The Literacy Project - Orange, MA

Last week I was invited to visit the Orange, MA Literacy Project by one of the members of their Board of Directors, Amy McMahan. The Literacy Project offers free classes to adults in the Massachusetts Towns of Orange, Ware, Northampton, Greenfield, and Amherst in beginning literacy as well as GED preparation. Today, I spent two hours at the Orange, MA location visiting with Director, Cathy King. I also had the pleasure of meeting Haley, Kim, Dan, Alyssa, Jessica, Yaras, Jackie, and Cristal. These students were kind enough to sit and talk with me for about an hour about their experiences and opinions in and about high school.

When I first walked in I was curious about what a GED program looked like. Aside from those offered in the schools in which I have worked, this is the first one that I have seen. I wanted to know what their per pupil expenditure was, where funding came from, how much space they used, what their enrollment was, and how much they paid for the use of the space that they were in. I call these “administrative vitals.” I was curious to know how these figures differed from those that we work with in the day to day operation of the public school. I was provided nearly all of the information that I requested, and then so much more.

I learned that more than half of the 70 young adults enrolled in the Literacy Project (all five towns) are between the ages of 16 and 25. This percentage was more than reflected in the classroom that I visited, and I was a little surprised to learn that four students are over the age of 60. Most of the members of the Literacy Project found their way to the program by word of mouth and others were referred by schools or other state agencies. Administrators often refer to statistics such as these to bring attention to a subject – which is exactly what I am trying to do.

I am almost ashamed to say that in all of the time that I have been working at Mahar, that I never knew that there was a GED program on the same street as our school – just a mile away. After my visitation today, I could not help but think that I should have visited a long time ago. First of all, seven of the eight students who were taking class there today were high school aged. Second, no matter where these young adults went to school or what they were doing before they joined the Literacy Project they are people who are striving to better themselves through education and they are right here with us in the Town of Orange!

When I sat down I explained to the GED candidates that I had a hard time understanding what happens in between the time that first graders are literally climbing on their desks to get their teacher to call on them to answer a question and the time when teenagers that walk away from school entirely. What are schools doing wrong? What can we do different? How can we be better?

Some of the responses were easy. For instance one young lady felt that teachers could be a little bit more flexible, especially in understanding that students have challenges outside of school. “Things go on in life” she said. Using this as a basis for further discussion, I went around the room trying to get just a snapshot of their individual stories. For every issue that was presented around schooling, there was an issue that presented about the times when school is not in session.

For instance, I learned that one of the students changed schools eleven times in less than five years. Then another student told me that one of her administrators told her mother that she would never get a high school diploma. One of the students moved out of her home at the age of 16 prior to losing focus on school. And another told me that her teachers were judgmental of her and her life outside of school. When asked about playing sports, she said that she enjoyed one of them. Then after being kicked off of a team, she never went back. “Teachers should let us learn at our own pace, like we do here” one student remarked. Then another said, “School should be fun. I mean it doesn’t have to be like a dance and everything in lights. Just make it a cool place, you know?”

To answer your question Jessica, yes. I do know. What I hope that you know is that education is not only about how you say hello at the age of five or six (kindergarten), or how you say bye-bye at the age of 17 (graduation). It is a life-long process that you are in. Where you are today is only a Polaroid snapshot - and down the road you, your friends, me and everyone we know will have grown by what we learned along the way. Today, I was fortunate to have learned from you.