Lost generations, and a lost 4 of 5
Wow, only 1 in 5 graduates college ready. What a headline. However, this is not what should concern the Illinois taxpayer.
What should concern our communities and politicians is that the other four are not ready for anything because schools in Illinois over the last several years have only been concerned about the ACT. The ACT is designed for college ready students. Duh, what a con job these guys have done on the citizens of Illinois.
A company that at one time only serviced that 1 in 5 students is now servicing 100 percent through the PSAE and has other school districts across the state hog-tied to use their system. Money!
Let's start by creating a standard that is reasonable. "Most businesses wouldn't survive if only half their product met standards."
Another wow. Guess what? Most businesses wouldn't use inferior raw materials if they wanted their business to survive. The best businesses start with the best raw material and all the customer support needed to make it to the end product.
When will the general public understand that schools do not function like a business for a reason? They also do not operate with every student having the support system essential for success.
College representatives should be ashamed of themselves for saying "it's pretty horrifying" when talking about the high school graduate's skills. Why are they being accepted into college?? Money!
Too many students have been told while in high school that they can go to college and colleges accept them even if they don't have the skills. Why? Money!
In the "old" days you knew you couldn't go to college if you didn't have certain "school" skills, so you either buckled down and worked harder in high school or started looking for a job where you developed job skills. Now everybody can go to college. Just pay the money and they will accept you. They won't necessarily give you college credit, but you can report to your school and to your friends that you are going to college.
Stop accepting students who are not prepared for college and maybe, just maybe, they will take high school more seriously.
We are losing a whole generation. We lost several generations to the whole language phenomenon and are just beginning to recover. Now we are losing one to the ACT/PSAE/everybody needs to go to college phenomenon.
Terry Bloomquist
Elgin