The Sad State of American Education

America ranks 27th among developed nations in the proportion of students receiving undergraduate degrees in science and engineering.

US undergraduate institutions award 16% of their degrees in the natural sciences or engineering. South Korea and China award 38% and 47%, respectively.

On the Program for International Student Assessment exam, students in Hong Kong and Shanghai dominated their counterparts in the US, and most other countries and most other countries in Science and Technology.

 A record number of high school students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams are scoring at the lowest level possible, according to national data on 2010 graduates. In science, students in 16 countries outscored American students.

According to a 2006 program for international student assessment exam, 15-year-old American students placed a dismal 23rd out of 29 participating countries in mathematics.

Fewer than one third of elementary and high school students have a solid grasp on science. China, Japan, and Finland are all ahead of the US.

To put this in perspective, for years the US dominated the science and technology fields and filed record numbers of patents which in turn empowered its military and fueled its economy.

This matters because our country desperately relies on mathematicians and engineers to remain at the cusp of technological advances. The failure to prepare tomorrow's leaders in math and science is a threat to our country's global standing.

Finally, where does Black students fit in this sad situation? Take a look a Chicago Failing Schools.

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3 Things Dropout Prevention Programs Must Do to be Effective

There are various dropout prevention programs functioning across the United States with varying degrees of success. From my perspective as a mental health consultant, there are 3 important ways if implemented would help stop the high school dropout epidemic.

Lets look at the 3 ways:

1.    The school program must be perceived by the students as leading to higher status roles in the future and to future economic realities. 

In other words, the school programs must have a connection between their school and work either with a future career or at least with a decent paying job with the possibility of advancement after graduation.

2.    The school program must be personalized, challenging, and have a sense of community established whereby the relationship between teacher and student are supportive and trusting rather than unhelpful and distrustful. 

Every high school must be either small enough or divided into small enough units to allow teachers and staff to know the students as individuals and to respond to both their specific learning needs and learning styles.

3.    The school program must provide the student with some choice about the nature of their academic program and what they are interested in learning. As part of their classroom work, students must have an opportunity to design independent projects, work on group projects, conduct experiments, solve open-ended problems, get involved in activities that connect school and work, and have opportunities to encounter some real psychological and practical success in their endeavors.

In reflecting on my experience as a former high school dropout, if I was in a high school that connected school and work or at least connected school work with a career I was interested in, treated me as an individual, and, allowed me some choice in my academic program, I never would have dropped out. 

It is the impersonal and alienating nature of high school conditions, specifically in the largest cities, that needs to be changed.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.