The concept of an “academic bot-camp,” was very interesting to me because it was something I had first-hand experience with but never considered there to be any other options. I attended a charter school called YES (Youth Engaged in Service) Prep. In the book, Hope Against Hope, Sci Academy stressed a number of important rules that were almost exact to the same rules I was expected to adhere to when I was in high school. When we learned about KIPP and the way their school was structured, I was surprised to learn that because my school stemmed from teachers at KIPP, they also adopted a lot of their strict rules and expectations. I never thought about it in reference to an academic boot-camp though, and this made me consider the pros and cons of such an academically strenuous environment.
It is important to note that the school I attend was almost 98% low-income Hispanic students, and most of the rules and expectations were made in an effort to keep students focused on the goal of attending YES, to get into a 4 year university after graduation. I started attending my freshman year and I did feel the student burn-out very quickly. I was constantly “breaking a rule,” I had to get my homework sheet signed every night, I couldn’t wear jewelry too distracting, my phone had to be unseen in my backpack, and I had t attend advisory every morning before classes and participate actively on top of the hours of homework I received every night. It was very stressful at first. I had never been asked to do so much work before in my other schools, and this was a drastic chance. I did notice many students struggling with following these very specific rules, and soon because of too many “demerits” and detentions, they would soon withdrawal. It is a con to have such a strenuous environment for a student on top of the high-academic standard set for them.
Although I also want to stress one of the largest pros. These strict rules and expectations worked. For students coming from failing schools and low-income/sometimes broken homes, these rules ensured that the classroom is made for learning, and only learning. From day one, these expectations were made and if followed, the environment of my charter school, similar to Sci, was very goal-oriented on student success and academic excellence. They prepared us well academically and caught us up to our appropriate reading and math levels quickly. We learned how to talk to professionals and what is expected of us in an academic environment. At least for me, I saw how much work my teachers put in everyday and stresses over the rules and expectations just as much as the students, and that was the first time I saw teachers actually care and support us as students. My question is then what happens when the student graduates and these rules are no longer in place. They did well to keep outside influences like drugs and violence/trouble away from students, but from first hand experience I saw the struggles many of my fellow graduates faced after they left the charter schools system and no longer had that strict support. May of them left the colleges they attended. Is this a fault of the system?
Comments
9 responses to “Academic Boot-Camps Pros v Cons”
Wow, Hillary I appreciate you sharing your experience. It’s really great to get a first-hand account of what we have been reading so much about. Why I see both of the sides you pointed out, on how a “boot-camp” school could be a positive and a negative for schools, I still do have many unanswered questions and concerns. Most notably, you mentioned that many of your fellow classmates left the colleges they attended. I see this as a HUGE problem. Although, not everything can be blamed on a school, if students are not staying in and completing college then I would consider this a fault of a system. If this wasn’t considered a fault, then what is the goal of education?
In my opinion, the goal of education is to create high functioning members of society. In reality, not every student will go to college and some don’t need to attend a university to be successful. However, to break the vicious cycle and allow some individuals to break through class boundaries, majority of students should go to and complete college. In the end, if a strict, “boot-camp” type system is not getting students to achieve this goal, then perhaps this strategy is simply ineffective.
Hillary, thank you for sharing about your charter school experiences. I enjoy hearing more about the charter schools we read about from someone that I actually know. I feel like you give more credibility to what else we have read. Thank you.
As far as your question as to whether students dropping out after attending such a charter school is in fact the fault of the charter school, I believe there are two sides to this. The first, McKenzie addressed above saying that not everyone needs to go to college to be successful. I totally agree with this. I think also that the charter school you attended probably didn’t take this into account and made the goal the same for everyone: attend a 4 year university. Secondly, I think the strict rules are important to keep. As you said, these rules helped keep the classroom just for learning and keep all other distractions out. One way to set students up for success in college when these rules are removed is to talk about strategies to continue to keep the distractions out. Students can make game plans for how they will attack their work and maybe even be able to try out there plan before actually leaving the controlled charter school environment. The first time a charter school student makes a choice on their own should not be in college.
I loved your post Hillary. It really means a lot to hear your first hand experience, since sometimes it is different than what a lot of people have had the experience with. While reading your post, it seems these “boot-camps” can be key in fixing individuals to be successful. The school’s goal is not to harass or bully these students to act in a specific way, or punish them when they misbehave, but rather their goal is to keep these students in line to make sure that there is no way for them to drop out or escape from the school system and I think this is really valuable. You say that it was a lot of extra hours and many extra activities, but I think this can be a good thing because it does not let a child have that free time to go home from school and cause trouble. Rather, they are in an environment where it is safe and the staff is not going to let them have anything happen to them or their students. So in this sense, I think these “boot-camps” are ideal in these situations.
To answer your question about what happens to students after these rules are no longer set in place around them is very interesting. I think obviously the focus of a school, like McKenzie said, is to create high functioning individuals who are going to be successful in life. When students graduate and cannot stay in college, this is a problem because the goal is to create these successful individuals, when we are not sometimes. But I do think that charter schools like this can only do so much. They try so hard to teach these students morals and reasoning to stay on this path, but how much can they truly do after they graduate? Like Hannah said, I think if schools focused on making life paths with students when they reach their upper levels, I think this could help in some ways, but it still does not guarantee success. What can we really do???
Hannah, I liked your post and definitely agree with what you’re saying. If charters take away all ability to make choices, students may succeed in the artificial environment of that school, but not in college or the ‘real world.’ If so many students from these schools are not able to make it in college, it does sound like they are being ill-prepared by their high school. On the one hand, the methods employed likely helped students graduate high school that may have otherwise dropped out. However, perhaps the goal of a ‘boot-camp’ school like this should be preparing students for college, rather than preparing students to get into college–subtle difference, but it’s definitely there.
From the mini film we saw in class (where we can really see these some of these methods in practice) I could see how a boot-camp approach could be highly effective in younger students. By this, I mean elementary and middle school students. Just like you mentioned, Hil, all of those rules and their execution by teachers tend to translate into a caring system in a school. If this is the only place where everything is structured for academic productivity, it can really influence the way a students looks at his or her role as a student. As we discussed in class yesterday, however, the use of this disciplinary method can cause dependency when enforced on high school students.
This is to say that students may become accustomed to specific rules, expectations, and then also rely on the system’s positive reinforcement. These are all things that stop at graduation. In college, students would need to adapt quickly and find their own code to keep themselves accountable. I think that this may cause the drop out rates that you have observed. Along with the pressures of adapting to college in general, figuring out what it important and what needs to be prioritized on ones own can be very stressful.
I think at some level, the success a student experiences in the academic sense must depend on their level of effort and dedication. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the “boot-camp” method, there is no denying that it does greatly improve the academic ability of students. Whether or not the student then takes what they learned and apply it in their attitude toward a job or higher education is their responsibility. They have been given the tools to succeed and it is up to them to apply them as they have learned to do so. This may sound harsh and I’m sure there are some exceptions but I feel like the student has to be determined to build on what they learned at “boot-camp” in order to succeed later on in life.
This reminds me a lot about some of the conversations we were having in class yesterday about the “Teach like a Champion” video and the teaching methods the film described. I know my group discussed how a big problem that we saw with the ideas about having everyone focus all of the time, and having an activity for the students to partake in for every second that they are in the class room. In this way, the students are robbed of some choices, and therefore they are potentially paralyzed later in their educational career with what to do with free time and the ability to make their own decisions. This strict structure that both Hillary described and the “Teach Like a Champion” video described demonstrated how freedoms were taken away from children, and therefore leaving older children with little responsibility.
Alex, I agree with your statement that strict charter schools do not prepare high school students well for life after high school (whether that be college or a job). However, I think the strategies employed can be considered for elementary and middle school students with positive results. If a student is able to develop discipline, focus, and academic skills throughout elementary and middle school, high school teachers can allow them to think more independently and develop their own ideas and sense of identity. This would only work if students were placed in this system from a young age.
Alex,
I really like your final point about schools preparing students for college rather than preparing students to get in to college. The way a student can be prepared for college is much different than just getting into college. While focusing on getting into college would mainly just be about getting good grades, and having good test scores, and being involved in your school and extracurricular activities, etc… Being prepared to actually be in college is much different. There is the issue of having much more independence in that there is not someone there looking over your shoulder to make sure you do your work. The time management skills that you need for college could definitely make or break your college experience if you were not taught how to do so. Being in college is a whole different experience than being in high school and especially a “boot-camp” high school.