Non-honors Students at East Seem to be Shoved Under the Rug

Some students go forgotten in the halls of Shawnee Mission East. Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Lancers painstakingly work to continue Shawnee Mission East’s standard of excellence, achieving a level unprecedented to many schools around the country. As for the non-honors students, the ones who may be perfectly talented or maybe just haven’t found their direction in life? Many are shoved under the rug, ignored by statistics and by much of the school. The disparity between the dedicated student and the barely-graduating is blatantly obvious.

Instead of trying to hide or expel the “blemishes” and “problem kids,” counselors should look to these students even more than the high-achieving students. Although some students may not find their way to a selective college, the goal of reaching the University of Kansas or a community college isn’t unreasonable, and would benefit them much more than having their education end with their tenure at East. In fact, many students might find their home better at such a school.

East does have programs in place to give these students the knowledge they need to succeed in the world, even if it has to be at a slower pace; some just don’t have the desire to be interested in it.

The school’s attempts to try to get every student more involved, interested and excited about their studies have gone, for the most part, unrecognized. Mass assemblies and interactions between an entire student body, although well planned out, are predominately ignored by many—often the ones that need to hear it the most. These students feel like they are neglected. For the most part, they are. The school wants them to feel like they care about them, but how can they feel that if they are being talked to in a group of 2,000?

The approach should be a more personal one; the effect of having these deemed “troubled” students meeting with an adult individually as little as once a month could give them the sense of purpose and personal connection that they’ve been missing. Although the counselors office doesn’t have the time to be the ones meeting with these students, volunteer parents who have formerly had East students which have moved on the college could act as these college counselor-like mentors.

Such a program could work at the leisure of both the parent volunteers and the students. The meetings would be multi-purposed, but the end goal would be to aim the student in the right track to continue their education, choose the right college, help with college essays and tests and applying for financial aid. Many of these services are offered by the counseling office, but without a more personal approach, no one is going to go for it.

The problem’s roots lie much deeper than just within East. Within the next few years, Shawnee Mission North will be the third school in the district to gain the International Baccalaureate label. Just to receive the IB designation costs around $10,000, not to mention the thousands of dollars needed to train the teachers to the program’s standards.  Clearly, the district is willing to devote more funds to help high-achieving students; they should investigate options to help low-achieving ones as well.

The goal of a high school is to prepare their students for life in the real world, and with around 96 percent of their student continuing on to college, East does it as well as almost any school in the country. But with a little more support, even low-achieving students could find schools that fit them as well as possible. From the beginning of our freshman years at East we are told to strive for perfection; this standard should apply to everyone, not just the high-achieving students.