Bruce Apar’s Blog

At my age, it’s not easy to remember senior moments, whether from the last year in high school or in college. What you do recall tends to be the cruise-control, downhill nature of it all. You’ve paid your dues, you’re the king of the hill, you’re champing at the bit to move on to the next phase in life. What, me worry?
Those were the halcyon days, when, unlike today, we didn’t apply to as many colleges as Crayola has colors, and rarely if ever visisted any of them. One thing, however, hasn’t changed. Four decades ago, annual tuition to a private school cost as much as a fairly fancy car, just like it does today.
These are tougher times for college applicants, as well as for those who foot the bills. Before I transferred to Syracuse University, in those days nicknamed the “Miami of the North” for its social scene, I spent freshman year at the “Syracuse of the South,” University of Miami, whose students were mocked as majoring in “Basketweaving 101.” Today, basket cases need not apply to the Coral Gables campus, and good luck getting in at all if you are anything but a top student with special credentials. The competition for the marquee colleges is that fierce, with exceptional scholars from all over the globe vying for enrollment.
Dr. Randall Glading, assistant principal at Yorktown High School, believes secondary school educators can and should be doing a much better job preparing students for the rigors of postsecondary, education. He lays out his prescription in great detail in his book released earlier this year, “Overcoming the Senior Slump: Meeting the Challenge with Internships.” (Rowman & Littlefield Education, $19.95; rowmanlittlefield.com).
The thesis presented by Dr. Glading is that over the course of his nearly 30 years in the system, “The way in which public educators treat their most experienced students [ie, seniors] has changed little … Students are merely completing coursework to accumulate the necessary credits required for graduation. … The student’s social adjustment to college is extremely important, and if it is not managed correctly, it can result in academic failure.”
He proposes that the best way to reverse the do-nothing malaise of “senioritis” — and increase the likelihood not only of acceptance by the student’s college of choice, but also of a seamless transition between “high school adolescence and college adulthood,” as Fordham’s Bruce Cooper writes in his foreword — is to reinvigorate the high school senior’s experience. It starts with schools weaning themselves off the national obsession of teaching curricula that is a slave to mandated state assessment tests.
“The value of state assessments is undeniable,” writes Willard Daggett of the International Center for Leadership in Education in the book’s appendix, adding, “but we cannot view them as the definition of academic excellence. Unfortuantely, many of those in education do.”
Dr. Glading’s antidote is contained in his book’s title: internships. It extends to mentoring and work-study programs. The end-to-end process is examined in close detail, using actual student examples. The goals are to “work, investigate and experience the real world.” He makes the case that, in addition to grade point average and SAT scores, internships should be seriously considered by college admission officers, who express concern about the “inability of incoming students to succeed at the university level.”
Dr. Glading’s recipe for an effective internship requires adult mentors in both academic and workplace settings. Objectives include independent learning, time management and becoming part of a “learning community outside of the classroom.”
He cites the acclaimed WISE Services (Westchester’s Pioneers in Individual Senior Experience) for its central role in refining the internship model, and notes that its founder, Vic Leviatin, who originated the program in 1972 at Woodlands High in Hartsdale, travels the country helping schools “in the establishment of senior alternative programs.”
still is on the case as a consultant.
Dr. Glading also advises parents that it’s wise to “stand alongside your child but do not get in the way.” Regardless of the grade your child is in, few graduation gifts will have more lifelong value than buying a copy of this book now and taking to heart its sage advice.
He further notes that “all adolescents need to develop a sense of autonomy and ability to deal with challenging situations.”
Worth repeating here are his “basic tenets of effective parenting”:
• Communicate with your child
• Listen to your child
• Find your place in your child’s world
• Do not be selfish with your time
• Respect your child’s opinion
• Stress the importance of family time
• Stress the importance of education
• Hold your child responsible
• Teach respect
• Allow your child to gain independence and autonomy
• Love your child