Someone once said after a presidential dilemma, “that you need to decide at age 2 if you’re going to be a politician and then live your life accordingly”. Has that become true with everything that we decide on in life.
As I work on my dissertation, what I am finding out as I talk with people, both students and parents, is that if they’d known….they would have done things differently. I think it’s great that at age 10 a child knows he wants to become a veterinarian and so he takes all the science and math he can in high school along with electives in the agriculture department and joins clubs such as the 4-H Club and the Human Society. Virginia Tech, being the only veterinarian school in Virginia, may be where he always knows he will attend. When entering high school, this child checks with Virginia Tech to see what dual enrollment classes they will accept and then enters those classes knowing he is preparing for his future. He graduates from high school with a transfer associate degree and enters Tech with two years already completed in his long college career to become a veterinarian. He is on top of the world, but he is one in the very, very few who know this at age 10 and can prepare for it all along the way.
There are two ways to look at this example. The first is to congratulate this student for a job well done and his success and speedy travel to his career as a veterinarian. The second is to feel sorry for this child that he didn’t have the time or opportunity to explore the world and all the other wonderful things it has to offer. Was he short changed? You decide. What are your thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Debra,
After reading your blog, I have a better understanding of the Dual Enrollment and the advantages and disadvantages. My high school had a similar program with an academic center. Being involved in the program, I gained a years worth of college credit as a very low price. It was nice to have a year behind me when I began "college".
With the example you gave concering the 10 year old, I am not sure I want to feel sorry for the child. However, children at the age of 10 need to explore all options. It is ok to read and have a hobby but to decide a career at 10 is a little farfetched. I think it is great to have dreams but I know when I went to college, I changed my major 4 times even though I though at 15 I wanted to be a physical therapist.
Enjoyed your blog,
William
I find it a tremendous opportunity for students to be able at a young age to take classes in high school that will count for college. This is wonderful. However, children change their minds zillions of times about what they really want to be when they grow up. I can only hope that these college classes will count for electives if that is the case. What is so sad is the child who later finds out that those courses in high school no longer are accepted for various reasons. What is going to happen when the colleges realign courses and what the high school provides will not be considered acceptable? Can the high schools keep up with the changes that the colleges make? Back in the day, when I was attending a small community college, I was told that all my courses would transfer. Of course when I arrived at the college, only 18 hours were acceptable. That was upsetting to me. The future will only tell the success rate of Dual Enrollment.
Post a Comment