Big Cities Battle Dismal Graduation Rates

Report: Less Than 50 Percent Of High School Students Graduate In 17 Of U.S.'s Largest Cities

(CBS/AP)  Seventeen of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report, issued by America's Promise Alliance, found that about half of the students served by public school systems in the nation's largest cities receive diplomas. Students in suburban and rural public high schools were more likely to graduate than their counterparts in urban public high schools, the researchers said.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.

"When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the alliance.

"It's essential that we fix this system and get more kids that are coming out with high school degrees to go into technical schools, community colleges and go into college, if America is going to stay in the forefront of this globalizing world," Powell told CBS News anchor Katie Couric.

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Entertainer and activist Bill Cosby and Dr. Alvin Poussaint, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, co-authored "Come on People: On the Path from Victims to Victors." Both discussed the dropout rate report with Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Wednesday. Poussaint called the situation "a catastrophe. ... Many of these schools are in the inner-city and are made up of blacks and Latino students who are not graduating at great rates. This increases the level of poverty, it increases crime, it increases the incarceration rate. Eighty-percent of inmates are high school dropouts in the United States. It's really a drag" on the economy. Cosby said the response to the report should be "an outcry and an out-movement." To read an excerpt of "Come on People," click here. To see the interview, click here.

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His wife, Alma Powell, the chair of the alliance, said students need to graduate with skills that will help them in higher education and beyond. "We must invest in the whole child, and that means finding solutions that involve the family, the school and the community." The Powells' organization was beginning a national campaign to cut high school dropout rates.

The group, joining Education Secretary Margaret Spellings at a Tuesday news conference, was announcing plans to hold summits in every state during the next two years on ways to better prepare students for college and the work force.

The report found troubling data on the prospects of urban public high school students getting to college. In Detroit's public schools, 24.9 percent of the students graduated from high school, while 30.5 percent graduated in Indianapolis Public Schools and 34.1 percent received diplomas in the Cleveland Municipal City School District.

The new report says Chicago's graduation rate is 51 percent - better than the worst but far short of what the city says is its goal, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.

"There's no acceptable dropout rate any more. Zero is what our goal has to be," says Arne Duncan, CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

Detroit Public Schools officials had not yet seen the report, spokesman Steve Wasko said Tuesday.

"We do see dropout and graduation rate reports on a monthly basis, and they vary wildly," he said. "We know from previous reports that students who transfer or are even deceased are listed as dropouts."

Detroit Public Schools is working on its own report of graduation rates and had no statistics available that reveal where they compare to the national report.

"The fact is, whether it's 21 percent or 50 percent or 74 percent it's too low," Wasko said.

Researchers analyzed school district data from 2003-2004 collected by the U.S. Department of Education. To calculate graduation rates, the report estimated the likelihood that a 9th grader would complete high school on time with a regular diploma. Researchers used school enrollment and diploma data, but did not use data on dropouts as part of its calculation.

Many metropolitan areas also showed a considerable gap in the graduation rates between their inner-city schools and the surrounding suburbs. Researchers found, for example, that 81.5 percent of the public school students in Baltimore's suburbs graduate, compared with 34.6 percent in the city schools.

In Ohio, nearly 83 percent of public high school students in suburban Columbus graduate while 78.1 percent in suburban Cleveland earn their diplomas, well above their local city schools.

Ohio Department of Education spokesman Scott Blake said the state delays its estimates by a few months so it can include summer graduates in its calculations. Based on the state's methodology, he said Columbus graduated 60.6 percent of its students in 2003-2004, rather than the 40.9 percent the study calculated.

By Ohio's reckoning, Columbus has improved each year since the 2001-2002 school year, with 72.9 percent of students graduating in 2005-2006, Columbus Public Schools spokesman Jeff Weaver said.

Weaver said the gains were partly because of after-school and weekend tutoring, coordinated literacy programs in the district's elementary schools and bolstered English-as-a-second-language programs.

Cleveland's current graduation rates are also higher than the statistics cited in the new report, school district spokesman Ben Holbert said.

Spellings has called for requiring states to provide graduation data in a more uniform way under the renewal of the No Child Left Behind education law pending in Congress.

Under the 2002 law, schools that miss progress goals face increasing sanctions, including forced use of federal money for private tutoring, easing student transfers, and restructuring of school staff.

States calculate their graduation rates using all sorts of methods, many of which critics say are based on unreliable information about school dropouts. Under No Child Left Behind, states may use their own methods of calculating graduation rates and set their own goals for improving them.

The research was conducted by Editorial Projects in Education, a Bethesda, Md., nonprofit organization, with support from America's Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The alliance is based on a joint effort of nonprofit groups, corporations, community leaders, charities, faith-based organizations and individuals to improve children's lives.

Detroit Public Schools announced a new plan Monday in which five school buildings will be broken up into smaller schools with a maximum of 450 students in each of the smaller schools. Three of the five school buildings are high schools.

The goal is to increase adult and student interaction, Wasko said.

"We do know from national studies that smaller school communities do work," he said. "Students become more engaged."

Officials hope to implement the plan by next fall.

[vancouverboo]

Education is not for everyone. We''re not all molded the same way. Too bad there are no more automobile assmbly lines for the dropouts. That''s progress. $59 a month for Nike workers in VietNam. It was in the news today. That''s what they earn. As a result we have unemployed dropouts and Nike''s owner is a multi-billionaire. Multiply that by a thousand and you have America''s story.

[rkennedy4803]

Most of the big cities have black majority populations run by black mayors and school districts run by black majority school boards with black superintendants. If this was to happen in a white school district, heads would roll. Maybe the affected school districts should allow white superintendants and white school boards try their hands at educating these poor performing schools. Perhaps this will make a difference.

[ianlou]

Without a high school diploma you can''t get a good job.
With a high school diploma you can''t get a good job.
Many with a college diploma are looking for a good job.

Crime isn''t the only thing that doesn''t pay.

[runningralph]

If the kids in these cities want to finish high school no one is stopping them. They just don''t see why they need a diploma to commit crimes and get on welfare. Where I live we have had to bring in thousands of illegal immigrants because qualified workers weren''t available. Anyway I''m an optimist, I see half of the kids graduating, not half dropping out. Life is a culling process. School is a culling process. In some places culls can be used but rarely can they be top drawer.

[missingamerica]

Bad graduation rates in the big cities...well, duh.

You''ve shipped so many jobs offshore that even what we have that passes for a President runs around telling the entire nation that they must have some college to get a job and survive - although he, of course, sprinkles in a little class snobbishness by saying "commnunity college".

So now you have all of these kids in high school who have been told over and over again they need college to get a job - and they know *** good and well there is nothing out there to help them get into and through college of any kind.

So what the hell is the point of caring about high school?

lollll...would you care about doing a good job at ANYTHING if YOU knew YOU were locked in at what you are now forever and ever and ever, amen - while more advantaged people zoomed on by in our ever more unequal, unfair, and unbalanced society?

[edward1975-2009]

With both parents having to work to make ends meet. Kids now have no one at home to assure they attend or keep up with school responsibilities. So we are now enabling a generation of non-achievers.

[cgeller100]

Here is another prohlem with our education system; training students to ''get a good'' job is NOT the only prupose of education; it''s to teach students to THINK- to THIMK for themselves, to THINK clearly, fully, analytically, and logically, and to making thinking a lifelong habit. Unfortunately, most Americans do not think - they let others do their thinking for them - which is in great part why we have this mess in our country

[cgeller100]

Learning to THINK is NOT a luxury that only comes after "basic skills" for a job - and we must rid ourselves of this mentality - learning to THINK is the cornerstone and FOUNDATION of all other educational activities, including even simple multiplication tables. We must move from rote memorization to THINKING. Kids wlll be more motivated and do better at every academic subject

[antoniof123]

The neo con way dumb down America.

[bogusbones]

education is our nation''s most important treasure and has been a cornerstone for our progress since the inception of our country. why we spend so much on our military fiascos and ignore a basic constitutional right to all americans i will never understand. if we continue to allow the degradation of our secondary school system and price college beyond the means of most americans, the u.s. is on a greased slope to become a second rate power.

[apprxam]

RKennedy...you''re absolutely correct. What should be done; seperation of students. Detroit for instance, nothings precludeds the schools from putting their best students in their own building or campus which would foster the environment of learning. Culture, racial traits or heredity, neither of which can be tested on the mass scale needed until conditions are set up to measure which ever may be the cause.

Every ethnic group entering this country has gone through those periods of poor performance in school and Afro-Americans must begin the process of laying claim to proper education. We, blacks, must begin by saving those that can be saved and work our way down. This isn''t the "Talented Tenth" principle, but one that says you don''t know what you ahve until you look for it, and it is that search that has been missing. Marva Collins has shown the black children can perform at higher levels. It requires dedicated space and less democracy. The cream that rises should be treated as such. McDonalds , Nike and coaches, black & white, can find dibblers and tacklers at the age of 8. It''s time to direct that same energy for english and math stars, which are planty and mold them with just as mush vigor.

This isn''t that difficult a solution. It''s what has been done by the aforementioned ethnic groups. The process has to be compartmentalized and pointed, plain and simple.

[bobnjersey]

hey, everything is good ... as long as these children are not left behind!

[apprxam]

As yall can see by my spelling...I "ain''t" one of those stars.

[gangesdak]

Both parents do not have to work to make the ends meet in most cases. Parents keep working to pay for houses they cannot afford, cars that they cannot afford, vacations they cannot afford. Exceptions! Yes, there are exceptions. But leaving beyond the means is the main reason for both parents working, and kids getting into trouble.

[jlwesley]

If you want to find someone to blame low graduation rates on, go blame the liberal demycraps, they have guaranteed that those who refuse to work will be supported in a manner that would literally put them in the middle class, they get free medical, free rent, utility subsidies, food stamps, aid to Dependant children and just about anything that they want just for the asking. There is no incentive whatever for them to stay in school, and Nancy (take it from those that work and give to those that don''t) Pelosi wants to give them and illegals even more, so that they can truly enjoy the "American Experiance". Dont blame the republicans for your problems, lay the blame where it really belongs with the liberal demycraps.

[apprxam]

I hear you, Gangesdak, but it''s not just parenting and work. The only institution in places like Detroit and Philadelphia charged with the education and acculturation are those very same failing schools. Black churchs are overwhelmed and unable to acheive the same level of efficacy, say as the Catholic Church had in the 40''s, 50''s & 60''s. There just isn''t the external system to help make up for what parents don''t know. It''s as simple as that and we''ve learned for a long time that government isn''t going to get it done.

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
In a Capitalist society such as ours, how much you make is the most important priority. How many of your children go to college and every other aspect of your life is not a priority. Capitalism has no heart for the other priorities.

Therefore, I am not at all surprised we have a 3rd world education system. We have a 3rd world Market (profit) based Health Care system. We have a 3rd world divorce rate, etc. 1% of the population in jail. 2nd highest suicidal rate in the world. Capitalism cannot address social ills.

[apprxam]

go blame the liberal demycraps

Posted by wesleyjl

Derrick Bell and Charles Ogletree, law professors at Yale (formerly) and Harvard respectively, has basically pronounced that intergration and its enforcement has hurt black children for four generations to no end of such.

We can bus black children to white school under the most stressful conditions, schools can be setup for black high achieving students, placed alone from the worst schools in their proximity. A change of location and philosophy will do wonders for those who want to learn.

Liberal policies don''t allow for that because troubled student can disrupt the many.

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
We all know that money will never make you happy. You make $20 per hour today, you want to make $25 tomorrow. You make $25 per hour today, you want to make $30, etc. I call this the Greed of Capitalism.

Someone once told me that how much you spend is more important than how much you make. If you make $1 million a year but you spend $1 million, you are unhappy. The subprime mortgage crisis is a classic example that American spend way beyond their means. Both parents work only to Support their lifestyle and not to support their children if they have any. What Americans do not know is that Money will never make you happy.

[rushlimpdrug]

Dont blame the republicans for your problems, lay the blame where it really belongs with the liberal demycraps.
Posted by wesleyjl at 12:58 PM

You sound cute when you write stupid krap.
Why do you need to BLAME somebody?
The article is talking about AMERICAN kids, not dem or repub.
Grow up!
Guess how an uneducated American person will treat you when you are old?
Nevermind, go back to hating half of the Americans.

[apprxam]

In fact, liberals have stress the eventual downfall of public schools in black neighborhoods if you seperate the best student from the worst. I say that it is a morally corrupt belief that good black student should be held responsilble for the failures of the poorer ones. No other race or ethnic group is force to live under that principle. Idividualism is the key principle of this country, but not black children; at least until their are arrested for crimes and such.

[apprxam]

Though unfunded, "No Child Left Behind" gives us a moment to hear the poorly constructed arguments that liberals and the Teacher''s Union use to fight against universal standards, which includeds black children in these urban wastelands called school districts. "Teaching to the test" and "we''re for the children" are sad songs that ring ever-the-more hollow, when we see these poor graduation rates. It true that many of those districts are black run and they are the most criminal of all. In NYC, where blacks have no political power, poor school stewardship can be chalked up to, among many things, labor and competition and the prevention of black children to enter the job pool in the Tri-State area, and eventually carted off upstate to jail to buttress the economy there as prisioners.

[parrot123-2009]

Both parents do not have to work to make the ends meet in most cases. Parents keep working to pay for houses they cannot afford, cars that they cannot afford, vacations they cannot afford. Exceptions! Yes, there are exceptions. But leaving beyond the means is the main reason for both parents working, and kids getting into trouble.
Posted by gangesdak at 12:55 PM : Apr 01, 2008

This is not about these dropouts getting into Trouble - it''s about the actual Dropping Out ..... IN my state, there''s talk every school year of schools shutting down and bundling them with other schools due to lack of funds to sustain these schools or keep good teachers ..... Ever ask what the government is doing about educating our children ?? ever ?? Then maybe you''d stop the partisan BS and just understand that these are just American Kids we''re talking about - not the parents. Cheers!

[apprxam]

John Street,Philadelphia; Kwame Kilpatrick, Detroit; Sharpe James, Newark, NJ and a host of other black executive branch, for want of a better term, "leaders", have betrayed black children over and over again for more than 40 years. Enough already.

[apprxam]

When Marva Collins opened her school in the seventies and it was realized by black politicians and business leaders (yes, there are some of those), they, black churches and other civil organizations should''ve built this woman a new building and recruited fair minded and anxious teachers, who wouldn''t mind making less much earlier and much faster than they eventually come to do. The city of Chicago and the folks of the Chicagoland needn''t be bothered because internally, though small and limited, the community itself should''ve embraced the plan, whether it benefited them personally, and help it grow and achieve. THIS DIDN"T HAPPEN and doesn''t happen in other "black" areas, because we''re still waiting for the government to do it....AIN"T GONNA HAPPEN.

[taylor2124]

I''m sure this is all due to the legacy of slavery. Yes, slavery ended 140 years ago. And yes, most of these kids great-grandparents never even met a slave. And yes, most of these kids have never even seen a photo or a picture of a slave. And yes, most of these kids have never read about slavery. And yes, each year slavery is further and further in the past yet these kids get lower and lower grades. Having said all that, we must all be more sensitive and blame all of this on white people and slavery. That is clearly the only right thing to do.

[jon2012-2009]

If you want to find someone to blame low graduation rates on, go blame the liberal demycraps, they have guaranteed that those who refuse to work will be supported in a manner that would literally put them in the middle class, they get free medical, free rent, utility subsidies, food stamps, aid to Dependant children and just about anything that they want just for the asking.
Posted by wesleyjl at 12:58 PM : Apr 01, 2008

Love Republicans who get their mouths out of joint they can''t talk straight. Demycraps? As long as you want to place blame on anybody, don''t you think you some responsibility to cite your research data?

If you don''t have that (it is not in the article) you are demonstrating a shortage of brain neurons to spare a look beyond the surface. By the way, that''s how they come up with real doozies like creationism or abstinence programs.

Are you a product of the American public school system? If so, you are obviously one of its failures.

[runningralph]

It seems like many posters see the high school dropout rate as being a black-white issue. I don''t know what the percentages are but I see a lot of white dropouts as well. Also what about the Hispanic, Asian, and Native American populations? I''ve got some of the Native American in my family, and none have dropped out in the last hundred years, and most graduated from college. The young ones are doing pretty good too.

[mjvw2]

let''s throw more money at the teacher''s union. that will fix it.

[mjvw2]

What Americans do not know is that Money will never make you happy.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by lovegetpeace

but my misery is so enjoyable

[excoachken]

O.K.public school critics, what is your position? Are the public schools so "dumbed down" that they cannot produce good employees for industry or "so difficult that too many kids are failing" to graduate? Please make up your mind and turn in your answer, as homework, before tomorrow.

[marcpcbs]

Message from the front lines.

Back in 1996 the voters in 11 states decided that all the poisons in marijuana smoke could be classified as a harmless "medicine". Since then, the pot industry has increased in size to a point that in Mendocino County CA. alone, we export to all points of the compass around $35,000,000,000.00 yes I said billion a year in high grade mind numbing pot. 70% of this pot goes directly to the schools of this nation. I''m not saying that pot is the only reason for the high drop-out rates but it is a major one. The "Medical Marijuana" lie has seriously undermined much of our educational system and many of our work places.

Do you think there%u2019s a connection between the fact that there are billions of dollars of pot, a strong appetite enhancer, in our schools and the fact that we have a child obesity problem? Today%u2019s 20% THC pot sure causes a huge case of the munchies.

Northern California pot growers should extend a huge "thank you" to all the kids in the nation for their pocket money. The next time some tries to tell you that pot smoke is healthy for little old ladies in pain, just remember that all the pot growers are laughing their ***%u2019s off at how gullible we were. People who need THC can get it in pure pill form and our kids sure don%u2019t need all the drugs in our schools. The pot vote did nothing more than unleash greedy, heartless drug dealers.

[bhappy2-2]

exCoachKen- In my opinion the problems are multi-level. I noticed my daughter is not required to take a course about the operations of the federal government. This was required when I graduated in ''79. Her class DID spend 3 days (50 minutes each) on the Constitution, hardly enough to learn about such an important document.
The schools now tend to teach ONLY what is required to pass the state assessment test, they seem to believe if the test does not cover any particular item it is not worth teaching.
Many of the students in my daughters class can''t work with math problems unless they have a calculator.
Science practically disappears after 7th or 8th grade, like the students have learned all there is to know about anything concerning Science.
P.E. isn''t required after 9th grade. No wonder we have such an obese society.
And the list continues for an almost infinite array of subjects.

[apprxam]

I''''m sure this is all due to the legacy of slavery

Posted by Taylor2124

We''re always going to be tied to the legacy of slavery and by that logic, neer able to break free from its pernicious grip. Taylor...this is unexceptable and smacks of determinism.

[marcpcbs]

Because schools get paid as per attendance and graduation, many of the schools are giving away grades as an act of self-preservation. We can only go by the results of SAT scores today. A High School Diploma means very little. If you are involved in hiring at all you will know what I mean.

[closethippy1]

Posted by marcpcbs at 02:20 PM : Apr 01, 2008

Dude, your argument is soooo irrelevant and irrational.

In any event, is it a wonder that many companies are bringing in immigrants and moving jobs overseas when American kids can hardly read, write or even talk.
I know this white guy in his 20''s at work who wears his baseball cap in reverse and you have to listen very hard to him to understand what he''s talking about.
When I go to a site where people interact like Yahoo Answers, for example, I''d say 80% of the questions asked by American youngsters are hardly legible.
Even by those who rail against pot use.
Compare their English to the English of other youngsters in that site and you can tell American kids couldn''t care less about their own language.
All of this is the result of living in a country where everyone is on their own regardless of their health needs.
A country whose government job is to make more and more and more demands of teachers while less funds are given to them to accomplish those tasks.
Right now the Governor of Florida, for example, is demanding schools to make sure every student exercises 30 minutes a day.
The teachers are trying to tell the good Governor that with all the requirements they have to fullfill there''s hardly time for anyone to exercise.
But that''s what Republicans are good for: To give everyone hell for the sake of it.
That''s the only way they fell they''ve accomplished something.
The b.astards.

[apprxam]

Detroit Public Schools announced a new plan Monday in which five school buildings will be broken up into smaller schools with a maximum of 450 students in each of the smaller schools. Three of the five school buildings are high schools.


What does this mean? They are just containing bad schools and it''s system into smaller packages. These student need to be broken up divided by:

1)trouble makers and those who are not

2)students who want to learn and those who do not

3)higher grade students and poorer grade student

4) those with high parental involvemnet 4 those without

Forcing these children to compete, as does everyone else''s children, is the only way to improve their standing educationally. As of now, there is no proving ground for urban, black children and dropping out is the cure these cities have in absolving themselve the hard work of throwin darts at a small target.

[marcpcbs]

Dude, your argument is soooo irrelevant and irrational.

Posted by closethippy1 at 02:36 PM : Apr 01, 2008

There%u2019s always some druggie that thinks that poisoning millions of kids with pot is a small thing. I wonder how he makes his money?

[apprxam]

Detroit graduates 24% of its student. That''s a moral embarrasment that should give pause to every American, and being that Detroit is only 14-16% white, I''d guess that most of those failing are black. Yes, white, latino and Native American students can fail, but Detroit''s problems are manufacture and not completely a result of slavery or even that of recent segration. The persuit of intergration was distracting and betrayed millions upon millions of black student for four generations. Most important, in Detroit, Baltimore and other "chocolate" cities bad black leadership is the cause. Culture, bad habit and latchkids in the inner-city shouldn''t be disregarded, but poor planning by black "leaders" (Ray Nagan) has done more damage then the Klan ever could.

[apprxam]

That''s a good one, Marc!

[samthetvcat]

--"Weaver said the gains were partly because of after-school and weekend tutoring, coordinated literacy programs in the district''s elementary schools and bolstered English-as-a-second-language programs."--

I didn''t grow up in the inner city but as somebody with a learning disability, this is SO close to my heart - I''ve been on the receiving end of tutoring and I''ve been on the giving end of tutoring and when you''re falling behind personal help can make ALL the difference.

Sometimes it''s hard to find well organized programs to match oneself up with a kids who need help . . . it''d be great if one of the Presidential candidates looked into forming a database to match kids up with volunteers to make it easier. You would think it''d be easier, but for some reason it''s not . . .

[bikermomx2]

This is all the more reason why I home school!! The best thing I did for my daughter was pull her out of public schools that teach to pass the state tests. At the age of 11 she knows more than her peers...she knows about her american heritage and takes pride in singing our national anthem at the top of her lungs, she knows about community service, and she knows how to add, subtract, multiply, save money...she takes art, music and makes quilts for the homeless. She knows enough yoga to teach a class! Parents can''t leave it up to the public school system to teach them...parents need to step up the process and step up their expectations of their children!!

[excoachken]

One thing for sure. Hiding your kids from reality by home schoolin'' is not the answer. Isolated kids who can''t deal with the realities of society become the Jeffrey Dahmers of society. Kids need other kids to learn with, in order to put lessons into perspective.

[bikermomx2]

excoachken...sorry to mention that she does get a ton of social development. Either through church, community service, field trips with other home school children, and community center sports. She by no means is ''sheltered'' but get it that their are some strange people that home school! She is up on all current events and has taken in interest into the political campaigning that is going on. I''m fortunate to have such a great kid!

[rudy654-2009]

Say thanks to the "No Child Left Behind Act" or a.k.a. No Teacher Left Standing Act.

[joyous88]

why not, what did you expect?

after 12 years of republiCON neglect

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
I am amazed that NeoCons have not cry out vouchers for Private schooling here.

But, just in case the NeoCons bring up Vouchers, please remind them that the Bush Administration commissioned a study of Public Schools versus Private Schools and found public schools do a little better.

Enjoy surfing: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/15/education/15report.html?ex=1310616000&en=abe96106c55b306f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[dogsoul]

"The best thing I did for my daughter was pull her out of public schools that teach to pass the state tests. At the age of 11 she knows more than her peers..."

So I''m assuming then that she can pass the state tests - with flying colors. Lots of teachers complain about ''no child left behind'' because, well - it forces teachers to be - gulp - accountable to some standard. Now if the standard is no good or somehow OFF - fine, change the standard... but the entire concept that something''s wrong simply because it demands specific results? Because it doesn''t allow you to teach what YOU think is important or how YOU think kids should learn??? Look - MY experience with teachers is that most of them - not all - but most chose teaching as an escape from having to make it out there in the ''real world''. After all, they''ve been training for that job since kindergarten & the unions offer a nice little cocoon of huge job security (tenure - what a joke), great pension & benefits, summers off & let''s face it... after a couple years you pretty much have your lesson plan down... and the pay is not bad either - they all think the rest of us are millionares or something... point being, teachers should NOT be allowed to do things ''their OWN way'' because if the rest of American Industry were as effecient & competent as American Teachers.... we''d be a third world country...

[excoachken]

Bikermom: Glad that your daughter has Miss America potential-------as far as you know, but geographical isolation almost inevitably develops alienation from peers and guess who she will blame for that 15 years from now after two divorces? But, do enjoy her perfectness while it lasts.

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
To fix our shameful and embarrassing education system, we need to change our greed and lazy culture and more recently outsourcing.

Last year, I was laid off becoz my high-tech and high-pay professional job with the same corporation of 12 years got outsourced to India.

My three children asked me what careers should they pick that will not be outsourced. My immediate answer was "any job where the worker must be here to perform." My children reply was "Great! Construction and we don''t need to go to school for that."

My point is why even bother to go to school and break your brains during the best years of your life for a Master of Science degree like me when those jobs are going out. Nobody can say when they are coming back.