Film+Annotation+9

Allison Mrugal 11/28/15 Film Annotation 9: Dropout Nation Sust. Ed., 4280-01 Prof. Fortun

Prompt: Watch [|Dropout Nation](75 minutes) then describe why kids drop out, and how the teachers portrayed in the film try to help. Note that a school featured in the film (Sharpstown) is in Houston... a different part of of the city than the part hemmed in by chemical plants (see the work of [|TEJAS]), but rough in a different way. Also describe four interventions that you can imagine, at least two involving environmental education.

Alternatively, watch this film about a high school in the DC area -- with a sad ending. [|180 Days: A Year Inside An American Public School] (DC Met) (2 hours) [|Tweets about 180 Days]

Response: Dropout Nation shows the struggle of faculty and staff to follow and help four at-risk students in one Houston high school, Sharpstown High. To prevent them from dropping out, a community of support, including teachers, the principle, data analysts, and the superintendent, introduce formal and informal programs. Each of these initiatives begins by understanding the struggles that the students face that influence their decision to dropout.

Identified, at-risk students dropout for numerous reasons. Because Houston is a growing city (the third largest in the nation), areas within the city suffer from poverty. Many students are not afforded proper food or family time, which includes proper moral support. Whether a student has two parents, a single parent or relative, or no relatives, he or she worries about their situation at home while at school. While relatives may be preoccupied trying to make money for the family—whether this be legally or illegally—or are suffering from alcohol and drug abuse, children and teenagers struggle to focus at school. Outside of school, they are often forced to supplement their family income by working minimum wage jobs. Importantly, many of these students do not have proper role models and structure in their home life which shapes their habits, attitude, and behavior.

Although students in these situations vocalize that school bores them and that it does not satisfy their needs, at Sharpstown, a whole support system was involved in helping these students graduate. Specifically, the teachers portrayed in the film reached out to these students personally. They pulled them aside and spoke with them in their office. They asked about their situation at home and exchanged personal information including their cellphone numbers. Teachers would text and call students to remind and encourage them to attend school and picked students up in their own cars to bring them to school or provide them with food. One teacher even allowed a student to stay in her home for a short period of time to help instill in him structure and support. At the heart of the Apollo 20 program, teachers best related to kids and told them how to succeed.

The following interventions could help at-risk students who are influenced by poverty:
 * 1) Provide a class that asks students to get involved in a community organization in their town. Students could conduct this service learning in a portion of the school day and be overseen by eligible employees or volunteers at the organization. While teachers cannot develop long-lasting, personal relationships with all of their students, students can benefit from service learning by meeting passionate, productive people (and potentially mentors) in their community. Students can learn to develop longer lasting relationships with these people, should they choose to volunteer or work with the organization past graduation. Having students participate in these programs would reverse the countless situations mentioned in the film, where teachers at Sharpstown High felt they were the only ones giving in their relationships with at-risk students. Through this, students would feel good and proactive in helping others, ultimately recognizing that they need to help themselves in the same way.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Allow students the option of taking either a quarter or semester off of school to participate in an internship or work environment could help them recognize the importance of education. Since most kids who drop out of high school just want to know what it is like to do what they want, rather than what it takes to get there, an environment that lets them do just that would allow them to fail in a safe environment, before they try to go out on their own (without their high school diploma). Since many college students say that they learn more from an internship or from shadowing someone in the work place than they do in traditional educational settings, providing that situation for students in schools like Sharpstown could motivate them to graduate high school and work afterwards.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Ask high school students to teach younger students in elementary or middle schools about the earth and sustainability. Despite having little knowledge of it, this program would give high school students a sense of responsibility in preparing questions and lessons for their younger counterparts. Just as Marco in the film graduated from high school to set an example for his younger sister, this program could influence high school and elementary school students to become stewards of their surrounding environment or to be more conscious of their everyday actions, together.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Implement a course or unit of study in the high school curriculum that allows students to choose a topic that relates to sustainability to research. This project would encourage students to see how the environment is connected to their everyday thoughts and actions and to spark their interest in the environment in a self-guided manner. After researching (which is somewhat flexible and can be done in the classroom or in an independent setting), students would present their topic to the class and share their research with a member of the community. Sharing the information with the class would help students educate each other on issues concerning sustainability; sharing their finding with the community could help show students how to reach out in their community and be heard.