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From: USA TODAY, Friday, February 27, 2004
Date: 06 Mar 2004
Time: 03:14:02 -0500
Remote Name: 172.149.31.44
Many of us are familiar with the pointing of fingers from high school teachers who say that students should have been better prepared in elementary and middle school. This same argument exists between colleges/universities and high schools. According to this article, too many high schools are offering advance placement courses (AP) that give students a chance to earn college credit an students and their parents believe that this increases their opportuntity to get into the top colleges. While AP courses can contribute to a favorable decision on college admission, the problem is that in colleges and universities, the fastest-growing courses are remedial math andEnglish classes. These classes are necessary for students who need to make up for basics they didn't learn in high school. "IN OTHER WORDS, HIGH SCHOOLS ARE TAKING ON COLLEGES' WORK WHILE COLLEGES ARE FORCED TO DO THE HIGH SCHOOLS' JOB." This article goes on to report that the focus on AP classes contribue to the failure of students in collegs and universities who are unprepared for the academic challenges of college life. The article agress that AP classes are a proven success at exposing high school students to challenging college-level material, but "only 15% of high school stuents take AP courses while more than 70% of high school graduates go on to colleges/univerisities." Poor high school preparation affects not only student success in colleges/universities, but also in skills needed for employment. Business and industry leaders have begun to scrutinize high school diplomas and give low ratings to the writing and math skills of new workers entering the labor force. Recommendations from this article on college preparation include (l) strict state requirements for graduation that require students to take math courses that include algebra, geometry and higher level skills that are needed after high school graduate and ensuring student mastery through exams required for graduation, and (2) increase high school-college cordination that help high schools determine which students need remedial classes for college and to ensure that skills taught, and tested for, in high school are linked to the knowledge needed in college. Before taking over colleges' job, high school have a more pressing task to provide student basic skills needed for challenges beyond high school and to ensure that studens who graduate can handle high school-level work and demonstrate basic high school skills. The other side of this debate is that the College Board's Advanced Placement Program offers a blend of high standards and hard work that exposes students to challenge courses in high school. According to USA Today, "90% of America's middle-school students say they want to attend college, but neither parents nor educators believe that anywhere near this number are qualified." This statement has major implications in terms of student expectations and student achievement and subsequently the achievement gap that now dominates the education forum. Advocates of AP classes maintain that three-quarters of America's high school graduates head to colege, but only half of them have had the benefit of a genuine college-preparatory curriculum. Proponents of AP classes report that traditionally underserved minority and low-income students succeed in AP in greater numbers than ever before and continue to support AP courses in high school. The bottom line is that AP courses may offer rigor, increase potential for college/university admission, and contribute to a more successfull college/university experience, but this is true for only 15% of students who take AP courses. This information has relevancy for American Indian students in Robeson County and across the Nation. The excessive high school drop out rates continue to sentence our students to failure in society and the workplace, and the low numbers of students counseled into the college preparatory courses which, according to this report, may expose students to college level subject matter but ignore very basic skills, also sentence many of our students to remedial courses that often frustrate the college/university experience and result in college/university drop-outs. Education is everybody's business and it will take more than a few critics and concerned citizens to demand and command attention to these serious problems. How many generations are we going to allow to drop by the wayside before we put into practice what we already know?