Lowering Higher Learning

According to the Denver Post online, students entering college in Colorado are really too stupid to go there. Half of the students entering Metropolitan State College and nearly one-quarter of the kids at the University of Northern Colorado did not have the proper high school course work to enter college.

Colorado is one of the minority of states that does not have mandatory requirements for high school curriculums. They did institute minimum college entrance standards proposals four years ago that are to take effect next year. Even so, there were 3,000 ill-prepared students attempting to attend state colleges this year. So, they are lowering the standards.

Gerald Keefe takes education seriously as he is the superintendent for Kit Carson, a rural community. "One hundred percent of our kids graduate from high school," he said. "It's not in our business to, in my mind, make sure students just go to a four-year college. That's not the only path."

The stringent requirements for attending a state college in 2008 were planned to include four years of English, three years of math, three years of science, and academic electives. This is too rigorous for students attending high school in Colorado. So the initiative is being delayed another year.

The source article does not speak about the lowered requirements in classes taken. They don't demand a level of competence in the classes given in high school. Rather, they only say that this is what a teenager should have completed in order to go on to a state college.

They are currently looking at GPAs and ACT scores. What the article doesn't say and what I personally can't figure out is why students and their parents aren't aware of the college requirements. Why can't a student voluntarily sign up for English, science, math, and electives?

It would be nice if the high schools thought they were in the business of preparing kids for going to college, but apparently that isn't their job. Their job is to make sure that everyone gets a diploma stating that they sat through some really watered-down classes in public safety and shop. Maybe some home economics classes, too.

The old coots among us keep shaking our heads at the stupid kids leaving the school system. Educators also congratulate every third grader who writes a story regardless of spelling and grammar. "It's the creativity we value." No, it isn't. Substance counts. Being able to form grammatically correct sentences is a valuable tool and the schools are responsible for teaching that skill. Same with spelling. And balancing a checkbook. And figuring out a 15% tip. And all the other mundane life skills that take a definite base of knowledge.

Reading the newspaper shouldn't be that hard. Schools are given the funding from our tax dollars to provide a service. Of course, parents aren't off the hook here either. When my son could not get the special services he needed to help him overcome dyslexia, I took it upon myself to make sure he got the help he needed. No child of mine was going to grow up and not know how to read. That was horrifying to me and I did not allow it to happen.

All in all, it is a terrible situation. We have watered down the curriculum along with the stuff taught within that set. And still school is too hard for the poor babies. High schools are not in the business of getting kids ready for college so when it is extremely costly, kids are taking (paying) for remediation classes when the stuff should have been taught when school was "free" or at taxpayers' expense.

And adults can't find the Pacific Ocean on a map. Can't read the newspaper (online or off) and can't figure out the price of an item if it is marked 40% off. The new batch of college graduates has caused their own stink by their complete lack of work ethic. But that's another topic.