College Student's Video Shakes Up Education

College Student's Video Shakes Up Education

Can a video by a college student shift the momentum of one of Rhode Island’s most controversial issues – the Board of Regents' plan to create a three-tiered high school diploma structure? A video, created by Mike McCarthy—a 28-year-old veteran from who served in Afghanistan and now a student at College Unbound—unveils what the video asserts are a series of flawed scenarios of the proposed new standards.

“The closer I read between the lines, the more reason I had to feel that we were heading down a slightly misguided path. So, I took my current resources, and a team of great people and I made a video,” McCarthy told GoLocalProv.

McCarthy and the others are students at College Unbound, a new bachelor’s degree program offered through Roger Williams University School of Continuing Education. McCarthy is a graduate of Rogers High School in Newport.

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The motivation for the video, which took the team more than 50 hours to produce was to affect the decision making process and the timing of the Rhode Island Department of Education's  (RIDE) controversial plan. “…RIDE is under direct political pressure to act too quickly, and that the only choice for us, was to release a video that makes a clearer statement about the potential impacts of this decision on our kids.”

The video was shown at RIDE's forum on the new structure recently held in South Kingstown. Only two members of the Board of Regents–athe ultimate decision-making body, were at the hearing when the video was shown, according to McCarthy.

“I do not want to see this new video exploited to create a group of angry people, holding pitchforks and torches outside of RIDE… As long as changes are truly measured by the impacts made upon kids, centered in their interests and their successful futures, we cannot go wrong,” said McCarthy.