By Maya Kachroo-Levine
Let’s face it: In high school, learning outside the classroom is a rarity. Some high schools offer the occasional service project or career development opportunity within the community. But for the most part, practical application and internships are reserved for college students while high schools focus on core curriculum — and keeping the students in the building.
At Purdue Polytechnic High School, they’ve thrown the rule book pretty far out the window. They don’t want to be a school that tacks on community engagement for one end-of-year project. They want community engagement to be the foundation.
Purdue Polytechnic High is still new — and all those involved know it’s a work in progress, although they’re heartened by the initial success. In July 2017, they welcomed 154 freshmen students. The Indianapolis-based high school plans to add one grade level at a time until they have about 600 students. In addition to encouraging an integrated, hands-on curriculum, this polytechnic school also aims to provide a more enriching high school experience to low-income, underrepresented minority students.
Head of school Scott Bess thinks one of the reasons Purdue Polytechnic High School has seen such initial success is that their community integration program isn’t just an initiative that was “bolted on” to the curriculum. It isn’t an afterthought or a program that’s just being tested for a few months.
“It is, and has been from the beginning, the core element that the school is built on,” he says.
To make the community integration program possible, PPHS partners with local businesses. They encourage their students to absorb and learn from the culture and community Indianapolis has to offer.
Recently, Purdue Polytechnic High partnered with the Indianapolis Zoo, and their staff gave the students a challenge: create projects that will lead to increased conservation in Indianapolis. They hosted the students at the zoo for a full day and organized meetings with zoo staff to talk about conservation.
“It turns out that businesses and community organizations have a strong desire to be involved with schools but struggle to understand how or when to get involved in a meaningful way,” Bess says.
Local businesses have created projects for Purdue Polytechnic High students, and many of their employees have volunteered to judge student pitches, serve as project advisors, and mentor students. As of now, 30 businesses are engaged with the school, and 100 community volunteers have gone through background checks so they can interact with the students.
”The business community quickly embraced the idea that they could do more than serve on an advisory board or donate money,” Bess adds.
The latest project the students have been tasked with is in partnership with Fair Oaks Farm, a large dairy organization.
“Their challenge to the students is to create projects that would allow, by the year 2050, over 9 billion people on the planet to be fed without destroying the natural resources,” Bess explains.
The Fair Oaks Farm project is unique because it can start in ninth grade and continue over the student’s time at Purdue Polytechnic High. As the students gain more academic skills, their solutions will evolve.
[quote position="full" is_quote="false"]By generating solutions for Fair Oaks Farm, the Indianapolis Zoo, and other businesses Bess has partnered with, the students are learning to apply academics to real-world problems while being exposed to careers they may not have known existed.[/quote]
“Just last week, we had a guest speaker come in to talk about the concept of organic farming and genetically modified farming,” Bess says. “We had several students who had never considered applying their interest in biology to farming and agriculture in general. After the talk, they stayed behind and peppered [the guest] with questions on how she got to where she was.”
Creating a culture of students who want to inspire change — at every level: That’s what PPHS offers their students on a wider scale.
[quote position="full" is_quote="false"]Not only is the community exposure opening students’ eyes to careers they weren’t aware of, it’s opening their eyes to problems they didn’t know they could solve.[/quote]
In addition to the community integration programs, the students have instructor-led classes. However, it’s not your run-of-the-mill high school classes. Teachers offer workshops, one-on-one or small group instruction in response to what the students need. Students actually create their own schedule each week based on areas of interest or learning needs.
Their classes combine an academic skill with the challenge they’re currently facing. During the zoo challenge, their workshop was called Linear Equations and Elephant Populations. The class was offered at various times throughout the week so that every student could take it at a time that worked for him or her.
Purdue Polytechnic High School plans to open up to 10 schools in Indiana, thereby expanding their mission to expose students to real-world problems and give them the tools to provide solutions. Ultimately, the community integration program is more than a new-fangled school curriculum. It’s providing puzzle pieces for education reform on a larger scale.
And at the local level, it’s bridging the gap between young students and their community — and creating a more engaging high school experience for these 154 students.
Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.