Personal Struggles Block Success
Students in our problem high schools often lack the in-home resources required to become successful. These students fail for many reasons, but the common denominator in all their failures is that they are bound by their own inner-struggles. At-risk students bring these struggles with them to school each morning, acting out anger, sadness, disappointment, and despair in their relationships with teachers and other students. Such emotional baggage blocks their ability to learn, create, make wise choices, and rise to the challenges of education. Few students can overcome these obstacles alone, and simply teaching students about good character overlooks the real problem. Students need adult help as they deal with the issues of the heart.
Demographics
Stratford High is a school of mixed ethnicity. Its student body is 72% African American, 19% Caucasian, and 9% other ethnicities. Students attending Stratford face the daily problems common to poverty, broken families, and a broken community. 70% of Stratford students live in subsidized housing and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. 92% are classified as “economically disadvantaged” by the State of Tennessee. Many of the students come from broken families and live in broken neighborhoods. Their parents are divorced or were never married. Too often fathers are absent, uninvolved, incarcerated, addicted, or abusive. Siblings are involved in criminal or addictive activities. Stratford students may live with extended family, or they may move from household to household, sleeping on the couch wherever they land. They live in dangerous, often gang-controlled, neighborhoods where violence is the norm and criminal activity is encouraged, even by adults. All of these negative forces push them toward failure as students and citizens. In 2004, when CiViL Groups came to Stratford, 38% of students who entered Stratford as freshmen actually graduated. Of those who do graduate, many are the first in their families to do so.