Lack of Practical Preparation

A 19.5 percent unemployment rate for high school graduates indicates that American public schools do not equip students with the skills necessary to successfully integrate into the workforce. Instead, we have cut funding for technical educations, taking away valuable opportunities for students to boost their career prospects. College is not for everyone, yet we impose college-preparatory teaching methodologies on all students. If our high school students are better qualified and equipped with real world skills, American companies will have even fewer reasons for outsourcing.

Even students bound for college are lacking some of these skills. According to one report on higher education, as many as 60 percent of incoming freshman are in need of remedial classes in English, math, or both – and this is likely a conservative estimate. A 2013 report found that only 20 percent of students from low-income families satisfied at least 3 out of 4 ACT College Readiness Benchmarks. Even valedictorians from low-performing schools are shocked by how behind they are when they set foot on campus. Those students who are in over their heads when they enter college must take remedial classes bring themselves on par with their college-ready peers.

Unequal Access

In addition to a lack of practical preparation, as many of you have pointed out in comments to my previous posts, many students do not have access to quality education. Due to budget cuts and funding misallocations, money is not going to underprivileged communities where low-income students receive as much as $9,000 less per student than their peers in wealthier districts. The disastrous result is a higher concentration of “drop out factories” or schools that retain only 60 percent or fewer of their incoming freshman classes, in both large cities and rural areas. This financial inequality has especially dire consequences for underprivileged students who are disproportionately impacted by poverty and more than three times as likely to be held back a grade level as white students.

Poverty also has real impacts in the classroom. The 2015 Hunger In Our Schools report surveyed teachers across America and found that 3 out of 4 educators see hunger in their classrooms. This figure is up from 3 out of 5 in 2012 despite an astonishing 94 percent of public schools participating in a breakfast program. Hunger affects concentration, motivation, energy, and, ultimately, performance, according to 84 percent of teachers surveyed by No Kid Hungry. For a heartbreaking look at some of the other ways poverty affects learning, look no further than the viral: “I wish my teacher knew ...”

Rigidity and Archaic Regulations

For many hardworking teachers, another struggle is the strict adherence to federal guidelines and outdated benchmarks. Standards like Common Core seemed to be the solution, but proved difficult and expensive in practice. Shortly after the Common Core was introduced, Dennis Van Roekel, President of the National Education Association, wrote that two-thirds of all teachers were not consulted on how to implement the Common Core into their own classrooms. Van Roekel continued to comment that the manner in which teachers are asked to administer tests just simply are not relevant to their curriculums, but still used as a standard to determine “success.” Meanwhile, arts programs, which are proven to positively impact student performances, have been slashed from curriculums. Mentoring programs suffered budget cuts as well, despite their vital role in keeping at-risk students in school and on track to break the cycle of poverty.

Given the aforementioned issues facing American education, it is imperative we have a brutally honest conversation about how we can improve public schools. Tune in next week for a discussion of my proposed solutions.