One of the kids in my extended family has parted company with his high school by mutual agreement.
Instead, he's taking the five exams to earn his GED.
His mother emailed me these shocking facts:
* US high schools only graduate 6 students for every one who satisfies the requirement by GED.
* That figure doesn't even take into account those who drop out and do not bother to get the GED.
* 30% of high school graduates flunk the GED.
Find out from your local high school:
1) How many students graduated last year?
2) How many started four years earlier? And thus, how many fell through the cracks?
If free public schools are failing a large portion of their students, how can we provide alternatives?
Can we set up GED tutoring centers where attendance is not required but chosen, where students are focused on attaining specific goals?
Even better, can we tailor that tutoring to meet the needs of a variety of learners?
It's hard for a teacher in a classroom to speak to the variety of levels of ability and interest found among 30-40 students. Maybe we need to give up the classroom model.
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