“Deirdre” missed roll call again

She skipped a lot of classes this year. Because this was her senior year and she had already been admitted to a state college, no one did much about this skipping. Teachers wrote the occasional referral. Deans talked to the girl. But in a school desperate to get students into any college, a school where entry into community college earns you a big blown-up poster on the hallway walls, Deirdre was a success story. Counselors talked to the girl. Teachers talked to the girl. She went her own way, regularly turning in late assignments in a school where the penalties for late work are minimal to nonexistent.

Eduhonesty: I’m hoping it all works out for Deirdre. She’s a smart girl and when the bar is raised, she may be able to adjust. She is going to be slammed up the side of the head by the academic requirements coming at her, though, and this girl has a poor work ethic. She was able to function in high school without a better one. Will she adapt in time? She will have to get herself up next year and will have to make it to class without nagging from concerned authority figures. She will have to make herself complete assignments on time.

Those big-money majors? I am guessing they are out of her reach. The rigorous demands for engineering and computer science majors are likely to be too big of a shock. If she survives college, she’ll probably end up in a social sciences major. We did not do right by this girl, but teachers knew better than to mess with this willful student. She had a lot of attitude and the administration loved Deirdre. She needed a firmer hand. Instead, the authority figures in her life endlessly told her not to do something she already knew she should not do anyway.

Let’s hope college works out better than I think it will.