways.
March 27th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
I think those have posted here are well meaning but all thinking people know that the real cause of the problem is a welfare system and victim outlook is responsible for most of the problems. We are now dealing with the fourth and fifth generations of people that have lived on government hand outs, used a system that rewarded mothers for being single, punished fathers for taking responsibility and generally blaming others for their problems. We can thank LBJ and all the smiling democrats that continue to want to keep people on the government plantation so they will continue to vote them in. The productive people are fewer and fewer because there is less and less incentive to work hard and be responsible. In just a few years Social Security will be means tested. That is we will reward those that spent all their money having fun with no consideration for the future and punish those that were responsible. Unless and until we are willing to get rid of big government at every level we will continue this downward spiral in the quality of not only education but also the quality of life.