Time travel and other ways to reduce college costs
America is blessed with a cadre of “Education Governors” whose commitment to quality K-16 education continues long after their terms expire. One such leader is Gov. Bob Wise (WV), who is now speaking out from his position as president of the Alliance for Excellent Education. He offers the following observations:
With gasoline prices soaring in most parts of the country, many Americans are reminiscing about the days when gasoline was $1.50 a gallon or less. Given the combination of escalating college costs and high school classes that did not prepare them for the rigors of college, many of America’s college students are also longing to turn back the clock.
According to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, only 34 percent of the class of 2002 graduated high school “college ready,†that is, with the minimum set of skills and credentials required to attend a four-year college. Armed with this information, I was not surprised to learn that the majority of high school graduates who took the ACT Assessment college entrance exam lacked college-level skills in reading, English, math, and science.
For far too many college freshmen around the country, the jubilation of a high school diploma turns to regret when they are confronted with a freshman schedule that includes material they should have learned in high school. According to the National Center for Education statistics, approximately 28 percent of entering college freshmen had to take remedial courses in reading, writing, or math in fall 2000; at two-year public colleges, nearly half (42 percent) of incoming freshmen had to take at least one remedial course.
“Relearning†material from high school costs college students both time and money. Not only do they have to pay for courses they could have taken for free in high school but, many students lose semesters on their degree path. Some catch up, but many get frustrated and drop out or are forced to quit school and get a job to earn the money necessary for these extra classes. The American Diploma Project reports that students taking remedial courses are 20 percent less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than their better-prepared colleagues.
Earlier this year, Achieve, Inc. reported that more than 80 percent of recent high school graduates said that if they had known in high school what they knew later about college, they would have worked harder and applied themselves more in high school.
To prevent this regret among college students, all high school freshmen should have access to a rigorous high school curriculum and a clear plan that assesses their needs and identifies courses that they need to graduate high school prepared for postsecondary education. The plan would include annual follow-up meetings to make sure students remain on track and to provide an opportunity for them to catch up through extra help, academic enrichment, and other supports.
More details on this plan and other parts of the Alliance for Excellent Education’s Framework for an Excellent Education are available in Every Child A Graduate.
October 31st, 2005 at 10:41 am
Indeed the basic comment is correct, high schools should be better than they are at preparing students for college. And were they better, costs of college would be reduced - if by nothing else than remiediation costs. Obviously, more college ready students would also reduce costs by improving the time to graduation. The long term trend in the country right now is to improve the rigor in high school. There are a number of initiatives across the country that are trying to do that - through more thorough evaluations of schools and teachers, through testing, through restructuring of the high school curriculum. But I am confused about why this is a unique suggestion for lowering college costs.
November 3rd, 2005 at 12:54 pm
As a community college professor, I am all too aware of the failure of our public schools to adequately prepare students for college level material. Everyone seems to recognize the problem, but no one cares enough to fix it. This is because the students most affected are those from the lowest income households. Disparity in the quality of education is by far the biggest driving force in the increasing gap between rich and poor. I am convinced that the only solution to this problem is to infuse our schools with good teachers. Public education is littered with apathetic and underqualified teachers, who outnumber the handful of dedicated educators who feel like they are on a sinking ship. American society is headed for a crisis. To avert this, we need visionary political leadership that is willing to commit the financial resources necessary to attract our best minds to the teaching profession. Unfortunately, most politicians are catering to a constituency who can afford private schools, and consequently have little interest in genuinely improving public education. As long as self-interest is our dominant cultural paradigm, public education in America will continue to be an embarrassment.
November 9th, 2005 at 4:28 pm
excellent resource