Today my students and I traveled to Wilmington to visit the campus of UNC-Wilmington. I must admit that I was extremely impressed by everything the school had to offer. There were tons of amazing resources on campus- from their student center, to the building that housed their School of Education, to the 14 dining locations on campus (so they’ll never be hungry in college- LOL).
During the tour and our lunch I talked with students to gauge their feelings about the campus. Unfortunately, most of them felt that it was “too different” for them.
All of this led me to wonder- what good is equal opportunity without equal desire? Now this is not to say that my students don’t want to go to college- they do. But I struggle to understand why they would want to be in an environment that is so much like where they come from for their 4 years of college. How can you grow if you’re always surrounded by what’s similar/familiar?
As a teacher/counselor, how do I push my students to consider the many options that are available to them?
And seriously- what good is the equal opportunity they have if they don’t want it/desire it?
life beyond the well... 
November 17, 2010 at 10:52 am
I tried to come up with something to say, but it all falls flat. This is quite a profound observation, and I will keep you in my prayers.
November 28, 2010 at 4:38 pm
“Hey Teacher Teacher, tell me how do you respond the students and refresh the page, and restart the memory, re-spark the soul and rebuild the energy?” – Kanye West
Interestingly enough, my daughter has her sights set on Spelman College although her grades of yet (11th grade) are good but not great. If not, I am pushing her towards University of North Carolina in two years, as I have a young relative headed to Duke next year.