A better preparation for college? Possibly....
I've been doing some catch-up on my reading and in the June 8th (yes, seriously - sad...I know) issue of a local paper it reports that Governor Vilsack (Iowa) and Governor Warner (Virginia) met to discuss the raising of standards for high school curricula. All I can say is..."IT'S ABOUT TIME!" As a student of a SMALL school (17 in my graduating class - Ed Abbey had 9 in his), I can validate that the curriculum in my school was pretty low on making any kind of standard. The goal was to make sure students could balance their checkbooks, vote in public elections and be able to communicate on a basic level. Most of the graduates of my school either went to community college for vocational programs or didn't go to college at all. I was one of a handful who went to a university straight out of high school and was one of even fewer who graduated from a university. Making it to graduation at university wasn't easy but I did it. If my high school had adopted a tougher curriculum I might not have struggled as much and just might have actually pursued those early dreams of entering the field of medicine. (Just for background info, I was the salutatorian of my class.)
Additionally, as vocational jobs shift overseas, we need the next workforce generation to have the skills necessary to successfully compete in a global economy. If we want them to learn all of the skills we don't have, then the foundation of that education must begin in the elementary and secondary education years.
2 comments:
I prefer to refer to my graduating class size as eight people with one foreign exchange student.
Yeah, good old FV didn't do a heck of a lot in the way of college preparation. Did I ever tell you that I tried to get permission from the school board to double up on Algebra and Geometry as an eighth grader so that I could take the next higher level of math a year sooner than normal and then go to Indian Hills my senior year for an advanced math? The denied me. My freshman year in college I had to take two more remedial classes in math to catch up to my peers and then flunked my first semester of algebra. Fortunately, with many long nights in the library, I taught myself what FV didn't and got an A the next semester and went on to do fairly well.
Hmmm...based on that lingo I'd have to say "fifteen people with two foregin exchange students". :)
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