How Public Schools Fail to Prepare Kids For Their Futures By: Stephanie Timblin Keisha Everett Natsumo Uto Paige Pollara Eric Smith

When a student graduates from high school he or she is expected to be proficient only in: -Reading-Math -Writing-Science While these subjects are important, are they enough to build a foundation for success in college? What about those students who choose not to pursue a postsecondary education? Schools should be responsible for teaching their students to be productive, adult members of society and public schools are failing to equip students with the even the most basic skills needed to succeed in the real world. While most blame prolonged adolescense on economic decline and jobs displaced by technology, we blame the public schools, for they are failing to prepare, motivate, and instill passion in each and every child.

Applying to College Many students are never taught how to apply to college or even told what options they have when it comes to choosing the right school. Beyond just applying for admission and registering for classes, there are a lot of decisions to be made about college before graduation from highschool. These are decisions high school students shouldn't have to make alone. College preparation and life skills courses should not only be available to all high school students, they should be required so that students are able to make an educated decisions about whether or not college is right for them.

Standardized Testing Though schools are required to teach science, reading, math and English, Townhall.com has found that only 24% of students actually met the ACT standards in these areas. Only 25% of the students cleared the ACT goal, the rest of the students will take time in college to touch up on high-school level course work ACT scores have been going downhill since the reaching a five- year peak in 2007 Education Secretary Arne Duncan stated that, “ACT results are another sign that states need to raise their academic standards and commit to education reforms that accelerate student achievement.”

Money Management Teens, anxious to move out of their parent's homes, are often surprised to find that it takes a lot more than just rent to live comfortably. Most are never told them about costs of electricity, gas, water, not to mention luxury items like transportation,cable television, and cell phone bills. By the time someone born in the 1980's retires, they should ideally have over a million dollars saved just to support themselves, yet most young people have never been taught how to save money. High school graduates are offered credit cards as soon as they reach the age of 18 and the majority of them will have to learn about interest rates the hard way. While preparation for college is important, the reality is that many students choose not to go to college and those students are inevitably forced to learn these life lessons on their own.

Making Decisions The American public system pushes the hard decisions about career preparation—and, consequently, the differentiation of life fates—back into the college years for the majority of students who go on to college… but at what cost? Over a lifetime high school graduates can expect, on average, to earn $1.2 million; those with a bachelor's degree, $2.1 million; and people with a master's degree, $2.5 million. Persons with doctoral degrees earn an average of $3.4 million over the course of a lifetime, while those with professional degrees do at best $4.4 million. If a student isn't prepared for college, it could literally cost them their future.

What about those who choose to forgo a college education? Vocational Programs are continuing to shrink and disappear from public schools. Students who would have chosen these paths now have to pay for a majority of their training. Potential jobs for students with only a GED: carpenters customer service representatives electricians home health aids maintence and repair workers office clerks retail salesperson restaurant cook

The Problem And that approach isn't right for everyone. Schools "...include a narrow emphasis on certain sorts of academic work; the exile of arts, humanities and physical education programs from schools; arid approaches to teaching math and sciences; an obsessive culture of standardized testing and tight financial pressures to teach to the tests." - Sir Ken Robinson

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? To view, click on the picture or following link: