I think the graduation rate is a bit over rated. If a child graduates prepared and capable to go to college, join the military or enter the workforce we should be okay if it takes them an extra year or two to do so. In this instance the destination is more important than how long the journey took.
The real problem is we are graduating children on time who aren’t prepared for college, to join the workforce or who wouldn’t last one day in the military. They either don’t have the ability or the demeanor to be successful. We do children no favors when we pass them along without the skills to be successful at the next level, instill in them a false sense of how the world works, don’t give consequences for bad behavior and having prepared them to take one test, the f-cat.
If we want to make meaningful changes in education it wouldn’t take breaking the bank or reinventing the wheel to do so; no, it would take a return to the basics. Instead of preparing every child to be successful in a global economy, the school boards philosophy and something they are woefully failing at, it should be to prepare every child to be a productive citizen. We do that by holding children back until they have the skills to be successful at the next level, giving children meaningful consequences for inappropriate behavior, putting safety nets in place for children who need extra assistance and by developing multiple curriculums that play to more chldrens stengths and desires rather than forcing thm all into the one size fits all curriculum we have now. Friends plumbers will not be outsourced to India.
Unless we are teaching rocket science, this isn’t rocket science.
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