“Learning Desires”
Charter schools are just one of many options that can help provide better educational opportunities. And in school systems around the country, charter schools, such as KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program), are showing amazing results.
The students buy into the program because they want to succeed and need the structure, says Mdolelle Dolo, who is 13 and began eighth grade this month. “It helps because if we didn’t have the discipline we’d be free to do whatever we wanted, and I don’t think that would benefit us in the long run,” said Dolo, who dreams of going to Harvard and becoming a doctor.
For Khalil Flemming, discipline and earning are keys to success. “If you earn something you’ll be able to do whatever you want, and that’s a good thing to know in life,” said Flemming, 14, a recent eighth-grade graduate who received a four-year scholarship to Phillips Academy.
Leandro Diaz calls KIPP his second home, and credits KIPP with shaping his character. At 16, he is one of the oldest eighth-graders, but that doesn’t bother Diaz, who came to Lynn from the Dominican Republic in 2004, speaking only Spanish. He didn’t learn to speak English until he came to KIPP in 2005. “This school has changed my life. It’s something I call my second life. . . . I now realize things I may never have realized, like wanting to help people,” said Diaz, who plans to go to college and become a social worker.
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