Do High Schools Prepare *All* Kids For College?
No
Photo by Shubham Sharan on Unsplash
Ian’s friend is currently taking advanced math and probability classes at New Jersey’s best technical college. Smart kid, right? In high school, they wouldn’t let him out of special education. They wouldn’t let him take a general education math class or science class. He was kept in a basement room doing math alongside kids, who were struggling with long division. Why? Because he had autism.
Ian’s friend, who will remain nameless here, had a really mild case of autism, just some speech and communication difficulties. A speech impediment and physical differences, combined with a thick Indian accent, probably made teachers think he had an intellectual disability. (Hello! Better professional development on autism, please!) So, he got put in the basement classroom, where all kids with IEPs are never challenged, held back by IDEA expectations.
Straight up (as my son, Jonah, says), few kids with a high school diploma are ready for a competitive college, even in my fancy suburb. Most parents aren’t aware than a “college prep” course prepares kids for a community college, not a traditional college. Typically, student need honors level classes to thrive at a competitive college. Most students, who are placed in classes below the “college prep” level, are not adequately prepared for community college.
Community college do not educate everyone. They have entry exams and expectations about student preparation. Some schools offer test waivers for students with SAT scores of 1030 or above, but for some kids that 500 in English is a tough hurdle.
How many parents know about that testing requirement? Is it included as a goal in IEPs? Do high schools prepare students for that exam? Probably no to all of the above.
Many autistic kids have strong math skills but poor English skills. But colleges expect that students can do both. You cannot get an Associates degree in math without taking two classes in the humanities or social studies. I know many autistic students, who got through college by having their moms ghost write their papers.
Yes, community colleges have remedial classes that are supposed to bring up students’ skills in math and reading, but those classes are notorious roach motels. Students check in, but they don’t check out.
College is really important for all students, but especially for students on the autistic spectrum. Their physical limitations, social skills problems, and lack of a drivers’ license make them unsuitable for the traditional trades, retail work, and other low wage jobs. They need a college degree to get a cubicle job where they will thrive.
Even taking autism out of the picture, we know that high schools aren’t preparing students for college. It takes most students — around 60% — six years to graduate from college. Only 45% of students at a four-year college finish in four years. Less than 1/3 of all students at a two-year community college finish in three years.
If high schools aren’t preparing students to be successful in college, then what alternatives are there. Trade schools. Your milage may vary, but around here, the trade schools are set up for young people with mild learning disabilities. They are not appropriate for the complex problems of the autism community like anxiety, OCD, social vulnerability. Students with physical differences might struggle, too.
For those who can’t hack community college or trade schools, the state provides some training programs of various quality. But there are a lot of young people who do nothing after high school. Yes, nothing.
“Nothing” is a weird thing for people like us, who lead very busy lives. I never have “nothing” to do. But that’s the norm for the autism community. 85 percent of adults on the autistic community is not employed.
The good news is that more and more options are opening up in higher education. I’m setting up a venture providing that information about higher education to parents. Parents have to become more aware of the expectations in colleges and insure their child’s IEP includes higher education goals. Parents need to demand that high schools provide realistic transition goals in the IEP.
But even when high schools fail, all is not lost. Sometimes students like ours need a couple more years to mature after high school. Community colleges can be a great place to build up skills, which was how Ian’s friend succeeded. After high school, he took all those classes that he was denied in high school — calculus, physics, chemistry — and then went on to thrive at a technical college.
Our kids can reach their goals, but they might take an untraditional pathway to get there.
LINKS
Last week, on my main newsletter, I wrote “Harvard Doesn’t Matter.”
Last week, we took Ian and some autistic boys to a vintage video game joint and dinner. I loved this Instagram Reel by an autistic comic.
The growth mindset problem: A generation of schoolchildren is being exhorted to believe in their brain’s elasticity. Does it really help them learn?
As Enrollment Declines, Districts Consider Closing Schools
Personal: Last weekend, we were grounded as Ian was all hooked up with electrodes for a 48-hour EEG. But we still kept busy. Pictures and words on the blog.
Travel: We went to NYC to visit the Tenement Museum. Pictures here.
Picture: Ian at his internship at Best Buy. Internships are important, folks!
Hi Laura,
I enjoy reading your blog posts and agree with most of your recommendations. I'm writing because I strongly disagree with the following paragraph in your recent post:
"College is really important for all students, but especially for students on the autistic spectrum. Their physical limitations, social skills problems, and lack of a drivers’ license make them unsuitable for the traditional trades, retail work, and other low wage jobs. They need a college degree to get a cubicle job where they will thrive."
Not all individuals with autism want to go to college or would benefit from going. Our son, Mark never wanted to go to college. If he had we would have supported him and helped him find the right school. A college degree, depending on the individual's strengths and challenges, doesn't always change the job outlook. I know a good number of individuals with autism and other special needs who ended up in the same entry level jobs after attending a specialized college.
In terms of work environments, I know many individuals, including my son, who thrive in retail stores. Mark needs to move and has a stocking job at a hardware store where he logs over 10,000 steps each work day. He would feel trapped in a cubicle. Not everyone wants to sit all day in a cubicle and be left alone.
While social skills are challenging for Mark, a retail environment gives him an opportunity to interact with and assist customers, as well as answer the phone from time to time. In all of these interactions, he is the knowledge bearer and can demonstrate his skills and competency. When community members interact with individuals on the spectrum and with other disabilities and see their competency and value, the more they learn to value DEI.
So bottom line, I think you made a broad generalization that does not apply to many individuals on the spectrum.
Thank you for discussing the issue of all kids with IEPs being stuck in day classes with very low expectations. When our school district initially assessed my older son in 5th grade, they told us he had a near genius IQ. He struggled with math a bit, but they said he was able to do 10th grade work in English. At first, he was in a mainstream class with a pullout for social skills. By the end of the year, they were pushing hard for him to go to special ed the following year. He wasn’t having academic problems; he was having anxiety and depression. When it was too overwhelming, he left class and went to his speech teacher, who he trusted. He spent 6th-12th grade in day class, ultimately dropping out and passing the GED.
An issue both my kids faced was that they were smart enough for honors classes, but couldn’t handle the work load. My oldest couldn’t handle the number of students in mainstream classes. Our district is very weak in inclusion programs and accommodations, preferring to have kids in day class or mainstream. There is RSP, but that doesn’t help for non-academic problems.
One thing that has been different from your experience is community college. When my son dropped out, he enrolled immediately. They didn’t need SAT scores or a high school diploma. They tested him, and as usual his math was weak, so they put him in a remedial class. There was also a lab and a study group.
My other son is in his third year of community college. He only had speech & socialization services in school. It is taking him longer because he changed majors, takes extra classes for additional AA degrees, and he also works to help support himself. He will transfer to a State University this fall. Our community colleges have a lot of supports for students with disabilities, and they are easy to get. I agree that we need even more variety offered, though. Most work training programs are designed for people with intellectual disabilities.