Sophomoric Year

Sophomore year in college was when, for the first time in almost twenty years of formal education, I got my first grade below a B. This was rather late in the normal scheme of things, since this often happens when a student is a sophomore in high school. Hence, the word "sophomoric", which means you think you know it all when, in reality, you don't know nothin! You may wonder why they even use the word "sophomore" to describe the second year of high school or post secondary study. From personal experience, I believe it must have stemmed from teacher observations of their students dating from when Socrates lectured young people under the cypress trees. (In his case, they may have been hemlock!)
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (PHEW!) reports that high school dropout rates increase as grade level increases. When I was a school counselor, I frequently saw an uptick sophomore year when students turned 16 and could legally drop out. It is so important for students to have a goal towards which a high school diploma is a necessary step. IES reports that in 2006-7, over 600,000 high school students out of around 14 million dropped out. That's definitely a dead end, especially in these economic times.
Since high school sophomores are often sophomoric, they usually don't see the link between current courses and a career. It is especially important at this time to flesh out a dream and keep it alive. Career interests should be identified and they should be explored through high school course selection. Career Days and College Fairs should not exclude underclassmen in an attempt to focus on juniors and seniors trying to decide on a college/major.
Since many sophomores won't be old enough for summer jobs, this is the perfect summer for exploration through a pre-college program. As I've mentioned previously, I've used and like Peterson's Summer Programs for Kids and Teenagers. Another that might be of interest is the Kaplan Yale Daily News Guide to Summer Program .
If you have a specific college in mind, see if it offers any pre-college summer programs. Many do. Check the school's website. Websites are especially good resources, as they are usually current. Two that I like are: http://www.studenteducationprogram.com/precollege.html and http://www.bc.edu/sites/genpulse/pass/summer_pulse.htmlThis last one is out of Boston College and lists sources of information on summer programs with descriptions.
This post was long enough to make up for missing last week!!!