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Straight Talk SC: Education for Life: Working together to fulfill the promise of education

Posted: July 27, 2016

This past June, the Overcoming Obstacles Team had the pleasure of attending the lecture “Straight Talk SC: Education for Life – ‘Reframing Higher Education for a Changing Society” hosted at Furman University and part of The Riley Center’s Summer 2016 Series. The lecture highlighted the need for interdependency between the secondary and post-secondary governance structures. But, more than this, the lecture highlighted the changing demographics of America and its impact in classrooms across our country.

Michael Usdan, Ph.D, president emeritus and senior fellow at the Institute for Educational Leadership, shared that America is about to enter a new era in which there are no definitive majority / minority races. This has and will continue to cause much diversity and language barriers within schools. Furthermore, the national average of students who qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch programs is approximately 45%. However, in the state of South Carolina, around 53-60% of all students qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch programs. This has a huge impact on the classroom environments. Such staggering statistics emphasize the importance of the implementation of life skills within schools. Many students who come from high poverty backgrounds do not receive life skills at home, as their parents typically work multiple jobs and are not around. Additionally, as the average number of ESL students increase in our school systems, more and more students will need to be taught the basic life skills necessary for success in America, as they may come from a very different culture. If students are not taught how to embrace those who are different, to manage their time and study habits, and to constructively communicate and interact, tensions will continue to rise and the socio-economic gap will continue to grow.

The ultimate goal of American education is for all students to reach their highest potential due to personal success, not personal access. Studies have proven that the implementation of life skills within schools positively impact student success with their studies and their achievement of future goals. As we are about to embark on a new school year, we look forward to working with national and international educators to help all students have a successful academic career.

Posted by:

Paige Cole

Education Manager