The latest issue of American Educator has a fantastic series of stories urging high school teachers and counselors to level with students about a basic truth: if you don't do well in high school, you won't do well in college or in the labor market. The lead article, by Northwestern professor James Rosenbaum, lays out the bracing facts: 86 percent of students with a C or worse average in high school do not earn a college degree. Students who do little homework in high school are less apt to finish college and will earn significantly less over a lifetime than those who do 15 or more hours of homework a week. Students who take advanced high-school classes, such as pre-calc or calculus, are significantly more likely to earn a B.A. To Rosenbaum, it's time to be frank with students on the amount of work you need to do in high school to get into-and graduate from-college, rather than wrapping all students in the fantasy that they will go to college no matter what their transcript looks like. The issue even includes a pull-out poster to distribute to students. We hope it's reproduced widely. One odd note, though. This hard-hitting series on the truth about high school preparation is followed by a gauzy feature called "Education in wonderland: Outdoor classrooms and rich murals make learning a delightful adventure." Apparently, not everyone who writes for the American Educator is on board with rigor and content. The articles are not yet online, but look for them in the near future at http://www.aft.org/american_educator/index.html.
"It's time to tell the kids: If you don't do well in high school, you won't do well in college (or on the job)," American Educator, Spring 2004