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Essay
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Reflection
Compact for Success
In the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD), there is a program called the "Compact for Success". This compact is a guaranteed admissions program and an educational reform partnership between San Diego State University (SDSU) and the SUHSD. Those who are eligible to participate are to be graduates of or after the Class of 2006 and have been continuously enrolled in a SUHSD school from seventh through twelfth grade. What about students who are in the district most of their secondary-schooling years, but not for all six? Should they still be eligible for this program?
It does not make sense as to why the compact does not grant admission to students who fell short of these needed six years. Before my freshman year at Eastlake High, I was enrolled in San Diego City Schools -- also known as the San Diego Unified School District. I will only be in the district for four years, which is until I graduate high school in 2007. My grades are pretty decent -- above a 3.0, and I am enrolled in many advanced classes. However, due to this unjust requirement, I am still not qualified for the compact.
Being in the SUHSD for a certain amount of years does not determine how well an individual student does (academically) in school. There are those who have not been in the district for very long and maintain higher grades than some students who are already in the compact but still cannot get in. As long as the student is in the SUHSD by the time he or she graduates, they should still be eligible for the "Compact for Success."
Some students who are already in the program and are assured admittance into SDSU take the compact for granted. Many of my friends who are in the program only plan to go to SDSU as a last resort, because they expect to get into a UC or private college. If they do not get accepted into any of their choice schools, they will go to SDSU and not have to worry about having their applications rejected. Also, courses A-G must be fulfilled, but it is highly improbable that a student have trouble at least passing those classes with a "C".
Though both the district and SDSU are trying to be fair in the "Compact for Success," they are not. It is ironic that at the bottom-right corner of "The Road to High Learning" poster for the compact it is said that "the 'Compact for Success' is about increasing your choices, not your chances." This is incorrect, even counselfors here at Eastlake have said otherwise. "You can still get into SDSU, but you just have less of a chance," one of them said. Now, myself and other less fortunate students will have to work harder just to gain some attention from SDSU, while students working with the compact need only take the SAT or ACT and maintain a 3.0 GPA (grade point average). School administrators ought to remove the requirement of having to be in the district for six years (to qualify for the "Compact for Success") so that other Sweetwater students have a fair chance of getting into San Diego State.
Reflection
For this essay, I chose to write on the �Compact for Success�. This topic immediately came to me when thinking of what to write a persuasive essay about, because I feel so strongly about my position on it. When I was brainstorming different issues to write on, this seemed the only subject where I felt that I had an actual side on. Naturally, I felt opposed to the program, because I�m not eligible for it, but that is not the reason I chose the �Compact for Success�. I thought about everyone else I knew that could not be in the program, just because they missed the mark by a year or two. Also, I selected this topic because SDSU is one of the schools that I wish to go to if I don�t make it to any UC�s. Since SDSU can only take in so many students, I imagined the students in the program as being on a sort of �priority� list, while the rest of us were stuck waiting in line behind them.
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