Thursday, October 23, 2008
Kids Less Likely to Graduate than Parents?
I read an article titled "Report: Kids Less Likely to Graduate Than Parents" which was published just today, October 23, 2008. It is an interesting read as it provides information about a study made by a children's advocacy group that says the dropout rate in US continues to increase (1 in 4 Americans) and how currently US is the only industrialized country where young people are less likely to earn diploma as compared to their parents. According to Anna Habash, United States continues to stagnate and the poor performance will affect the country's ability to compete with the rest of the world. Because of this, the federal government is poised to raise the bar on graduation rates and new rules is expected to be issued that will force states to use the common tracking system. If you want to check this article, just go to the DailyHerald.com website.
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2 comments:
What an interesting article!
However, I wonder if the increase in the dropout rates correlates with the increase in number of students who *attend* college. Think about it... In the past, many people went right to work after high school, but it seems as if today most students are expected to go to college--even the ones who may not belong there. Any thoughts on this?
This article illustrates the point that funding is not being put to proper use. While NCLB is great in theory, the actual implementing of the it is not working. It makes states worry about how many students can get over a certain number on a test and not how many students are actually learning. While NCLB may point out many of the problems in schools today, it doesn't provide reasons to the root of these problems or provide adequate solutions to fix these problems.
I think that one solution would be a shift back to trade schools for those students who may not be meant to go to college. Just because a student cannot pass a standardized test does not mean he can't learn a skill to make a decent living and contribute to society.
I completely agree with Dr. Luongo's point above. A Bachelor's Degree has slowly become the new High School Degree (meanining that today every kid is expected to go to college and they are looked down upon if they don't).
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