We’re almost to that time of year again when it’s appropriate to start thinking about our children’s futures as they approach the end of middle school or as they approach high school graduation. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that education is a lot like climbing a ladder. The higher one climbs up the ladder, the more options and opportunities there are. The lower one decides to climb that ladder, the fewer options there are and the fewer doors of opportunity there are through which one can walk.

The educational ladder, however, doesn’t work in both directions for everyone. For example, the college graduate can always move down the ladder if he or she should choose to do so. But the reverse is not true; once you quit climbing, that’s about as high as one can ever go; it’s not totally impossible to re-start that upward climb, but not without an extraordinary amount of grit, determination, and sacrifice. Here’s an example: someone who climbs the ladder far enough, let’s say, to become a college professor can always decide to climb back down the ladder and work at the vinegar plant skimming scum off the vats. But the reverse ordinarily isn’t true. Once someone has stopped climbing up the educational rungs of the ladder where the scum skimmers are, it’s almost impossible to re-start the climb to college professor.

Why? Generally speaking, things like spouses, babies, mortgage payments, car payments, and simply earning a living tend to make the next rung up that educational ladder pretty slippery. So, climbing down the ladder is easy, climbing up the ladder, having once stopped, becomes extraordinarily difficult. So difficult, in fact, that few ever get up past those next slippery rungs successfully.

Why does the ladder-climbing metaphor have anything to do with middle-school students or graduating seniors? Here’s why. Because both age groups are just starting their climb up that educational ladder. And what they do with opportunities and options that will be offered to them over the next eight years will have a direct bearing on how far up the ladder they’re likely to climb. And the more they become involved in the life of their high school or their college, the higher they’re likely to climb that ladder.

In many respects the four years of high school are the most critical, even more so than the next four years, for those who choose to keep climbing the metaphorical ladder. Opportunities and options are presented that will, in most instances, never be presented again. The four years of high school are a time to get involved, not just in striving for success in the classroom, but also becoming involved in the extracurricular life of the school. There is, and this has been documented, ample proof that those students who are the most involved, who take part in the most activities, are also the best students and, therefore, the ones most likely to be successful in college and beyond – they keep climbing that educational ladder which, ultimately will give them still more options and opportunities as adults. Those students who drop out of high school, or who just go through the motions, without putting forth much effort are, in effect, climbing that ladder after only going up a rung or two at most. That means they’re stuck, for all intents and purposes, near the bottom of the ladder where the options and opportunities are the most limited – not just for the time they’re in school, but for the rest of their lives. Some, as I mentioned earlier, re-start their climb, but most don’t.

What responsibility do parents have in this exercise? I have heard parents say that they have no intention of “making” their children take part in extracurricular activities, if they chose not to. While it may be correct to not “make” a child participate, every parent has a responsibility to encourage their children to get involved, to be supportive of the child who wants to try a new activity. Why is that important? Because parents should want their children to climb that educational ladder as high as they can go, and we already know that those who are involved are more likely to climb higher than those who don’t. It doesn’t matter what the activities are; sports, student government, music, drama, speech, art, radio and television, community service, clubs, or any other activities the school offers. The point is getting involved. Involvement is the first rung at the bottom of the ladder and parents have a responsibility to encourage and support the climb.

For those going on to college, the likelihood of being admitted increases among those students who did more during high school than just go to and from class and make reasonably good grades. With more and more students applying to college, admissions officers are looking for well-rounded applicants, not just those who made good grades or scored well on the SAT or ACT. Between two students with comparable grades and test scores, the one who was on a sports team, or took part in student government, or was an officer in a club or student activity, will be admitted before the one who just went to class and went home. The same is true when it comes to hiring brand new college graduates; all other things being equal, the ones who took an active part in campus life will be hired before the ones who didn’t. That’s the essence of climbing the educational ladder, and if you have a son or daughter about to enter high school or about to begin college in the fall, now is the time to encourage them to get involved, so they can climb that ladder as high so their talent and ambition will take them. As a parent, it’s your job to give your child that gentle push up that ladder.

That’s —30— for this week.

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