Better contact between families and teachers could help kids achieve, according to Boyer.

“The improvements need to come in our communication — how students or parents communicate to me that they want to go to college, and how I communicate to them the requirements for college,” he said.

He added, however, that perhaps not every high school student should aspire to go to college.

“It’s all on an individual basis,” he said. “I’m aware of a former student who understood his skills and knew what he was good at. He got training in his trade without the college expenses. He’s now a mechanic, and he’s happy because he’s doing what he loves.”

Some students get left behind because they think education isn’t important or achievable. In many cases, few others in their families finished high school or went to college. These students may feel like they can’t achieve any more than their parents did, which can keep them on the road to both educational and economic poverty.

Some students ‘afraid to succeed’

Dave Owens, guidance counselor at Highland High School, recalled such a situation.

“In my early years in counseling, I had an underclassman who was failing,” Owens said.  “I asked, ‘Where do you see yourself headed?’ He replied, ‘Probably to jail — that’s where my dad is.’

“He thought that was his destiny — that he had no choice. Many students are afraid to try, afraid to succeed.”

Meanwhile, twice a week, Carlos Jacinto spends the day in the public library with his daughter. They sit together at the computer while he teaches her words using “Dora the Explorer.”

Jacinto said he plans for his daughter to go to college, even though he never had the opportunity.

“I believe the role of a parent is encouragement,” said Boyer. “If every one of us could encourage our kids to try things and discover what they are good at and what they enjoy, that would be a good step down the path of education — in life and in school.”