[Youth-list] Current HS grads unprepared: From Today's Courant

[JMRab at aol.com]

This issue as at the intersect of the Youth Vision Team, the Youth Futures  
Committee, the P-16 Council, and the ad hoc secondary school improvement 
working  group. JMG 
courant.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-gates1009.artoct09,0,2825203.story 
Courant.com
Students Leaving School Unprepared For College, Work
MELINDA FRENCH GATES 
October 9, 2007 
 
 
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Number of students who dropped out of high school last year: 1.1  million.

Difference between the lifetime earnings of a high school  dropout and a 
college graduate: $1.5 million.

Of 300 questions asked in  presidential candidate debates this year, number 
that addressed this issue:  eight.

These figures tell us that while America's high school system  works for some 
students, it fails many, if not most. America's high schools are  at risk of 
becoming a disaster, yet few of our political leaders are talking  about it.

That a million students drop out each year is terrible. But  even worse, many 
of those who do graduate aren't learning what they need to be  successful. 
Students are sitting in classrooms, bored and unchallenged, and are  being left 
unprepared for the future. In a 2005 survey of American  manufacturers, four 
out of five say K-12 schools are not doing a good job  preparing students for 
the workplace. One in three college freshmen has to take  remedial classes to 
catch up on things he or she should have learned in high  school. American high 
school students have some of the worst math skills in the  developed world.

Behind the numbers are heartbreaking stories. Last year,  Oprah Winfrey and I 
taped a two-part series about the troubles in America's high  schools. A 
bright young woman named Beth Martin was profiled. Beth was  valedictorian of a 
rural high school near Knoxville, Tenn. She graduated with a  4.0 GPA and had 
dreamed of becoming a doctor. But when Beth arrived at college,  she was shocked 
to discover how unprepared she was.

"I didn't know what I  was doing," Beth said. "I didn't know how to operate 
the things in the  laboratory experiments. I had never been taught how to use a 
 microscope."

Beth had worked hard to prepare herself for college, but it  wasn't enough.

"I'm so far behind that I just feel like it's going to be  impossible for me 
to catch up. I don't feel smart at all in college. I feel - I  feel like I'm 
stupid," she said.

Expectations for Beth and millions of  other students must be aligned with 
the 21st-century demands of college and  work, and we need to help students meet 
those expectations.

While school  districts and states clearly have roles in this issue, so do 
our national  leaders. Our country won't be able to address other major issues, 
such as the  economy, the Iraq war, health care or immigration, if our high 
schools don't  adequately prepare the next generation of leaders. And our 
schools won't improve  until their problems are recognized.

So far, the presidential candidates  in both parties have yet to demonstrate 
the bold leadership and political  courage Americans deserve. In their news 
releases, speeches and town hall  conversations, they devote disturbingly little 
time to our nation's education  crisis.

Sparking that conversation is the goal of Strong American  Schools, a 
nonpartisan issue campaign funded by the Eli and Edythe L. Broad  Foundation and the 
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We believe that  Americans have the power to 
improve millions of children's lives by telling  their political leaders - in 
the 2008 presidential campaign and beyond - that  high schools matter and by 
demanding to know more about their plans for fixing  them.

When pollsters ask people about their priorities, schools are  always near 
the top of the list. The problem is that the issues are complex, and  people 
just don't know what they can do to make a difference.

If  Americans can speak with one voice, then the next president and other 
elected  leaders will feel compelled to offer visions and plans that will help 
ensure  that every child in America attends a great high school.

There are 15  more presidential debates scheduled. Those are 15 opportunities 
to ask those who  would be our political leaders to prioritize the 
preparation of every child in  America for college, career and life. As long as a 
million students are dropping  out every year, and even bright young people like 
Beth Martin are not getting  prepared for college, this is a conversation our 
nation must  have.

Melinda French Gates, a director of The Washington Post Co., is  co-chairman 
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This first appeared in  The Post.
Copyright © 2007, _The Hartford Courant_ (http://www.courant.com/) 
 
Dr. Janice M. Gruendel
Governor's Senior Policy Advisor on  Children and Youth
Co-Chair, CT Early Childhood Education Cabinet
Member,  Youth Vision Team & PK-16 Council
Home office:  203-481-9940
Blackberry: 203-824-4766
Mail to: 28 Juniper  Point
Branford, CT 06405

"The  difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would 
suffice to  solve most of the world's problems." Mahatma  Gandhi



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