Fewer than 4 in 10 California high school students are completing the requirements to be eligible for the state's public universities, fueling worries of a shortage of college-educated workers when the value of a bachelor's degree has never been higher...Looks to me like we're doing better than we were in 1994, when we were using Whole Language and fuzzy math here in California. The math standards under Common Core are taking us back, but that's for a different post.
In 1994, 32 percent of public school graduates met the course and grade prerequisites, known as "A-G requirements" because they cover seven subject areas. For the Class of 2012, it was 38 percent...
The sobering numbers do not tell the whole story, according to John Rogers, director of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access. Once students who drop out or do not finish high school in four years are removed from the equation, the proportion of public high school graduates who met the UC and CSU entrance criteria in 2012 drops to 30 percent statewide, 20 percent for Latinos and 18 percent for African-Americans, Rogers said.
So why are so few students prepared? Part of the reason is the fault of schools, but I honestly believe that the lion's share of the reason is culture.
9 comments:
Perhaps it is just that I'm exhausted and not thinking clearly... But removing non graduates from the equation LOWERS the percentages?
And why are non graduates counted to begin with when you are looking at the grades of graduates?
And I believe the result's due to a public education system in which professionals have no incentive to perform and the means by which that performance is measured is a political football.
The few points of light, on close inspection, inevitably turn out to be the result of exceptional individuals and good luck. Not a great way to organize anything and the results prove the point.
i agree with you, sort of. The schools in CA have made it easier to follow a path that leads to college ... yet, once they get there, they are increasingly needing to take remedial courses in order not to flunk out. So, it's not the schools ... it's the freaking teachers who give incapable students grades that say they are. AND it's the culture -- you're absolutely right there. Everybody should be good at everything, without having to work very hard. Also, with culture.. if you don't go to college, you're a failure. Um, no. There are plenty of things that you don't need to go to college to be good at, make money, and make the world a better place. I hate to point to John Calipari ... but, he just got in to another NCAA champion hip with al freshman ...at least 3 of whom will probably be drafted, and never take another class at Kentucky. The only reason why they went? A silly NCAA rule requiring one year of college. Why can't someone be good at what one's good at? I have a really good friend who's exceptionally smart. But ... he likes to fight forest fires and weld. Both pay very well; neither needed college.
I certainly don't disagree with the culture factor, but I think that there are others: refusal to remove disruptive students (regardless of reason), groupwork that masks unequal learning, expectation that even the youngest kids "discover their own knowledge" (as opposed to being explicitly taught the material), the refusal to insist on mastery of the basics (denigrated as "drill and kill"), and the refusal to group by instructional need, by subject. The latter deprives struggling kids of the extra time and effort they need and simultaneously wastes the time of kids who already have mastery and who should be given new and deeper material and a faster pace.
When I started this post I had intended to include what I see as problems with the school system and also problems with the culture. Turns out I did a better job by leaving them out, as the commenters here have acquitted themselves quite nicely by coming up with a good list of both.
I have nothing to add--that's a pretty comprehensive list of possible factors.
If I may, I would add one small correction to Maxutil's post. Max wrote, "it's the freaking teachers who give incapable students grades that say they are." I cannot discount that sometimes this is true, but I also think that many teachers are hampered by the institution and the administration.
Educational truism: academic proficiency and love of group work are inversely proportional.
Max--
"academic proficiency and love of group work are inversely proportional."--
you took the words right out of my mouth...there's the reason why I don't have my writing classes do group work for credit (Not even peer review.)
pseudotsuga ... I will add one exception, though. When I teach econ, there are a BUNCH of activities where groups actually work really well ... usually because the worst math students wind up being the most intuitive. But, I count their poina t almost nil, watch them, and always allow them to vote fewer points for anyone who didn't work. They never do ... but knowing they COULD if they wanted to? Makes them feel better.
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