Every year over Christmas Break, I interview Brandywine graduates who have been in college for at least a couple years.

We do this to find out what we can do to prepare them better for life after high school. We also want to know what we’ve done right to make their adjustment to college, work or military service smoother.

They mention classes and subjects often, but sometimes they talk about school in general.

This year, one student shared that Brandywine was a place where people cared about him, and that really helped as he started college.

Another guy said, “There’s this good feeling you get at Brandywine.”

When asked what skills or classes helped her the most, a girl simply replied, “I learned good people skills.”

The guys and the girl I’m quoting are probably 20 years old. The skills they mentioned — how to care and how to get along with people — can seldom ever come from a lesson plan or a curriculum or a set of learning standards that the state and federal government require us to test kids on annually.

These people and caring skills come from working with teachers and getting along with fellow students. You do learn these lifelong skills in schools.

You also cannot know what these graduates told me by looking at test scores or report card grades. You need to talk to them.

Oh, academic skills are vital — the graduates have told me for several years that college is hard.

They mention particularly the amount of writing and studying they have to do. I ask them what advice they’d give to present-day high schoolers, and “study harder” gets repeated often.

But it’s encouraging to know that the school’s climate and culture — a caring, positive, people-oriented place — gets credit, too.

 

John Jarpe is the superintendent of Brandywine Community Schools. He can be reached at (269) 684- 7150.