Education, again.
Written by mamasbitchin
Children do not break under the weight of our parenting if we engage with awareness about ourselves and our kids, but they do break under the horror of our apathy.
¼ of all Arizona high school freshmen do not complete their senior year and attain a diploma. Arizona high school graduation requirements fail to meet the minimum standards for college entry forcing many recent high school graduates to attend 2 years of intermediary schooling in order to complete the minimum requirements to attend a state college or university. Therefore, high school students in Arizona are not prepared to successfully complete university. Despite more students graduating from high school over the last 5 years, Arizona students attending 4-year state colleges are 75% likely to complete their freshman year and then after that only 30% likely to go on to complete their undergraduate degrees. And these state schools are not outstanding universities – good, but not world class: RANK120 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ; RANK143 Arizona State University Tempe, AZ; No Ranking (Tier 2) Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ
If we are not training our children to think critically towards success in college, what are we training them for? Here are few jobs you might be qualified for if you are educated in Arizona:
1 – Cashiers
2 – Retail salespersons
3 – Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food
4 – Waiters and waitresses
5 – Customer service representatives
6 – Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers
7 – Office clerks
8 – Carpenters
9 – Landscaping and groundskeeping workers
10 – Janitors
11 – Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing
12 – Receptionists
13 – Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants
14 – First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers
15 – Medical assistants
Are these really the kinds of jobs that you want your children to be qualified for as the expanse of their employment opportunities? I know that some kids are gonna be trash collectors – we need good, responsible maintenance persons – yet the whole of our working population is being graduated from high school to do these jobs. If they can’t make it here in Arizona, they can move to another state and work a crappy job there. But is this really the very BEST we can do for our children?! I think children are worth more than this – hell, I even think your children are worth more than this!
This pathetic kind of educational standard only continues with our outright unwillingness to change the status quo.
This information comes on the heels of our very nasty meeting about that bitch-of-a-principal (and I do not mean this in a sassy fun-loving way) with the superintendent of the high school district.
the Bitch in the house 
Wow, those are some scary statistics. Where we live right now, I hate the school district and I really don’t want my kids going to these schools, when I was a sophmore and moved here, I was in an AP class, well when I switched, the class in this school district was doing work I had done in 8th grade! it was terrible. Something really needs to be done in the school systems.
I think it is right and good to question and never be satisified with the quality of education especially when things are wrong. Parents should question educators and government officials. Sadly these stats don’t really surprise me that much. What has happened to the No Child Left Behind mantra. Did it translate into No Child Left Behind, I guess not. We are Canadian and I believe our public system is in better shape, but still there are gaps and increasingly a two-tier system. I have one child with special needs and I see her needs, in some ways better met when I pay for her education. Classes are smaller, teachers at times more committed and less stressed out or overextended. It is never good enough really. My issues right now are with inclusion and whether every child is best served by being included. The jury is out for me on that issue. I mean I know the other kids benefit and learn from my child being in the class with them. I do not think though that every child – with special needs – benefits by being forced into a class with all types of learners. They are often neglected by teachers, unsupported by other staff and left ostracized by other children. It is a strange and problematic system that all too often seems not child-centred at all.