AcademicdisinterestvisibleinPhiladelphia

SCHOOLS, PAGE 1

Pendelton said, "There would be three of four kids sitting the front row with their notebooks open and a pen in hand. The rest of the class sat in the back, usually huddled in circles gambling on card games. But it was like the teacher didn't see those kids. She or he would just teach directly to those three or four students in the front row."

In March, 2005, the Philadelphia Inquirer featured its annual educational report, which showed a variety of statistics that applied to either public or private high schools within Philadelphia. These findings serve as proof of the amount of disinterest in education and educational advancement.

In 2005, only 54 percent of the applicable students were taking the SAT.

Germantown High School did not show in the lowest percentile; that position was filled by South Philadelphia's Audenreid High School with a devastatingly low rate of 15 percent.

"I'm not really surprised that only 54 percent were preparing to take the SAT. I know Germantown is a school, but academics isn't really stressed. Most of the students aren't there to learn. The text books were in bad shape, teachers didn't have control of the classrooms and tests were barely given. I don't even think teachers prepared lesson plans," Pendleton said.

Part way throttgh his junior year.Pendleton was fortunate enough to receive a second chance at earning a proper education. He transferred from one of the city's worst high schools to one of the highest ranked public high schools within the city of Philadelphia, Bodine High School for International Affairs. Within the Philadelphia Public School System there is a distinguished group of schools which are often times referred to as magnet schools. These schools, though they are within the context of the public school system, are not restricted to residents of a particular area; instead, enrollment in these schools is based upon an application process. Students must be accepted in order to attend; due to the academic standards established by most of these schools, academic excellence is commonplace typically making them the highest ranked public high schools in the city.

For Eric, Bodine High School not ohly offered a change of scenery, it also offered him a change of attitude.

"At Germantown it wasn't