About five years ago....some smart folks did some tests and reached the conclusion that only one kid out of every three finishing high school (note how I detailed that sentence)....were prepared for college math and reading requirements. The rest? Unprepared for the challenge and probably should have been blocked at the entrance of any community college or university....until they'd taken three or four high-school level classes to be 'ready'.
This leads me to this thought which has been on my mind for a decade or more.....maybe we ought to 'test' kids out at the tenth grade, and send a fair number onto some occupational trade school, and avoid wasting educational time or resources on kids.
The idea that maybe half the kids reaching some college and 'faking' their way through four years? Well....there's no doubt that a bunch of college kids are just attending classes and marginally getting educated to the level that ought to be required.
Somewhere along this landscape.....there's college professors standing there, and fully grasping that a third to half of the students in the room....are dumber than 'dirt'. They can't write a simple one-page story.....they can't figure square feet or cubic feet....they've heard of the Civil War but aren't that sure about who won....they think capitalism is pretty evil while wearing a $150 pair of Nike shoes....and they believe they are ten times smarter than their dad.
We're deep into a mess, and it's hard to figure the exit, or even if helps to dump some kids out on the curb.
