Pontiac, Michigan is a small town about twenty minutes outside of Detroit. It used to be pretty robust in terms of population, but industry has been waning there.

When I was in high school I had a vague idea of what college meant: more school and all of the money.
Luckily, I had a mom who knew what she was about and so tenth through twelfth grade year, I spent summer on a university campus participating in Project Upward Bound.

Like nearly any other school, Pontiac struggled with funding and things were stretched pretty thin. I think we had a school counselor. I also think our counselor spent a lot of time helping kids with other, non-college related problems.

I mostly learned about college through PUB, which was exactly what it was for. But what if I hadn’t had a mom who pushed me? How can we help kids to be (and hold them accountable for being) college and career ready? Until my school announced the names of classmates who got a good score on the ACT or SAT, I didn’t even know any school officials really thought about us going to college. I thought they were doing all they could just to get us across the stage.

I know my school had much to do and my teachers worked hard. I know there was only so much they could do with the resources they had. I know that I received little indication that I was expected to really master the material. I know that I was not adequately prepared for college level math.

I was terrible at math and barely clawed my way to a ‘B’ in algebra. It was hard for me and struggling with math made me feel stupid. It made sense to me to concentrate on English, which I liked. I figured the old saying was true: you could be a ‘math person’ or an ‘English person,’ but you couldn’t be good at both.

Maybe everyone won’t be Margaret Atwood or Isaac Newton, but they should have the foundations of math and English built solidly enough that they can write a letter to the editor or figure out tax and tip with confidence (and without a smart phone).

I care about high expectations because I believe kids can meet and then exceed them. I honestly, passionately believe that kids deserve for us to expect them to excel and that we can help them expect it for themselves. I’m not a superstar or rich, but I’m doing fine, better than fine. That’s because someone expected me to be.

Expect More. Achieve More.