Entry Two - Counter Argument

Part one

After I researched the counter argument, I found that there was note very much information on career academies at all. Because of my conference, I was able to switch my topic to Alternative education options. This was a very big change, not only because it broadened my topic, making it easier to find information, and shape my paper into something more sectional, but it also made it much easier to research. Because there are so many alternative options, I have to choose which ones I would like to explore. These may include, but are not limited to: Running start, CEO, career academies, alternative high schools, schools for the visual and performing arts, boarding schools, charter schools, home school systems, and technical training programs. 

Because I have so many options, I can choose to graze over many of them, or go in depth for a few of them. No matter what, I have more options to explore than I did before I wrote my counter argument.

My point for my counter argument is that teenagers already have high school available to them, so it does not make sense that we spend money on programs for these students. It is a very valid point. High school students already have an education opportunity available to them, but high school is not something that works for everyone. The majority of students that go through high school have struggles. Only around 75 percent of students in the united states graduated high school in 2008. There is obviously some gap in the education system, and we need to figure out how to plug this hole.

Part two

I got an article titled “Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges” on Ebscohost, a database available at Bellevue College. This was written by the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. This board is made up of nine people selected by the governor to provide leadership and coordination for Washington state’s community and technical colleges. In this report, the board explains the statistics provided for Running Start students. All 34 community and technical colleges in Washington state offer Running Start. The percentage of high school students that take advantage of this opportunity is 10%. On average, students involved in Running Start that went to the University of Washington earned a higher GPA than students who didn’t participate in Running Start.

This raised many questions for me. I am wondering if it is a good idea to just focus on Washington state in my paper, because that’s the only state I could find information on for Running Start. The CEO program is also only offered in Washington state too. I wouldn’t be able to use my information on career academies, but because there isn’t a lot of information on them anyway, it wouldn’t completely hinder me.