This week a
report was released that public high school graduation in the US has reached 80 percent. Citing that 4 out of 5 students graduate from
high school with a diploma, educators and politicians claim by 2020, the
graduation rate could reach 90 percent[i].
Credit for
the increase in the graduation rate has been given to 1) a greater awareness of
the dropout problem. At all levels
(district, state and federal), accountability measures, initiatives targeting
the closure of “dropout” factories and aggressive actions by schools to hire
intervention specialists who work one on one to keep students in class. Credit has also been given to 2) the growth
in the graduation rates of African-American and Hispanic beginning in 2006[ii].
While this
is good news, lost in the euphoria is the quality of the education and the
skills the graduates received prior to graduation. Also forgotten is how students in our public
high schools are out performed by their international peers in science, math
and technology.
Our high
school graduates are leaving high school without the knowledge or skills to
compete in the global workforce. The
gateway jobs (fast food, retail etc) that were traditionally wide open to
graduates have been taken by displaced and underemployed adults.
The lack of knowledge and skills is
primarily due to the over-emphasis in public education on enrollment into
college/university as the sole conduit to success. By ignoring that fact that knowledgeable and
skilled high school graduates can succeed if they are properly prepared for the
adult world that awaits them, the graduation rate could be higher with less
concern about unemployment and underemployment among recent high school
graduates.
We seem to
be in an era of public education that is more concerned about the appearance of
good data instead of the quality and substance of data. Having an 80 percent high school graduation
rate appears to be good. However, if the
graduates being produced are unable to take their place in the adult world and
become a productive citizen, the data is skewed and does not reflect the
reality of the high school graduate.
Increasing the
graduation is good..high school students living at home and unable to work…bad!
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