So Many Kids Graduating Highschool Today Can't Read, But Is That Really Because The Standards Are So Low?

[Anonymous]

Like how this article says: If High School Seniors Can’t Read Their Diplomas, Should They Be Allowed to Graduate?

I always thought that the reason why so many kids were failing was because the school standards were so terrible, since that's what everyone always says...

But then I found this article written by Robert Niles about why he chooses to send his kids to public school: Why I Send My Children to Public Schools

He says he actually loves sending his kids to public school, and he lists 5 top reasons why. But the one I'm going to quote from is the very first reason:

1. Public Schools Work:

But what about all those news stories about bad test scores and failing schools? Aren't many kids falling behind?

It's true that we've got a huge gap between students in our country -- one that grows with each grade level as kids advance from kindergarten into high school. But that's not because we have an education problem in America. It's because we have a large, and growing, child poverty problem in our country.

The children whose parents can afford to send them to school with money for lunch, and who have the ability to help them with their increasingly difficult homework at night, typically thrive in the public schools, as they always have. But those aren't the majority of kids anymore in many districts.

If public education were broken, and our schools no longer had the ability to teach, then why is it you never find any of these "broken" schools in affluent communities? I wrote about this issue last spring, when I showed how the schools in my hometown of Pasadena, California were out-performing the California average in all major demographic categories -- white, black and Latino, poor and non-poor -- but the district's overall test score average was below the state average because the Pasadena schools have a far above-average percentage of economically-disadvantaged children attending them.

When we raise academic standards and increase homework requirements, we widen the gap between students whose parents studied algebra, geometry and calculus -- and can help them with that homework -- and those who don't have parents like that, or any parent at home, to help them.

Yet even students facing immense home challenges -- single parents, foster care, parents working multiple jobs who are rarely home, parents who can't speak English or who didn't complete school themselves -- are still learning and advancing in our public schools, even if they continue to trail those students who have the advantage of living with educated parents who earn a living wage, or better. Test scores in all socio-economic categories continue to rise in our country. Our public school teachers are doing their jobs. Our schools just need more teachers, and more resources to help close the gap between those children whose birth gave them a head start -- like my kids -- and those whose birth didn't.

So what do you think? Do you think he's correct or...not?

[Anonymous]

Lol public schools have been on the decline for decades. When all the conservative politicians rant and rave about cutting spending what do you people think they mean? School for poor people aka public schools! Don't even get me started on No child left behind! Oh, the kids graduating your school can't read because you don't have enough money to pay teachers? We are going to CUT your funding! Kids in your school did well on the standardized tests? You don't get ANYTHING because conservatives refuse to even fund their OWN program aka No Child Left Behind! This is what you get for electing millionaires to congress/the white house!

[ALazyKirby]

I think he is right on this article. One thought about this too: Maybe a lot of kids also have dislexia... I'm about to go slightly off topic. What comes to mind when I think of improvement of the school system is definitely better programs in school for Autism Spectrum, and developmental delays. There aren't very many great ones that would really be ideal for kids with autism yet.

[jacquesvol]

"Maybe a lot of kids also have dislexia..." Indeed, it seems more frequent now than when I was young.
More frequent or are the diagnoses better?

If a school gets the reputation of caring well about children with dyslexia, it will get more children with dyslexia. If a school gets the reputation of caring well about Spanish speaking children, it will get more children of Latino origin. It might become a victim of its good reputation.

[Northeast106]

I disagree, we always blame poverty and no one accepts personal responsibility. You can't force a student to learn, many of these kids misbehave, bully, and disrupt the education of other students. Kids now a days face no real punishment, and many of them have that don't give a fuck attitude. The only reason test scores are higher, is because the standards are lowering. Tests can be reviewed and made easier, not to mention they also have sliding scales. Results speak for themselves, we have high school aged kids who can't read. Individuals thrive when they want to, and no system, public or private, can ensure every child meets the education standards. I always liked that old quote," You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."

[myTake Owner]

A lot of kids do act crazy, but living in a family where you don't know how to read for years and years and no one does anything about it, can only come from a really dysfunctional family.

[Northeast106]

@heartsblooddupre That's not true, Michael Ross came from a nice family and he ended up being a serial killer. I believe in Individual responsibility, once your of age and your an adult, that's it. Childhood isn't an excuse anymore. There are rich, spoiled kids who get arrested for blue collar crimes even though they really aren't desperate for money. We have to stop apologizing for people and their bad behavior.

[myTake Owner]

So you're saying that if a parent doesn't realize that their child can't read, that's not extremely dysfunctional?

[Northeast106]

@heartsblooddupre It is dysfunctional but sometimes evil people are highly intelligent and educated (Whitman, Manson). Education and money isn't always the cure for our problems. There are countries with a much poorer economy that have lower crime rates. Our education budget is much higher than many countries, and yet their kids are scoring much higher in math, language, and science. South Korea and Finland are two examples I can think of for both education and crime rate. There are definitely negligent messed up parents out there, and it is a huge portion of the problem.

[myTake Owner]

I LOVE it when people give me new information to research! I'm going to look up what you said about the crime rates being lower in worse economies. Otherwise, I actually totally agree with you.

[Northeast106]

@HeartsBlooddupre Ok, but I didn't say EVERY country either. Just using certain nations as an example.

[MysteriousFlower]

I think family background is the most essential part of a children learning development and everything else. I was the best reader at school despite being terrible at maths, but that still got me over the line, and I have been over 10 public schools with a dysfunctional family.
Some kids need to put more effort in, public schools need to have a better educational system and of course, better discipline for bullying, that itself effects kids, because all you can think about is how not to be abused not really caring about getting good grades.
That was a good take, nice perspective.

[astatine]

From what i infer, it could also be because they are not required to compete for resources a lot. Even a completely uneducated person can lead a decent lifestyle in America; he will definitely own a car. So i think there is less motivation to work hard too...
also, the teachers couldn't care less, but that problem is not restricted to America only, it is the same everywhere else

[myTake Owner]

I think quite a few teachers care! But... you may be right about many of thew kids not caring :p

[RationalLioness]

If they can't read, they shouldn't be passed. I think this has to do with Bush's "No Child Left Behind Act". If they do NOT meet the requirements, DO NOT pass these kids.

I know a few people who should have been held back. This is going to be detrimental to our society if it continues.

I do agree with your Take though.

[Northeast106]

No child left behind passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support. People opposed NCLB because education districts wanted less accountability. All it mandates is that states have to administer standardized tests for federal funding. Without tests, we don't know what are kids are really learning. Benchmarks and standards are needed to assess their skills.

[RationalLioness]

And how is that fair? "I'm going to cut funding to better your education if your test scores are too low?" So when they do cut it, those schools CAN'T get any better because they have no money. It makes no sense. I don't agree.

[Northeast106]

@RationalLioness how is it not fair? Money isn't free, and if your not getting results why continue to fund a dead investment? Lets say you owned an apartment complex and you hire a plumbing company to fix some apartment units. They mess the job up and cost 1000's of dollars of water damage, are you going to hire that company to fix another 5 units? Same difference, if my kids aren't learning anything at a school why is my taxpayer money still funding it? If they can't handle the work cut out for them I should be able to find another school to enroll them in. This also gave parents a choice, it's our money paying for it. Not to mention our public school system has been performing poorly before NCLB. The schools in my town receive about 4/5ths of the local town budget, and that's just the local budget. Literally the town budget is 13 mil, the education budget is 40mil. These schools receive funding, believe that. We are just not seeing results, and people don't think rationally when it

[Northeast106]

comes to education concerning their children. Our government capitalizes on emotional thinking, they have it down to a science. The first thing they threatened if we didn't give in to a town budget increase, was sports programs. We have less children enrolled now then before, but somehow our kids are going to suffer if the millrate doesn't increase?

[RationalLioness]

You're not using common sense. If those schools DON'T get funding, how in the hell will they EVER get better?

You're fucking up America by messing with the educational system. It's embarrassing for people to held back and that needs to return instead of simply passing people along.

[Northeast106]

The NCLB has already been waived in many states. My state is one of them, and they are still passing kids who can't read. It has nothing to do with the NCLB, they just don't want to deal with the kids. They pass them onto the next grade instead of dealing with them a second year.

[Phoenix98]

I believe it's more then what you said I think it's also the children's fault as well. As some kids choose simply not to learn and to instead good off.

[Krushhbrownies]

Did I read this right? ''So Many Kids Graduating Highschool Today Can't Read''. You mean they are graduating second level education despite being illiterate? Well that's alarming.

[myTake Owner]

Yep it is, but read the MyTake and see if you agree about why.

[Anonymous]

Public school system isn't very good.

[jacquesvol]

Excellent take.

[myTake Owner]

Thank you xD

[jacquesvol]

I can only speak about Belgian public schools : my wife, son, daughter in law teach there, so did two of my grandparents and my grand uncle.
My family knows that the pupils coming over from private to public schools are often worse than the pupils in public schools. Some schools are go, even excellent, others are bad (a few years) and that's valid for public as well as for private schools. The quality of a school changes continuously: new pupils teachers and principals come, others leave. The people present in a school in 2014 aren't the same as in 2016 or in 2017.

[jacquesvol]

TYPO * Some schools are GOOD, even excellent, others___*