The low performance academic epidemic in our high schools
I have been working in secondary education for the past 13 years. For ten years I was in the classroom as an instructor. Now I am working as a student advocate mentoring mostly freshmen. I started teaching after retiring from the Air Force and from working with the National Weather Service. My first years of teaching in the high school left me realizing something was missing in the attitude of many students. I had high expectations – students should turn in homework, students should listen in class, students should do the work assigned, and show respect. It was not all bad, but I was surprised at the percentage of low performing students. There is apathy out there, a lack of work ethic, and general disregard for the value of an education. I do not want to condemn all students here – I am focusing these comments on the increasing percentage of low performing students. I also am not writing this with a data base of research. This is just from my experience in two distinctly different school systems. I would estimate that 35 to 40 percent of freshmen fail one or more classes. This is not due to a lack of ability. It is due to a lack of effort, and an “I-don’t-care attitude”. Also, boys seem to be failing at a rate about 10% higher than girls. Zeros accumulate at such a rate that students get so far behind, find it all hopeless, and end up failing. For some that downward spiral continues into 10th grade, and as more failure comes their way, dropping out seems the best option. Our society must deal with these failing students, whether it is in the school setting, or outside the school setting.
I happened to come across what could be the best measure for how serious this problem is in our society. As a career Air Force officer (now retired), I often talked to recruiters. The Air Force recruiters would tell me that they typically rejected 90 percent of the applicants that came into their offices. I was shocked. So I did some research. I found that overall; recruiters across all services reject 75-80 percent of applicants. This strata of our society cannot qualify for military service because of low test scores (ASVAB – Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), failure to graduate from high school, drug use, medically unfit, criminal records, increased use of Ritalin, and poor physical fitness (one third of teenagers cannot pass a treadmill test). Something is seriously wrong here and it is an epidemic of low performance that manifests itself in behavior seen in middle school and high school.
The problems are not hard to identify – broken homes, no valued role model in their life, dysfunctional family settings, and no support to achieve. The solutions are much harder to find and to quantify their success. There is an urgent need for mentoring, smaller class sizes and community outreach programs for students and families. I would urge you to seek out ways to volunteer in any effort you can to reach out and help in this epidemic of low performing students. Our society pays a high price for each child who slips through the framework of our system uncared for.
I have been working in secondary education for the past 13 years. For ten years I was in the classroom as an instructor. Now I am working as a student advocate mentoring mostly freshmen. I started teaching after retiring from the Air Force and from working with the National Weather Service. My first years of teaching in the high school left me realizing something was missing in the attitude of many students. I had high expectations – students should turn in homework, students should listen in class, students should do the work assigned, and show respect. It was not all bad, but I was surprised at the percentage of low performing students. There is apathy out there, a lack of work ethic, and general disregard for the value of an education. I do not want to condemn all students here – I am focusing these comments on the increasing percentage of low performing students. I also am not writing this with a data base of research. This is just from my experience in two distinctly different school systems. I would estimate that 35 to 40 percent of freshmen fail one or more classes. This is not due to a lack of ability. It is due to a lack of effort, and an “I-don’t-care attitude”. Also, boys seem to be failing at a rate about 10% higher than girls. Zeros accumulate at such a rate that students get so far behind, find it all hopeless, and end up failing. For some that downward spiral continues into 10th grade, and as more failure comes their way, dropping out seems the best option. Our society must deal with these failing students, whether it is in the school setting, or outside the school setting.
I happened to come across what could be the best measure for how serious this problem is in our society. As a career Air Force officer (now retired), I often talked to recruiters. The Air Force recruiters would tell me that they typically rejected 90 percent of the applicants that came into their offices. I was shocked. So I did some research. I found that overall; recruiters across all services reject 75-80 percent of applicants. This strata of our society cannot qualify for military service because of low test scores (ASVAB – Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), failure to graduate from high school, drug use, medically unfit, criminal records, increased use of Ritalin, and poor physical fitness (one third of teenagers cannot pass a treadmill test). Something is seriously wrong here and it is an epidemic of low performance that manifests itself in behavior seen in middle school and high school.
The problems are not hard to identify – broken homes, no valued role model in their life, dysfunctional family settings, and no support to achieve. The solutions are much harder to find and to quantify their success. There is an urgent need for mentoring, smaller class sizes and community outreach programs for students and families. I would urge you to seek out ways to volunteer in any effort you can to reach out and help in this epidemic of low performing students. Our society pays a high price for each child who slips through the framework of our system uncared for.