In an earlier post in response to the meme “Five Things I Would Change about Our School System,” one of the items on my list was the Running Start program. Running Start is an option that students have to take classes at the community college and earn college credits while still in high school. Some students are able to finish high school with both a diploma and an AA degree. Sounds good, right? So what is my problem?
While students have to pay for their own books and transportation, the tuition is paid fully by the state. Every dollar is a dollar that doesn’t go to the students’ respective high schools, so it is a financial drain on public education. I can just hear some people say, “If you want to keep those kids in high school, offer the classes and programs that will attract them.”
It’s not that simple. At my high school, we have the International Baccalaureate program. These are college level classes that challenge the intellect and offer potential college credit. For many of our Running Start students, IB or AP classes are too difficult. Instead, they take basic reading and writing, or biology, or chemistry, or whatever that is also offered at the high school. They don't leave because our high schools don't offer a good education; they leave for the free college credits.
It’s not just the money that runs away to Running Start, it is a core group of mid-to-high-level students who both set behavior and academic standards for the school. When there is an exodus of large numbers of these students, it actually changes the climate of the school. Who are left? The very high IB students in their IB classes. And the lower, more poorly achieving students mixed with a smaller than necessary core of "middle" kids.
I do understand that there are some students who simply need classes that aren’t available through the public school system. However, the number of students whose needs could not be met by an IB or AP program is very small.
I don’t take issue with high school students taking classes at the community college; I just have a problem, as a taxpayer, diverting the money from our public schools to pay for it. It is our responsibility as taxpayers to pay for education through high school, but it is NOT our responsibility to pay for college.
I apologize, I shouldn’t have used the word “bad” in my last response. I should have said that there are negative financial and social ramifications. Sorry!
Even our in-state colleges and universities do not accept Running Start credits for certain classes.
Beth, I’m very sympathetic regarding the social dramas and incompetent teachers that are found at high schools; I just don’t think that Running Start is the best option. I’d rather get rid of the incompetents and help your daughter find a way to navigate the social pitfalls. I’m not arguing that RS is bad for the kids; I’m arguing that it’s bad for the high schools and taxpayers.
PLUS, once that $$ goes to the CC, if the kid fails and comes back to their HS the same year, that money doesn’t come back with them.
I don’t think kids should be denied RS as an option, but it’s become an industry: in some cases they’re accused recruiting to fill their coffers, to an extent. It doesn’t cost those CCs $5000 to educate a running start student, but that’s how much they get. (There are fewer support services, no student interventions, etc.) Seven out of the ten kids I meet/know who go running start end up back at my school because they’ve failed a course or simply were not ready…and they’re records get messed up six ways to Tuesday.
I was just recently informed that Running Start Credits only apply if you stay and attend a university/college in Washington State. That other out of state universities do not accept these, yet they most often will accept AP credits from high schools. This came from someone that works at the Honors College at WSU. I am not sure if families know this, I was quite surprised.
My child is currently an RS student and loves it. She hated high school with all the drama and social cliques.
Her teachers (especially in the math and sciences) were inferior to the caliber of instruction she is currently receiving. Contrary to previous opinion, her classes are not “easier” than AP classes. She regularly has papers assigned from five to ten pages depending on the class,and the math is definitely college level.
The courses she has to take to fulfill her senior project are at least five times more time consuming than the average High School seniors. She had to take three extra class in addition to more than twenty hours of volunteer work on top of her regular course load.I know this because I sat on the judging panel for three years and evaluated more “senior projects” than I care to remember.
As far as money goes, over five thousand dollars of our tax money is allocated per student per year. As a parent and a taxpayer, I consider this re-allocation money well spent! And yes, we will now have enough money saved to help her graduate from college with more than a bachelors degree.
Thanks, Kristin, for helping make the point that we can’t fund college at the expense of high schools. Brian, I think that you’ve brought up an great discussion point. Maybe we should, as a society, talk about publically funding colleges and universities. In places in Europe, higher education is free. However, it’s highly competitive and restrictive, which actually strengthens the idea of a plutocracy. If higher education is completely funded by the state and open to everyone, then it becomes a part of the public education system and not competition for it. It’s definitely worth talking about.
Brian, I’d fully support paying for community college tuitions if the state fully supported public education, but they don’t. I see Kim’s point that to divert funds from a high school towards community college reduces an already insufficient purse.
I’d even be willing to pay more taxes so that students had access to free AA degrees. If we’re really talking about “college ready,” I think we need to take into consideration the obstacle college tuition presents to kids.
And, since the ability to be successful in school requires a deeply-ingrained set of organizational skills, passed down from parents to kids, I think we would be smart to start creating a first-generation class of well-educated parents.
Neither of my sons did Running Start, but they could have. Some of my friends’ children did. The difference in expense to get a Bachelor’s degree is significant: many thousands of dollars. The free tuition is an enormous boon to many families.
You say it is not our responsibility to pay for college.
What if it were?
Would that be bad?
Wouldn’t that really level the playing field?
Wouldn’t that help create a meritocracy out of the plutocracy we live in?
I also have some issues with Running Start, partly in the way it is marketed to kids. Many kids who tell me “I’m going to Running Start next year” have yet to prove their work ethic and ability to take initiative and manage their own education in the building. The entrance exam for ours is quite easy–one of my students who was earning a D or C- in my English class, was served in reading and writing by special services, passed the entrance exam and wanted to go to RS. Every year, we have RS kids who come back to our building after having failed courses there, and thus are in a credit (and GPA) mess.
Running Start definitely should still be an option, but you make a good point about the money issue.
Hmmm, I like your final line. I was ready to disagree a little until I read that. I guess I agree with you that it’s not our responsibility to pay for college, especially since the kids at my high school who do running start are not kids who need financial assistance to get through college.
You know what I’d really like to see? More collaboration between the community colleges and high schools. I’d love to trade places for a year and teach older students. I’d love for there to be a thinner membrane between higher education and secondary education. Would that create nightmares on Prom night? Maybe.
There are only a few students who participate in running start at my school – not enough to impact that middle core of hard workers. And you’re right, they aren’t the top students, they do take easier classes at the college than they would in the IB program.
At my high school (and by that I mean the one at which I was a student), an instructor from the community college came and taught us political science for college credit. I earned college credit, for free, and I assume he was paid as a .2 teacher. I wonder if that’s a workable alternative? It keeps the kids at school, it offers more options so that more kids are interested, and it allows college instructors to work with high school teachers.