a new report by the Alliance for Excellent Education again finds my state wanting when it comes to education. One thing that I note with interest is that our governor recently cut about the same amount from K-12 education as would be saved EACH YEAR if just 5% more males graduated from high school. Since Nevada funds schools at close to 50th in the country it seems it might be a good investment for the future to fund schools at a higher rate and offer more high school programs that are not college prep … like most are now … even though most students don’t go on to college. Maybe providing engaging curriculum that leads to a high school diploma without having to take all the math and higher level science we demand now would actually lead to students getting a better education. I’m not saying do away with the college prep track, but it’s not for everybody. Would some students that graduate with the non-college prep degree still go to college via community college? And some take that degree and go on to a 4 year degree? Probably not a huge number, but I believe so, especially once they been in the real world for awhile and see how that could benefit them. They’ll be older and more mature and perhaps better understand the value of further education. Here are some of the gory details from the report:
The 16,000 students who didn’t graduate in 2007 will cost themselves $4.2 billion in a loss of lifetime earnings by dropping out of high school.
Learning is messy!
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Wow….sounds like not learning is even messier! Thanks for posting this, Brian.
I find your article fascinating. I wish that we could get this message out to the “powers that be”. I have, for years, spoken of bringing more vocational studies into the high schools and bringing it down into middle schools as well. I am NOT in support of stopping Advanced Placement classes or accelerated classes at all. We just need to diversify our education delivery. I’ve noticed the past two-three years more and more community colleges opening in our area. There is a real need for skill development and many people are going towards this avenue instead of going to colleges and universities. the price of colleges is getting outrageous and it is even harder to get through in a 4 year period. I think that we are ignoring a population of our children because we don’t diversify the delivery of education and therefore we are losing our students to drop-outs, drugs and crime. I loved that you had statistics to back my theory up!!