What are we going to do as a nation to fix our dropout rates? It seems that America is taking another step towards to fix or decrease high school dropout rates. It is said that 1 of every 4 Americans dropout. That’s a pretty big number if you were to ask me. It seems that the “No Child Left Behind” that was pasted in 2001 hasn’t been working as it should have been working. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is taking this issue into her own hands to fix this problem, by setting new rules and regulations towards high school dropouts. It is said that now these days’ children are to have a lesser chance of receiving a high school diploma then their parents. I guess most parents don’t see the big picture of our education problem, so to show parents how serious this problem is, the Department of Education and Margaret Spellings are getting schoolsand states to keep a better track of dropouts and graduation rates. Getting every state to keep a record, so parents and the public will be informed what goes on in school. This will also help the department to focus on troubling states. All 50 states agreed to enact a uniform graduation rate, but only 16 states up held its agreement. The federal government is starting to require states that do not fulfill its agreement to develop a plan to accomplish that agreement, but must be approved by the Department of Education first.
I still remember the times of my high school life even though it wasn’t that long ago, but one thing that I remembered clearly was my education. I know that America is way behind in education compared to other countries. I’ve spent my whole life in America, and when I struggled in school all my friends from Korea breezed through high school like it was nothing. Sometimes I was made of fun of because of my lack of knowledge, but we all knew the truth. Education in America is a joke and all my friends seen that, but I believe that now people are stepping up to the plate to make some changes and improve or catch up on education.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1854758,00.html
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3 comments:
I agree, as stated by the 50 Stars blog, America does suck in Education but it has shown improvements overtime. For example, the "No Child Left Behind" brought higher test scores to younger students. More progress was made by nine-year-olds in reading in the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined. It has increased the quality of education by requiring schools to improve their performance. Over the time of this law, Congress increased federal funding of education, from $42.2 billion in 2001 to $54.4 billion in 2007. I've also noticed times when kids overseas would come to America and think school is way to easy. I envy those children.
I have a sort of an answer to fix the dropout rates. I will say that there is a little bit that needs to formulated, but I'll try to put it into perspective.
Yes, I do agree, "America Sucks in Education!!" And I can speculate about the little problems that just make high school a complete drag and uninteresting, yes, but I think there is some drastic change that has to take place. And that is to upgrade the depth of technology in not just high schools, but all levels of education.
To my surprise, it has been done as of lately, but I can't seem to find the article. Although what happened was that there was presentation to an elementary school (here in Austin) that was an electronic exercise tool (an Nintendo Wii system, plus exercise video game with peripherals) to help keep children exercising and staying healthy. Isn't that awesome? If I were a kid at that age, I'd be pretty psyched!
I think this is the direction that should be imposed in all schools. Not only physical education, but also every kind of subject should take this lead! If there were some form of evolution to appeal and bring in children with recent, and ACTUALLY appealing technological advancements (i.e XBOX360, PS3, Nintendo DS, among others) to thoroughly make school fun and enjoyable, yet creative and interesting; I think it would be the best bet for the government to spend money into education for a more broad purpose.
In addition, not only video games, but just a more advanced computer technology should be propped in every school ever made. Imagine instead of going to school and just reading a book and filling out some papers for a grade, make it a fully interactive teacher-student computer class for virtually any subject matter! I think that would actual make the us look like a fun place for education, but most definitely not make it suck anymore.
In conlusion, its just my idea to how I think kids would stay in school. Video games at school? Everyday? And they would learn something WHILE having fun? I'd be pretty jealous. Technology needs to leap and affirm education. Its time to rid the 20th century of schools and make it the future that we are ALL used to seeing in all forms of entertainment today. Granted that the economy is in a slump, I always see that the video game industry is stronger than it has ever been. So why not build the future? Shouldn't that be the now?
While keeping records would certainly assist in determining the magnitude of the educational crisis, and perhaps even point out particularly troubled areas in our nation, the numbers do nothing to ascertain what is causing students to not complete high school. Discovering that requires a less mathematical and more human approach to the problem.
Barbara Pytel, in her article “Dropouts Give Reasons” quotes The News Journal who interviewed 500 dropouts and asked what made them decide to quite school. Eight different reasons were sited, and a quick look at the percentages shows that the students often listed more than one reason for leaving. I purpose that the eight reasons can be reduced to three main causes: a lack of interest and motivation, difficulty with learning the material, and life obligations interfering with school.
Recently I had the privilege of spending some time with students from Denmark who where participating in a study abroad program with ACC. These students were the same age as juniors and seniors in high school here, but educationally they were at our college level. I was able to question some of them and learned about their amazing school system. In summary, they have an incredibly flexible system that focuses on finding the right path for each individual student. What tests they do have are more for determining the student’s strengths and tailoring their education accordingly. The first 9 years are mandatory, with the first several years focused on basic education and a set curriculum. The later years are more diverse, combining a set curriculum with electives in various career paths. If after 9 years the student has yet to figure out what direction to go in, there is an optional 10th year, with nothing but electives. From there the students can go to a trade school, which is basically paid training, or secondary school, which is similar to community college. The students that came to ACC were in a secondary school for Humanities. Once finished they will go on to universities that focus on their particular field of studies, such as journalism, politics, music, etc.
Now, it seems to me that this type of approach would solve all three problems mentioned for dropping out. The cost would be somewhat prohibitive; Denmark citizens pay extremely high taxes to cover it; but the benefit of ensuring the US stay competitive in an increasingly well educated world market makes this venture worthwhile. Also, a complete restructuring of our system may not be necessary. Perhaps we can pick and choose which aspects would be most beneficial, and implement those. In any case, something must change, before we find ourselves a third world country.
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