Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Bargains and Outliers

Haley Scholar Reading Groups 

The “Marita’s Bargain” chapter focuses on a leading college-prep school, the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) in a struggling community in New York City. Gladwell gives special attention to one of the students, Marita, and the considerable effort and sacrifices she must make in order to do well at the school. She must rise early and study late into the night

Gladwell argues that KIPP “has succeeded by taking the idea of cultural legacies seriously.” That means that a tradition like summer vacation is replaced with year-round schooling, and the times that the school day begins and ends changes as well as how students are instructed to pay attention in class. And, a student like Marita is given more of a “chance” when someone brings “a little bit of the rice paddy to the South Bronx” and explains “the miracle of meaningful work.”

KIPP Academies seem to have tremendous success assisting young people from poor, neglected environments make it to college. But, what might a KIPP Academy at the collegiate level look like? Perhaps that’s what our activities with the Haley Scholars Academy are all about. So what KIPP-like strategies do you think would be most important for a large group of us to adopt in order to ensure that larger numbers of students at the university attain academic and professional success?

Or, what kinds of “bargains” should the university or specific programs like the Haley Scholars Academy create to make opportunities for collegiate success available to more and more students here?

21 comments:

Ashley R. said...

With the large group of us in the Haley Scholars Academy, it is important that we have certain activities to ensure success. A KIPP-like strategy that could help us attain success would be regulating grades during the semester. If students had to maintain a certain GPA throughout the semester, and not just at the end, then we could have more success. It would keep students in check and make sure that they are working towards their goals and keeping up with Haley Scholar standards.

Stephanie M said...

A KIPP Academy at the college level would be really intense on its students, faculty and staff and would most likely rival Ivy League schools in prestige. These upper level colleges would have Saturday as a regular day in the curriculum and the line at Starbucks would be much longer than it is now. The students that attend the KIPP Academy at the college level would be coveted amongst many large and important world organizations.

Cara C. said...

While reading about the KIPP programs in the book, it seemed quite difficult, but it also showed how successful the program is. By working hard you really can achieve anything. Here at SIUE, I think promoting hard work would be a good idea to get students to do better in class. Everyone wants to do well in school, but not always willing to put in the work in order to do so. Maybe some incentives could be offered up for hardwork besides just recieving a good grade.

Evan Lawler said...

I think that it is different at college level because most students already change the way they do things, change their normal habits in order to succeed. When they used to maybe never go to the library to study, now the library has become an everyday stop. Students at college level I feel are more likely to change their ways because their drive to succeed and gain knowledge is stronger.

Zoe Ramirez said...

I think one of the strategies the the Haley Scholars Academy should adapt is that they made sure the children paid attention. But being in a college it's the students responsibility. But the students could be from a completely different area then where the college is located. They may have a hard time adjusting to living a certain way and I really do think that adjusting can be hard on certain people. Moving from a huge city to a small town does make a huge difference in the way that people live and can affect how they study and work. I think maybe the Haley Scholar Association should try to establish actual relationships with the people that they give their scholarships to so that they can help them when they need help since they might really need it.

Anonymous said...

I think that they should not just check overall GPA at the end of the semester for Haley scholars. Maybe have updates throughout the semester and activities to help study and such rather than just posts. I like the book idea though.
`ashley garrett

Sandy Pham said...

The Haley Scholars Academy could consider adopting a GPA check throughout the school year. Grades could be checked in order to keep the scholarship and that would ensure students to maintain their grades all of the time instead of just towards the end of the year. Also, if the group events could be more of an academic gathering instead of soley answering questions, the scholars could feel like academics is truly important to the academy.

Beau Butzirus said...

A KIPP Academy at the collegiate level would not be too much different than how college is already. I think that students would take many more classes than they already do and have a stricter GPA requirement, too encourage studying and becoming a better student academically. Many college students already push themselves past their comfort limits, in order to stand out against others who are in the same career path as themselves. KIPP students put their schooling first and social life second, which many college students do not do. SIUE should reward students with high GPA’s with scholarships and other incentives. That way students that already succeed academically feel as if it is worth the time and effort and students who struggle academically have something as a reward if they push themselves to succeed.

Megan L. said...

I think it would be harder to introduce the KIPP strategy because the way college works is different than a high school. Students are not in school all day and have to juggle other responsibilities, like jobs for example, that other younger students do not need to worry about. College life is also about learning how to balance the freedoms with the responsibilities. Some ways we could maybe include some strategies is that we could include Saturdays as a regular curriculum day and possibly lengthen class time. Other then that the base KIPP strategies do not seem to work well with college life

Charris Wells said...

I believe that most students at the college level are already driven, for the most part, to work hard in order to succeed in this world. A KIPP program at the college level would serve as reinforcement of those ideas rather than initiating them. However, a KIPP program could still be very helpful to the success of some students.

Dylan P said...

A good way of ensuring success is to encourage students to succeed. For example, giving benefits to scholars and students who go above and beyond expectations. Yet, from my understanding, the KIPP program sounds very intense to implement. It will have to be integrated into the educational system over the course of several years. But, the primary factor is to motivate students instead of giving handouts.

Charlene Y. said...

GPA should be checked more often, to motivate students to maintain a good GPA. Maybe, the GPA should also be raised a little bit to motivate students to study more. Also, a more variety of activities could expose us to a variety of diverse things. Answering questions helps us think, but changing it up once in a while could help us.

Vanessa C. said...

College is an option. One is given the chance to make the choice of whether they want to further their education or not. A KIPP Academy at the collegiate level would most likely be a way to help those high school graduates who WANT to attend college but can't quite afford it. The Haley Johnetta scholar were selected FROM their success in high school. Perhaps, if we did more activities than what we do now and were more...pressured it would be a like the KIPP Academy which sounds rather tough.

Martin G said...

I find that in order to achieve, and then maintain, a high level of success a KIPP strategy that could work would be the regulation of marks received that would have a minimum requirement. Many students need guidance in order to know which direction is best for them as individuals. So as Haley Scholars, by giving us a minimum grade to balance, we are pushed to maintain a certain level of success that in the long run helps us to better ourselves and better our community.

Tiara Y. said...

I think that college is too fast paced for something such as the KIPP program. College differs from high school, there is no one forcing you to go to class and the teachers are not constantly reminding you of assignments that are due or anything like that. Not to say that this program would be counter productive but it would function differently in college.

GF said...

The Haley Scholars Program needs to create an atmosphere of "24 hour" learning at SIUE. A lot of students think of learning as a classroom activity. However, learning is a lifetime event. If we incorporated the KIPP Academy into our curriculum, we would have a more realistic achievement level needed in higher education.

Brenda W. said...

I feel KIPP Academy strategies at the collegiate level would be really intense. College is intense as is and that type of curriculum could really send students over the edge. Although I feel it would be a great way to weed out kids who really do not belong or are ready for collegiate level work, I feel it is unfair seeing as students come from a variety of feeder schools who do not prepare students. I feel universities can introduce KIPP like strategies at a certain pace. The idea of regulating grades throughout the semester is a great way to start.

Ridge Lin said...

I believe the SIUE system is effective and has been effective, but the people need to learn how to utilize it more or else they will fail. Its is the students fault, not the systems, from them to be given bad grades. Resources are available throughout campus, so there should be no reason why anyone should not succeed. If a program is intense, work harder, plain and simple. I believe the people who do not do well dug a hole for themselves.

Robin Huang said...

The diversity in the Haley Scholarship Academy is very broad with regards both race and academia. I think that by offering ways for all of us to get together and help each other would be very beneficial. Also, we could have events were we can get together just to share cultures, as a way to get to know each other and feel like we are part of a group. One of the important things about success is have a group of people who understand where you are coming from and are willing to help you. By having a support group and branches of people who can help you study or learn a difficult topic, it would be easier for a student of the Haley Scholarship Academy to go farther and reach higher goals.
In addition, having a way to pay for schooling is very important. A lot of the scholarship receivers are not the wealthiest students on campus and it with jobs at SIUE difficult to get, it is hard to find a way to pay for education. If the Academy were able to provide a way for students to pay for their tuition, a lot of the stress would be relieved and more focus could be put towards learning. I think that all of these are important and are ways to help a student to succeed.

Minh Nguyen said...

Some KIPP strategies I think would be most imporant for a large group for us to adopt is mandatory study sessions. When you have someone who enforces study sessions, they will have to study. By studying, they will do well in their classes an earn high grades. I think everyone at SIUE wants a 4.0 gpa and a lot of students I know strive for it. By enforcing study sessions, it will give student a opporunity to earn the grades they want. I know that the Haley Scholars scholarship has standards that students must upkeep and if study sessions were added. It will benefit students even more. Though it might be a hassle and some students would not like it. But in the long run it will really help out.

Christina R. said...

Perhaps the group could put in more hours of community service as a requirement to stay in the Haley Scholars Academy. Maybe another requirement should be that it must relate somehow to whatever field you're studying in. This will help us both academically and professionally!