The nation’s governors offered an alarming account of the American high school Saturday, saying only drastic change will keep millions of students from falling short.
Yeah, that’s me. But I’m out this spring and on to ‘the real world,’ and I couldn’t be more excited.
Most of the summit’s first day amounted to an enormous distress call, with speakers using unflattering numbers to define the problem. Among them: Of every 100 ninth-graders, only 68 graduate high school on time and only 18 make it through college on time, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
“On time?” School is becoming too much like just an assembly line, I don’t think people should be judged as to how “fast” they “get out.” College just seems retarded to me right now, so maybe I’ll go and maybe not. I’m graduating with highest honors (whatever that means) this spring, I’ve been plenty successful in high school – but does that mean that I’m a failure if I don’t finish college by 2009?
America’s high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I don’t just mean that they’re broken, flawed or underfunded, though a case could be made for every one of those points. By obsolete, I mean our high schools even when they’re working as designed cannot teach all our students what they need to know today. Bill Gates
I do agree with this statement a lot. In looking back at my education the years I feel that I learned the most were fifth and sixth grade, and I wish I still could be learning at the level I did then. I just went and went, and accomplished all sorts of things.
But what I really feel I learned those two years wasn’t that important as measured by the CAT test, or the MBST test (both which I scored incredibly high on) or even the more recent SAT or ACT (also) but in how ever since I’ve been motivated to learn for myself.
Since then I just haven’t cared as much for any of my schoolwork, my ‘learning,’ or my grades – but I sincerely feel that I did learn what is important to learn in school – the ability to be able to learn.
And I really wouldn’t encourage the governor’s council to just raise standards, because all I can see that doing is driving the number of struggling students through the roof. You need to give students who don’t already have a reason to learn a reason – and you need to do it promptly. Because there are a lot of kids who don’t care about college these days, both on the talented side of average and the struggling side who can think of better ways to live then struggle through another four years of mechanized and oppressive “learning.”
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