Early College High School

I've got two children in early/middle college high school programs. One is off to college this fall. She entered a middle college program the middle of her sophomore year in high school. This program allowed her to take community college classes for her high school electives during her junior and senior years. She's basically completed her freshman year in college while in high school. My son is a freshman in an early college high school program that has enrolled him in college classes while just a high school freshman. His program is part of the governor's initiative to help high school students complete an associates degree with a fifth year of high school. Both my kids love their programs, feel their school is better than the sibling's, and think they are college prepared and more mature than their standard high school peers.

I am now working at a branch campus of a community college that has an early college program like my son's on their main campus. Some of our faculty teach on both campuses and have a lot to say about it. There is a real frustration expressed by many of them that their high school freshman and sophomore students are not mature enough for college work. They feel they either have to fail a large number of them or water down their requirements with the end result that the students are getting college credit without doing college work. I also hear frustration from my library co-workers on the main campus about the behavior of the high school students while in the library.

It has been interesting observing this from both sides. I recently wrote a paper for this class on early college high school programs. The programs are new enough that there isn't a lot of hard data, but the early college graduates, so far, do seem to be holding their own when they get to a university setting. And the confidence my own kids feel from being in the program has been really good for them. And I do think their programs are an excellent preparation for college level work on a univeristy campus when they get there, even if my colleagues are frustrated with having to deal with younger students. As I said, it's been interesting to hear from both sides.

After Mary and I presented our lunch and learn on my branch campus, we were asked to present the program on the main campus. We used a computer lab in the main library. I came early that day for two purposes. One, of course, was to be sure Mary and I were comfortably prepared for our program. But I also asked for permission to observe the early college students at a time when they were working in the library between classes. Having heard my co-workers complaints, I was expecting the library to be a real zoo. I'm not a SShhhhh! kind of librarian so maybe I'm not such a good judge, but the day I was there, the high school kids were indistinguishable from the rest of the students and everybody was quiet and focused as Mary and I set up for our program. All h__ may have broken out after I left, but while I was there, they were good as gold.

This got me thinking. Like all parents, I have had the situation where I've fussed to friends about my kids' behavior but the feedback I get from those adults is incredulity. Apparently when I'm NOT looking, the kids' behavior is great. When I interviewed for my present position, there were a number of questions about how I would handle patrons who were rude or uncooperative--as if this were a regular issue in the library. The evening person in my library has implied that trouble is to be expected, that difficult patrons are part of the job. But in the almost year that I've been here, I've been treated with nothing but courtesy and respect. Maybe I've been lucky. But maybe it also has to do with our expectations. I've read that students tend to live up to whatever you expect of them. It may also be that they respond to what you model. If you are defensive, if you expect trouble, you may be more likely to get it. If you are positive, maybe you get positive back. In any event, until things change, I'm going to be naively positive and enjoy my students for the good kids I perceive them to be. I guess that's what my friends do with my kids. If they only knew . . .