The tragedy of life doesn`t lie in not reaching your goal

Posted by Bill Crane on
June 3, 2015 in DeKalb
News, Editorials/Opinions
“The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no
goal to reach.” –educator and minister Dr. Benjamin E. Mays (1894-1984) and president of
Morehouse College from 1940-1967 as well as longtime mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Offering some free counsel for the next superintendent of our DeKalb County School
District, as our graduation rate hangs among the state’s lower tier, and the long recession
continues to cause many young men and women to believe they have no place in the
modern job market.
Since the dawn of the U.S. Industrial Revolution, and the little red schoolhouse gave way to
the “unified school district,” America has been standardizing, assembly lining and “one size
fits most” top-down structuring, and periodically re-structuring public education.
Despite massive public expenditure (six of every 10 state tax dollars in Georgia) for funding
primary education (K-12), our results remain mixed. Though there are systems, schools,
principals, teachers and PTAs that constantly strive for and achieve academic excellence,
more often the outcomes of a majority of our schools range from mediocre to average.
And as is often the case in the real world, inquisitive students, industrious parents and
gifted educators often find a new and successful path long before the masses get with the
program.
One of the latest innovations in pilot phases being offered in several Georgia schools and
schools systems is called YouScience. The initially web-based tutorial and counseling
program focuses on helping high school sophomores and juniors determine at an earlier
age how their own special skills, interests, hobbies and passions potentially match and
track best with a wide array of career paths.
We all know that children, as well as adults, learn better when they are engaged and
genuinely care about the material being presented.
This pilot initiative is also intended to deal with a significant Georgia economic and education challenge, work force readiness, while hopefully reducing student debt, improving job
prospects and better preparing thousands of Georgia high school graduates with skills that
employers are seeking, but not finding. Early adopters and pilot schools include the
Bremen City Schools and Marietta and Decatur high schools in metro Atlanta.
Created by a DeKalb County public schools and UGA grad, Philip Hardin, the YouScience
program focus has a very simple proposition: sooner or later, we all figure it out—who we are,
how we think, what we want to do with our lives. But what if you could do it faster?
Randall Redding, founder and CEO of R.K. Redding Construction and Georgia president of
the Associated General Contractors of America, is already a fan, and program cosponsor in
his local school district and spreading elsewhere a bit like Johnny Appleseed.
As the economy has started to more rapidly thaw, and heat has returned to the construction
space, Redding noted in his company as well as the industry, the surprisingly high number of
managers and supervisors in their 50s, nearer the sunsets of their careers, versus the sunrise. And yet with his industry clamoring for skilled craftsman, general contractors, HVAC and
electrical workers, open positions often remain unfilled.
“Instead of just talkin’ about it, I decided we had to do something about it. Our industry has a
stake in this too…as do dozens of communities like mine where employment opportunities
are there, but perhaps in areas, trades and professions not as well known to most students,”
explained Redding during a recent Georgia State Senate hearing on work force readiness.
“We have three simple objectives—give students real-time information about what they do
well, broaden their vision and understanding of existing employment opportunities and
career paths and begin an informed dialogue with parents, at an earlier juncture, about the
avenues and options potentially best suited to their child,” offers Hardin.
Our eldest daughter had a childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist, and later a
small animals’ vet…but that all changed much later during her first high school animal dissection. She recently graduated magna cum laude from Auburn and is already happily employed
as a kindergarten teacher. She came to this chosen path during her high school senior year,
after no small amount of anxiety and internal debate. The result may have been the same,
but with some guidance and tutorials guiding her earlier along the way, I know she would
have gotten there sooner, and fortunately now, in at least a few hundred Georgia classrooms
and schools, there’s an app for that.
Bill Crane also serves as a political analyst and commentator for Channel 2’s Action News,
WSB-AM News/Talk 750 and now 95.5 FM, as well as a columnist for The Champion, Champion Free Press and Georgia Trend. Crane is a DeKalb native and business owner, living in
Scottdale. You can reach him or comment on a column at [email protected].