I was reading the post regarding the decrease in funding for certain programs in the blog from Instructional Computing II, just after I read an article on "The High Cost of High School Dropouts" in the NEA's magazine. This 'President's Viewpoint' shows that he feels the dropout rates will threaten the nation's future and mentions a 12 step process to reduce these rates. In this article, Reg Weaver compares the dropout crisis to the 9/11 attacks as a threat to our democracy. No mention of funding, but racial demographics and dropout rates were cited. More stuff that is without a funding base?
Having a student in school that doesn't want to be there is rough at any age, but the older they get the harder it is. Keeping the student engaged is key. Keeping a non-college bound student interested in the education is tough, but Mr. Weaver states that the NEA will call for more emphasis on vocational and technical training, both of which require more funding or more business partnering. Is this the answer? I don't know, but I'll have to wait and see how the funding and organization stack up.
1 comment:
This post has great interest to me as I share your concern. It is not a stretch to think that we may already be seeing some of the impacts of declining interest in education socially and economically. I particularly agree with the sentiment regarding vocational (or Trade and Industrial) education as there may be growing evidence that the ranks of students not college-bound is growing. As a former vocational teacher, it became apparent to me some time back that this might be an opportunity to provide an education to many who might just be forced into a college tract when they realistically don’t want it. It is interesting to see how the Japanese deal with a divergent student population. The following site gives a good overview and the paragraph dealing with high school assignment is interesting, particularly in that student achievement to that point (from tests) is a determining factor as to which direction they will go (college or vocational):
http://www.indiana.edu/~japan/digest5.html
You may also be interested to read a little on Bill and Melinda Gate’s increasing participation in education, lately through Stand Up:
http://www.standup.org/
The site has some flaws but there may be something of interest contained. Whatever your thoughts on him, he has been very generous toward education and obviously realizes a need and others like him, though likely in decision-making positions rather than financial ones, will need to adopt a similar concern if we are to steer back toward a better course.
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