School Days

College classes began this week. For the forty guys enrolled in the IT certification program it was trial by fire. I wasn’t sure how everyone would respond. This is a very course intensive program: 37 college credit hours (15 toward the general education requirements for an Associates degree, 22 in computer science) earned in 8 months. Approximately three-fourths of the participants have never taken a college class before. Now, they are taking four over an incredibly strenuous eight weeks



I’m the academic aide for English composition and American History. Besides my regular job duties working with GED students and teaching creative writing, I’m now sitting in on two three hour English classes, reviewing essay drafts, and tutoring on American History. By Friday, I had a head cold and was worn out.


This may surprise you, but these guys are working their butts off to succeed and with good reason. A college degree is the single most important deterrent to recidivism. Throw all your misconceptions out. These guys are more dedicated than the vast majority of college freshman going to a nice, sterile university on mom and dad’s check. The results, if they don’t succeed, are so painful that these guys collectively are pouring their hearts and souls into their work.


I may be worn out from reading and rereading essays explaining branches of government, but in many ways, I’ve never been more alive.


A few years ago a book came out called “Reading Lolita in Tehran”. The author recounted her efforts to educate young girls in Iran under the nose of the theocratic regime which was hell bent on controlling what its citizens were exposed to. The book pointed out the length people will go to to read and get an education.


This isn’t Tehran, but the conditions under which these men are attending college is a far cry from what occurs in the classrooms at some notable colleges and universities just a few miles from Lunenburg’s fences.


I wonder how many of the “professors” at those schools who bitterly complain about their course loads and nine month academic calendars could hold up under the academic conditions here.


It’s early Saturday morning and every table in the dayroom is packed with guys studying. A small group is gathered around the microwave discussing Thursday evening’s math worksheet. In front of my cut, five guys are nervously waiting for me to edit their essay drafts. This is not typical of a Lunenburg Saturday morning. Usually there are only five or ten of us out of bed before 11:30 am count. This morning the building is alive. No one is asleep. A few guys are outside working out. The rest are hitting the books.


Imagine attending a night class (6:30 to 9:30) where you aren’t allowed to leave for class until “count” has cleared. You then stand outside in the cold and rain waiting for your turn to enter the building and be patted down. Then, you go through the same process when class is over. Need to use the bathroom? Get permission.


In the math class, students need calculators to solve various trigonometric and exponential problems. They aren’t allowed to use calculators in the building. Any machine with memory capabilities is forbidden: “security risk”.


The instructor for the intro to economics class brought copies of the Wall Street Journal in for her students. They were to read the paper and answer worksheets about various sections. Chief of Security pulled the instructor aside and told her “no more papers”. Apparently, giving out papers is a form of fraternization.


Yet, these guys persist. There are 40 IT students, 47 associate degree students. Eighty-seven men on a compound of 1200 with three academic aides and a handful of dedicated teachers working with them.


Tehran doesn’t seem so far away. Still, they go to school. They try and earn their degree.


Some readers may wonder why they should care about inmates earning a degree. Forget the facts about recidivism. It costs $4,000 for a year of college in prison. It costs around $25,000 to house an inmate. The economics are so simple.


No less a commentator than Newt Gingrich endorsed dramatic prison reform. In a January 8th Washington Post Op Ed Gingrich wrote:


“We can no longer afford business as usual with prisons. The criminal justice system is broken and conservatives must lead the way in fixing it. . . It is time to fundamentally rethink how we treat and rehabilitate our prisoners.”


In Virginia, that means massive efforts at education and drug and alcohol counseling in the prisons and restoration of parole for almost all inmates. Make education a basis for earning parole.


In “Reading Lolita in Tehran” fear permeated every class meeting. Teachers feared a student making a slip of the tongue, leading to the school being raided by the police.


That fear should not exist for inmate students. Teachers should be free to exchange ideas – and newspapers – without risking the wrath of security. Education means too much to these men and the future of Virginia corrections. These school days matter.