Free Press –
School End At Tenth Grade
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Mighty Betsy and I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a Happy, Healthy New Year. Let us all pray for peace.
Last week, I saw a thought provoking Associated Press article, which ran in the Morning Call (Dec. 15) and the Inquirer. After I read it, I called several educators for their reactions. But first, here are the essential graphs of the story.
“Education and business leaders urged an overhaul of the U.S. school system, including ending high school at the 10th grade for many students,” the AP report began. “Current teaching is failing to prepare young Americans for the global economy, members of a bipartisan panel said Thursday.” The organization’s name is the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce.
“Beginning teachers should earn more and money for this idea could come from the scrapping of conventional teacher pension plans in favor of other benefits such as 401 (k’s),” the report continued.
“Under the group’s proposal, students would finish 10th grade and then take examinations. Depending on how well the students perform, they could go on to a community college or stay in school and study for more advanced tests that could earn them a place at a four-year college. Somewhat similar systems are in place in other countries.
“The government could eventually save an estimated $60 billion [yearly]. The money could pay, for example, for new pre-kindergarten programs and higher teacher salaries, which the report said would help recruit top graduates into the profession.
“One other major shift would put independent contractors in charge of operating schools, although the schools would remain public. States would oversee the funding,” the article concluded.
What did local educators think about this?
“I haven’t read the report,” David Landis, the acting Superintendent of the Quakertown school district responded. “But it’s a provocative idea and will lead to discussions. There are interesting ideas here.
“Early childhood education is critical,” Landis continued, “But I need to see the supporting documents before I say much more. The American [education] system is built around the concept that everyone should receive a basic education. We must not pigeon hole anybody or deny children the opportunity to learn. We’ll just have to wait and see,” Landis told me.
He mentioned that the National School Board Association has a web page where readers can receive a one-page opinion. www.nsba.org
“It’s another new idea,” Robert Kish, the Pennridge Superintendent told me, reacting to the AP story. “In Europe, compulsory education doesn’t last as long as it does in the U.S.
“Here in Pennridge,” Kish continued, “We have a work study program for kids who aren’t headed for college. And we have college-grade programs, which we offer to students in the high school.
“Where [public] education is not working is in urban settings. Personally, I don’t see a solution by ending education in the 10th grade,” Kish added. “But it definitely will stimulate discussion. It would be a major step if we’re willing to look beyond the status quo.”
Robert Leight is a Quakertown School director and a former professor at Lehigh University. He was more fascinated with another article about teens watching TV, appearing on the same page. “Teens spend over 1,500 hours watching television each year,” Leight began, “Compared to 1,140 hours in the classroom.”
The AP headline stated that TV watching averages nearly five hours per day…for every man, woman, and child. Good Grief!!
Turning back to the AP story about ending school for most kids at the 10th grade, Leight continued. “What happens to a tenth grader that doesn’t have an academic or vocational focus,” he asked? “You can’t just turn them loose at age 15.”
My answer to that was easy to say but difficult to do. Left to me, every child would perform compulsory service for two years after school days end. No exception. Each child would choose between serving in the military and working in government programs like VA hospitals or the park system…the Peace Corps, etc. A teen would be paid more if he or she chose the military, or more money still, if willing to serve in combat theaters.
Any president or congressman would be slower to send youngsters into harm’s way if they realized that members of their own families would end up in the world’s hot spots. Compulsory service is another subject for another day.
But I stray.
I was fascinated with the AP story. Maybe we don’t have to keep everyone in the public school system for 12 years. Maybe turning public schools over to private contractors should be explored.
Several things are clear. American students do not measure up to their Asian and European peers…at least in math and science. And we spend more tax money on pupils than the foreign competition. In addition, Asian and some European countries teach more days than America does. Plus foreign classrooms have more students in them than ours do.
It sort of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Happy New Year!!
Charles Meredith
PS. Several students at QHS took me to task in letters to the editor last week. That’s great. When readers think that I’ve wandered off the reservation, they should tell me about it.