As I walked into class, I realized I did not know anyone. I found the seat closest to the back next to another boy, named Jacob. Jacob looked a little tired and wore all black as a I now know is a form of expression. I introduced myself to him and after I broke through his mumbling, we became quite interested. The teacher asked people to find a partner, and familiarize yourself with that person and be ready to present your new found friend at the end of class. In that five minutes, I found out that Jacob was doing manual labor for his dad’s construction company, he is only guaranteed the one meal a day – and that’s the one they provide at school, his grades are failing because of the late hours he spends with his dad and he is considering dropping out because he cannot keep up with the demands his teachers are placing on him. In my mind, I thought there has to be a better system for kids like Jacob. My high school can provide a service to Jacob, they see his grades are falling, he has no desire to be in school and he has a job that probably pays him more than sitting in class because the state requires he be in attendance. Although we have programs in the district that service kids like Jacob, he will never qualify because his grades or behavior prevented him from making the cut in the application process.

The issue as I see it is, we need to use some high schools to magnet kids like Jacob, so if they cannot be successful in the classroom they can and will be successful at a trade. We have been brought up to recognize that all kids need the three R’s; however, we are feeding a failing system. Although the majority of the students will benefit from classes such as Trigonometry and Statistics, some kids will only need and use the basics in their lifetime. So, let’s recognize those kids before they get to the dropout point and let’s get them into a program funded by the government.

This system is broken and needs to be remediated. If all kids who are unsuccessful learn a trade, this will keep them from robbing our banks, abusing their spouses – let’s face it most fights start with money, joining gangs and tagging our streets. If we can fill their time with a job and money to supplement, they will be too tired to get into mischief and the money will suffice some of the other problems that will trickle down. Let’s stop spending money on prisoners and dump it into education.

The trade schools requirements will not be based on grades, behavior or simply “who you know,” but will be based on the student’s at-risk status. The school will only go half day and require the students work the other half for an internship or minimum wage, with the opportunity to be employed once they are finish working for that company. They must meet with a career counselor and understand the benefits of their choices and what steps they would take down the line if they decided they wanted to further their education and/or attend college at a later date. There would also be built in field trips, like they take all the A students on, these field trips will be to construction sites, automotive shops, welding sites and businesses, such as Home Depot, Lowes and McCoys. Partnerships will be built with these companies and they will contribute financially to the improvement of our educational system because they know the true benefits.

Jacob needs our help and my school wants to help him, but this is a national problem. My school needs support and “no-child left behind” has some flaws. So as I stood up to present Jacob, I turned everything he said into a positive and the introduction went something like this. “Hello world, this is Jacob and although tired and hungry, he is working to build a better America and needs your help, thank you.”