| Opinion
& Essays - Jan, 1990 Issue |
The Requirements Of Academic Success
Lon Woodbury
There are three conditions
that must be met before a student can succeed in school. First, a student
must know the fundamentals a subject is based on. For example, the student
must master arithmetic before having any hope of succeeding in algebra.
Second, a student's brain must be able to properly process the information
it receives from the senses. When a child has dyslexia, for example,
he or she actually does not see what is written, at least in a way they
can make sense out of it. A child with a learning disability needs to
learn how to compensate for it in order to succeed in school. Third,
a child must have the emotional strength to believe he or she can succeed.
When a child has a low self-esteem and feels it is no use to make the
effort, it is very likely he or she will fail in school.
The above is the order of
priorities of traditional education, both public and private. Although
it seems to work for most students, the high drop-out rate and number
of students identified as "at-risk", shows these priorities are not
working for many, many other students.
The special purpose schools
and programs I work with, including those reviewed in this Report and
the previous Report, reverse the emphasis. They are specifically designed
for those students who are failing because of emotional immaturity and
the resultant behavior problems. Because emotional immaturity and behavior
problems often arise out of learning disabilities, most special purpose
schools also have expertise in special education. Academics is then
approached in ways the student can learn to succeed.
The goal of a special purpose
school is not to replace traditional education, but to prepare the child
with special needs so he or she can succeed in the traditional classroom.
Special purpose schools and programs play a vital supplemental role
in American education, and are currently succeeding with young people
who had been failing all other attempts to work with them.
I think the existing network
of special purpose schools is a little known national resource. In the
new national spirit of education reform, these schools can not only
be used directly to help students, but can serve as models of what really
works. What is called for is for educators to be open to learn from
them, and be creative in their own school systems with the knowledge
that now exists in special purpose schools.
Copyright
© 1990, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced without
prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author
attribution accompanies the copy.) |
