I admit it, I love surfing the Internet. Clicking from link to link always feels like a game of “Chutes and Ladders” in the quest for information—even if I occasionally forget what I was looking for in the first place. Thankfully, I’m pretty sure with 1.25 billion people on the net right now, I’m not alone.
Which is why I was excited to learn that surfing the Internet is exactly what the Los Angeles Unified School District hopes will draw students back to school. According to the Los Angeles Times, popular (and highly surfable) sites like YouTube and MySpace will help L.A. Unified launch a large Internet campaign surrounding the website My Future, My Decision in hopes of retaining students, helping dropouts and providing alternative ways for them to succeed.
In 2006, more than one in every four of the district's roughly 200,000 high school students dropped out. Looks like the startling national data of almost one third of students dropping out annually holds true.
Through the campaign, educators will seek to attract teens to My Future, My Decision by posting student videos on YouTube, as well as testimonials from former dropouts on MySpace. The website will offer dropouts access to advisors, as well as resources for passing the California High School Exit Exam.
What better way to reach students than on the websites they spend their time most? From recent politics to the environment, we’ve seen the power of such social networking sites on students’ actions and habits.
I hope that L.A. Unified’s efforts will be rewarded and students will explore their future options with as much curiosity as they do their friend’s profiles on MySpace. I also hope Washington school districts will take note of this online approach and proactive plan. Hats off to L.A. Unified for their creativity and innovation in helping solve the dropout epidemic!
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