After teaching at GRCC for five years, I'm not entirely convinced that college is for everyone, yet some believe it's the only way to achieve a middle-class existence. From Bob Herbert's column in today's NY Times: "Four years of college is becoming a prerequisite for a middle-class quality of life." However, one-third of American students drop out of high school.
An article in The Atlantic Monthly, written by an anonymous community college professor, puts it quite bluntly: some students just don't belong in the ivory tower because they haven't acquired the necessary skills to succeed at that level.
It's time to change our high schools - our students need to know more about the world they're entering into. When more countries are part of the global economy, it's no longer acceptable to maintain the status quo in public education.
This means long term education reform, something more than No Child Left Behind and constant testing. We're raising a generation of test takers who won't pass the most important test of all - being able to apply acquired knowledge in real situations.
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