I pondered this question earlier this week during a discussion. I think that we need to clearly define what we mean when we say that about a child. It is not wrong to think of a high achiever as a college bound, ready for AP, IB, Immersion, Sports, Performance etc type child. It occurred to me then though that we really need to take the time to clarify what we mean by it in writing and debate. It can be tedious to be so careful when we talk sometimes but a formal definition of what this archetype of the "high achiever" is will at least shorten the duration of conversations. I am going to be gratuitously self-indulgent and use myself as an example.
I have been able to settle into a pretty great career with less formal education than most of my peers and I dropped out of high school. The reason I dropped out was because I am nocturnal and punctuality-challenged. Basically, I had to get bussed across town instead of going to the walking distance school and kept missing the pre-dawn city bus that only ran once an hour. I had so many tardies and missed days that after I dropped out I had several full days of detention to come back to serve in order to get my final grades counted. Fast forward to 11th grade and I decide to try and graduate on time after missing the second semester of 10th. I enroll in my neighborhood high school and I am living on my own at this point and have a full-time job. I had to take 10th and 11th grade PE and English and 9th grade Algebra that first year back. By the time I graduated I had AP classes under my belt, had published 2 literary journals, had been the president of a club, arranged a rock show at the school, and had been promoted from dishwasher to pastamaker. I meandered my way to the present with no regrets mostly self-taught and feel that I am a pretty high achiever.
In a sound bite my definition of a high achiever is any student that is ready for college, work, athletics, military, family, travel, volunteering, and independence presuming the appropriate steps are taken to remove barriers to these learning opportunities.
2 comments:
Hi Stephanie! Long time, eh? I know you and I talked about this a long time ago but I want to ask the question anyway.
At the end of your post you listed a number of benchmarks: "In a sound bite my definition of a high achiever is any student that is ready for college, work, athletics, military, family, travel, volunteering, and independence presuming the appropriate steps are taken to remove barriers to these learning opportunities." However, none of these "accomplishments" in themselves necessarily recognizes effort or hard work, which seems to be the real hero of your own personal story above. Are you saying that being a High Achiever is available only to those who are capable, whether with ease or difficulty, of grasping one of the brass rings listed above?
Hey Erin I was wondering what happened to you! Good to hear from you.
Excellent clarification. The conversation that spurred this was about Jefferson providing a middle college and folks seemed to be leaning towards one idea of what high-achiever meant in the discussion and whether Jefferson would meet their needs. I had told the group that if I could have left high school with an associates I would have been very very happy and I did not fit the stereotypical "high achiever" they were discussing. I did have to remove my own barriers and make mistakes along the way but I see no less value in being assisted in having those boundaries removed. In my sound bite I was trying to capture my story and also the purpose of the IDEA that students will be prepared for employment and independent living. Those accomplishments I believe are attainable or should be but it is based on the person and not whatever societal biases there might be out there about what achievement is. So to answer your question, No, I believe being a high achiever is subjective. I do feel however that a great disservice is done to people with disabilities who are persistently lowballed in what they are capable of making their vision of achievement difficult to attain.
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