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WP2Draft.docxCoronavirus prompts Manchester to rethink the merger between Memorial High and Manchester School of Technology
Name ：Aubrey Patrick
As a student, I have seen and experienced a lot of the struggles the Coronavirus pandemic has brought onto schooling. Although this pandemic has been seen to have large negative effect on education, it has allowed for some positive action on the system to take place in Manchester.
As a low-income community with a large population of minorities this pandemic has given the opportunity for the city as a whole to stand back and re-evaluate the organization of its high schools. Most notably, the idea to merge Memorial High and Manchester School of Technology (MST). This topic has been toggled around for years now.
By merging Memorial and MST, the large demographic of students from low income families who are not looking at college as an option will have the ability to graduate with proficient skills to enter the work force.
As a former student in this community, I have had the chance to experience student life at Memorial High School and to tour MST. I would have to say that the student life is much more inclusive, and the learning environment is hands on and exiting at MST, versus the more conventional schooling approach at Memorial High. In fact, a lot of times, students at Memorial tend to be less motivated to go to school or put effort into class because it is geared towards preparing for a college education, which many of them will not have the opportunity to recieve. By merging with MST, these students will have the ability to gain useful skills based on their interests that will prepare them for work in the real world.
MST, as a CTE school includes many programs including a fully functional restaurant, hair salon, daycare, and even a mechanic shop, where students have the ability to interact with real people and gain real world experience to give them a competitive edge when looking to enter the workforce.
Photos from the Manchester School of Technology Instagram and Webpage
In addition, the school provides common curriculum in order to prepare those students who are looking to further their education for college. This has proved to be very successful, as the graduation rate is roughly 81% in 4 years and 96% in 5 years, with a daily attendance rate of 95%. At Memorial, the graduation rate is a striking 78% with a daily attendance rate of approximately 85% which could be greatly aided with a merge.
The enrollment rate of Memorial High school has also been steadily declining over the past two decades, while MST, as a newer school has had a consistent growth in enrollment with the appeal of a new method to education. With the merger, the school would have more funding to expand their programs to continue and increase enrollment, and the success rate among more teens in the community would increase as a result.
Charts taken from the NH Department of Education website
It has been argued that this merger will take a lot of time and effort to create a smooth transition, and although this will take time, there is no time better than the present with school being out for the remainder of this year to begin to make plans for the merger. I know that there is a lot a hesitance within the community to go through with this because of the work and money that it involves, including a dramatic expansion in class size at MST, but this could be a new solution to helping the large population of teens deemed “at-risk” by their demographics to exit high school on the path to a successful career rather than a criminal record.
It is time for the community to come together and vote to merge these two schools together. The school board has realized that it is time for change, and so I prompt the community to welcome and support this change with open arms, as this can drastically improve the future of thousands of teens to come.
The coronavirus has been hard on everyone, so why not take this time to work on making positive changes within the community and its education system by working to merge Memorial and MST. This change is not going to be a quick one, it will take time, but the sooner we start, the sooner it will happen and the more lives we will be able to transform within the community.
Source Links:
https://cdn.manchesterinklink.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/D_student_aircraft_build.jpg
https://mst.mansd.org/school-info/about-mst
