I’ll admit that doesn’t sound like a marketable sequel to “The Christmas Story,” but it is inspiring. When the students started in August, they were blocked from enrolling in college classes because their entry scores were below college minimum standards. About one in ten college candidates fall short of the grade levels needed for success in the college classroom. They are disappointed, of course, and sometimes doubt their own ability, but they can’t let that doubt get the best of them.
So, the students get to work. They attend the open Basic Education lab when they can, sign up for College Prep courses in Reading/Writing and Mathematics, and work against odds to raise up their scores so that when they do sit in a college class, they have the best possible chance of success. Unprepared, their failure doesn’t help them or help us as an institution.
During the past week, a group of my students have now retested, and they have exceeded, equaled or come within a few worksheets of hitting the college standards that beyond their best efforts just a few months ago. Most have achieved minimum college standards. Some have even reached the much higher program standards. Now, rather than facing remedial exercise, they are ready to take their place in a college classroom.
Within the superficial wrapping of college benchmarks and standardized scores, the students will uncover a greater gift: the dream of a college education. And, because of the work that they have put in this semester, they have started to develop the discipline and self-confidence to see this dream through to the end.
The anticipation of Christmas Eve is fun, but Christmas morning is even better.
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