Graduation at 16
Sort of an update to this story on adolescence. New Hampshire may be the first to move that direction. If it is a success (I suspect it will be) then expect more states to follow suit. For more background, see this film for more background
High school sophomores should be ready for college by age 16. That’s the message from New Hampshire education officials, who announced plans Oct. 30 for a new rigorous state board of exams to be given to 10th graders. Students who pass will be prepared to move on to the state’s community or technical colleges, skipping the last two years of high school. (See pictures of teens and how they would vote.)
Once implemented, the new battery of tests is expected to guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars. Students may take the exams - which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests - as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year. “We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education,” says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire’s Commissioner for Education. “And then we can focus even more attention on those kids who need more help to get there.”
But can less schooling really lead to better-prepared students at an earlier age? Outside of the U.S., it’s actually a far less radical notion than it sounds. Dozens of industrialized countries expect students to be college-ready by age 16, and those teenagers consistently outperform their American peers on international standardized tests. (See pictures of the college dorm room’s evolution.)
[...]
As more and more jobs head overseas, Brock and others on the commission can’t stress enough how dire the need is for educational reform. “The nation is running out of time,” he says.
New Hampshire’s announcement comes as Utah and Massachusetts declared that they, too, plan to enact some of the commission’s other proposals, such as universal Pre-K and better teacher pay and training. Still more states are expected to sign on in December. And the largest teacher union in the U.S., the National Education Association, is encouraging its affiliates to support such efforts.
Some reform advocates would like to see the report’s testing proposals replace current No Child Left Behind legislation. “It makes accountability much more meaningful by stressing critical thinking and true mastery,” says Tracy.
No date has been set for when New Hampshire will start administering the new set of exams, which have yet to be developed. But to achieve the goal of sending kids to college at 16, Tracy and his colleagues recognize preparation will have to start early. Nearly four years ago, New Hampshire began an initiative called Follow the Child. Starting practically from birth, educators are expected to chart children’s educational progress year to year. In the future, this effort will be bolstered by formalized curricula that specify exactly what kids should know by the end of each grade level.
[...]
Right now, Tucker argues, most American teenagers slide through high school, viewing it as a mandatory pit stop to hang out and socialize. Of those who do go to college, half attend community college. So Tucker’s thinking is why not let them get started earlier? If that happened nationwide, he estimates the cost savings would add up to $60 billion a year. “All money that can be spent either on early childhood education or elsewhere,” he says.
Critics of cutting high school short, however, worry that proposals such as New Hampshire’s could exacerbate existing socioeconomic gaps. One key concern is whether test results, at age 16, are really valid enough to indicate if a child should go to university or instead head to a technical school - with the latter almost certainly guaranteeing lower future earning potential. “You know that the kids sent in that direction are going to be from low-income, less-educated families while wealthy parents won’t permit it,” says Iris Rotberg, a George Washington University education policy professor, who notes similar results in Europe and Asia. She predicts, in turn, that disparity will mean “an even more polarized higher education structure - and ultimately society - than we already have.”
It’s a charge that Tracy denies. “We’re simply telling students it’s okay to go at their own pace,” he says. Especially if that pace is a little quicker than the status quo.
Filed under: Children's Issues
I’m a little concerned. With school tracking, certain students are encouraged to go to trade schools, as opposed to college. Once they are on that track, they don’t have a chance of taking classes that would make them qualified for college admission. On the other hand, California has one of the best community college systems. It gives students, like myself, a second chance to go on to prestigious programs.
My sister was suppose to graduate at 16. She started kg at Sister Clara Muhammad school when she was 3 years old. When she entered public school she was placed in the gifted program (so was I believe it or not!). At the end of 8th grade she was 12 years old. None of the Chicago Public High Schools would accept her at 12 years old, so she had to repeat 8th grade and just be like a teachers aide her 2nd time around.
I think instead of graduating at 16, it would make more sense t do as many other countries do and stopwasting time and money on electives and General Education requirements. Many countries allow their students to graduate from Hugh School and go directly into their major.
It takes about 10 years to get a PH.D in American Universities, but half that time in other countries.
assalamu ‘alaykum
One of the reasons that I have decided to home school is due to the fact that the current system makes our children take too long in simply graduating when they will have to go to another school anyhow and review much of what they learned in high school again. It seems like a waste of time to put a child through years of algebra, for example, when they will, most likely, have to retake some of these courses again due to weakness in the area. That is why I believe children must be prepared very well but I don’t think it takes the length that the public school system takes if one is well prepared.
Margari Aziza Hill Said:
“California has one of the best community college systems. It gives students, like myself, a second chance to go on to prestigious programs.”
You got that right!!! I never understood why many people are upset they have go to CC before transferring to UC or CSU. one It’s cheaper than UC/CSU to obtain your gen ed requirements and two their usually smaller campus which means you have a better chance to network with people who may help down the road in your field of study.
(just wandering in here from Scienceblog’s Gene Expression… always interested in the opinions of another Scandinavian…
…The “N” is not for Nelson, but similar to Nevil Shute’s actual last name)
In Washington state there is a program called “Running Start”. This allows high school students to start taking community college courses starting when they are in 11th grade. They need to pass the community college compass test needed to take the classes, and satisfy high school graduation requirements with the CC credits. All for free, the state pays for the tuition of the public high school students.
A quarter of community college translates to one high school year. But due to the popularity of this program, the state has limited the number of credits it will cover per year. Though a daughter of a friend of mine likes going to the community college so much more than the high school, she is willing to pay the extra tuition (the daughter only takes band and one other class at the high school).
Also for over twenty years the Univ. of Washington has made provisions for very young students. These are kids who have blasted through K-12 much faster than their age group. Recognizing that these students need more support, they try to provide:
http://depts.washington.edu/cscy/
Though I must confess, New Hampshire’s program seem more ambitious. Washington state’s program is VOLUNTARY!
A few of my 18 year old son’s friends do Running Start (they don’t like the high school atmosphere and classes) One of his preschool buddies started going to the U.W. after 10th grade. He hated high school.
My kid is doing all of his courses at the high school. He actually likes high school. Though he did attend the community college during two summers to advance in math (he is taking AP Calculus BC), science (biology), and take a computer programming course not offered at the high school.
Also, Margari Aziza Hill and Hamza21… I agree with you about the CC. I am now taking classes at a CC in preparation for grad school applications (stay at home mom prepping for return to grad school or employment depending on circumstances). I’ve taken an engineering physics class that was much better than the one I took at the big university (cough, cough) decades ago. The classes are smaller, the labs are more organized and there is actually parking in the same zip code!
Unfortunately my son will not consider taking his first year at the CC. Even though he could take differential equations, linear algebra, advanced calculus, physics and chemistry in small classes and with decent labs versus the killer big state university environment… and less tuition. He wants to go out of state, either California or Colorado. sigh
@ HCN: I too would suggest to your son that he go to a CC first. He sounds like me, actually, wanting to go out of state for the wrong reason (getting away from home, if he’s like me) and not for the right reasons (all those you mentioned). I grew up in upstate NY, with a CC 20 miles away, which many of my friends attended, but I just had to go out of state, Arizona, actually, 2300 miles away. Spent the first three semesters having a deliriously good time, but my grades were horrible. It was only in the fourth semester that my grades started to improve, but by then the school had pulled the plug on my financial aid (all that out of state tuition was very expensive). Two years later, I returned to school, but at a CC, paying everything, tuition, books, room and board, all on my own dime. Worked part-time, went to school part-time, asked for nothing from my parents even though I was living on about $4500 for an entire year (this was around ‘83-’85). The small school environment was much, much better. Smaller class sizes, good facilities, teachers who were very accessible and cared about their students. Kick me a thousand times in the @$$, yes, I should have gone to the local CC first before going to the Uni. I know better now; please don’t let your son make the same mistake.
The choice to go to CC or 4 year depends on circumstances. I didn’t have the grades and classes I need to go the CSU or UC system. Some students are able to fulfill the admissions requirements and then transfer after their first year. Transferring, though was hard. I was not integrated in my University, had not taken the English writing sequence of classes and I was older. A lot of my friends who went to CC didn’t take it seriously, they would collect their financial aid checks, sit in the cafeteria and play bones all day. A number made it out though and went on to CSU, but a lot didn’t. Sometimes when we have those defeats, it makes us want to work harder when we get a second chance. I know it was like that for me. I’m glad your son is taking some of those hard classes during the summer. That way he can fulfill some requirements and still enjoy that small class environment. I had no information resources or support when I finished high school. It hit a lot of walls and I really am thankful to Allah that he guided me to this stage. Grad school kicks my butt, but I hope to work to inspire youth by showing how life gives you second, third, even fourth chances.
Well, gotta run. I’m procrastinating in a big way!!
I graduated public HS at 16, went straight to college, got married right after college, and started my career. I never understood why doing the same crap at 30 that you do at 16 is so appealing to so many people. (16: Date, drink, wonder what you’re going to be when you grow up. 30: Date, drink, wonder what you’re going to be when you grow up.)
I don’t think electives are a waste of time. Places in Asia where students are ahead in school still lag behind in technological and commercial innovation. It’s because those same students are never taught critical thinking and creative visualization. The imagination is not some negligible artistic appendage. It’s vitally necessary to progress. It’s the reason the US patents more inventions every year than half the world, despite educational shortcomings.
The problem is the culture surrounding child development and schooling. Tariq is right: adolescence as we envision it in the US stunts growth. Kids are more or less encouraged to forget everything they learn as soon as they learn it. We have a ‘kids will be kids’ attitude that lasts until those ‘kids’ start to get crows’ feet. (Sex and the City, anyone?) It verges on bizarre.
So how do “WE” as Muslims address the issue education and provide an alternative? No, do not think home schooling is the answer, maybe short term but not in the long run ultimately.
Seems to me there tends to be somewhat of a pattern among the more frequent posters of Tariq’s blog of above average academic ability (even swarth moor) of both male and female, but how is ability being harnesed for the benefit of Muslim children as a collective whole?
I’m not saying I have the all the answers either for example my daugther attended an Islamic school for 7yrs at 14 she was dual enrolled at the both local CC and Islamic school.
I’m thinking things are going well yet at the begining of this school year my wife tells me, my daughter had confided to her that she had become “bored” at the Islamic school, so she enrolled her into a charter school with rigorous college prep curriculum.
I was stuck, I had told my daughter for years she has to take responsibility for her education and push herself, now I want to dial it back a bit because of a decision she’s made, that I totally disagree with. I decided to allow it to play out this year, she doesn’t know it yet but she will be back in the Islamic school next school year (inshaAllah)
Though there is blacklash against it there is a need for rote memorization in education particularly with regards to traditional Islamic knowledge, yet we must still make room for critical thinking, creative expression and scientific investigation.
Yes, graduation at 16 is good but what type of Muslim student will that produce?
Also, how do we do away with adolescence, yet still excert positive control over our children?
Theory is great, trying to implement it is a whole other animal.
Education is the best secrets to have the good life, but education is not for school only this must may be practical nowadays that after there are sending to school this may assure that they may have a sure job, after they are finish. Not only go to school to extend that they are merely a student forever, this proposal of the constitution of the early graduate is a nice idea to have their own way of living maturity of the child this doesn’t only base on their age but this may its depend on the behavioral attitude of the person.
The educational authorities in New Hampshire are pushing for some high school students to graduate by their 10th grade year. This means that these students will be out into the workforce sooner, and into the real world and paying bills, like rent, utilities, cable – internet, and possibly into the world of payday loans, and also into the world of responsibility. The idea is to administer state board exams to sophomores, and those that pass can move onto community or technical colleges, and foregoing the last two years of high school. Many people are doubtful that it is a good idea. Do you really think that a 16 year old can handle the pressures that many of the rest of us have to cope with? I’m not necessarily talking about the responsibility that comes with the reading and writing required, rather the pressure and responsibility that come with being financially independent and therefore responsible for yourself. Most people are barely ready at 18. The youth of America don’t need to be pushed out of the nest any earlier, and if they were, they couldn’t even get payday loans to help cover books, tuition, or rent if they fell behind.
I’m looking everywhere to find a picture of Carrie bradshaws hair from sex and the city when she was at the insane asylum with jeremy. CAN ANYONE HELP?!?