I had the opportunity to speak with a mom who has two children in university (3rd year and 2nd year) this past week. When I asked her about the kids, she of course bragged about how well they were doing but then she went on to do some bragging about the school as well.

She told me that her son (who is in bio-medical sciences) has noticed a number of things in the past two years. He says that he cannot believe the number of classmates who have never really written a proper essay. He has no issue with a 20-page lab report assignment but says that other students are overwhelmed at the prospect. He finds presentations and other speaking occasions comfortable while friends have become physically ill when speaking in front of the class (“thank you, Speech Night!” Most interestingly, it seems that his Grade 12 class (on the whole) is more mature that his current 2nd-year university class, particularly when it comes to basic social skills.

Mr. Cowle warned everyone going into university that their marks would go down (and his did…about 5%) but he was shocked at classmates who were looking at 20% to 30% drops in marks during first year. I told Mom what we say at every Open House for prospective families…the marks to get INTO university and college are not as important as the skills to get THROUGH those years. Over the next few months, our Mentor/TSS Class of 2014 will be going through the research and application processes of post-secondary university and a year from now, they too will see the advantages that their schools (and you, as parents, for sending them to us each day) have given them.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School