US losing ground on education, study finds
By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff
The United States should take broad and immediate action to boost college attendance, which has plunged in the past two decades and is weakening the country's global competitiveness, a major study released today concludes.
The new report by the College Board, titled "Coming to Our Senses: Education and the American Future," provided a sobering assessment of the country's educational attainment.
After leading the world in high school completion rates throughout the 20th century, the United States now ranks 21st out of 27 advanced economies.
College completion rates have followed a similar pattern: Once second in the world for younger workers (ages 25 to 34), the United States now ranks 11th. Dropout rates for high school students have tripled in the last 30 years.
"In the last 20 years, we have lost critical ground in this country," said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, which convened a panel of 28 education specialists to conduct the study. "We once put our faith in creating an educated citizenry, and we have enjoyed the benefits. A nation’s success lies largely on the quality of its human resources. Without well-educated citizens, we will struggle economically and socially."
High school graduation rates have dropped from 77 percent in the early 1970s to 67 percent today, the report found. About 40 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds have attained a postsecondary degree, and just 58 percent of full-time undergraduates at four-year colleges receive their degree within six years.
College graduation rates were significantly lower among minority groups; just 26 percent of African-Americans and 18 percent of Latinos and Hispanics have at least an associate degree.
"As an aging and highly educated workforce retires, for the first time in the history of our country we face the prospect that the educational level of one generation of Americans will not exceed, will not equal, perhaps will not even approach, the level of its parents," the report stated.
The report established a goal of ensuring that 55 percent of Americans earn a college degree by 2025. To help achieve this, it called for free preschool for low-income families, improved college counseling, more rigorous high school coursework, stepped up recruitment of low-income students, and increased financial aid.
At public four-year institutions, tuition and fees in 2005 equal 73 percent of income for low-income families, up from 57 percent in 1992, the report found. Financial barriers prevent almost one-half of college-qualified low- and moderate-income high school graduates from enrolling in a four-year college.
"Faced with potentially high expenses, while in the dark about aid amounts, many first-generation, college-going students are discouraged from applying," the study concluded.
William Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland system and chairman of the commission, emphasized the need for immediate action.
"We are fighting the clock now and will regret every moment lost," he said. "Other countries have made educational excellence a national priority while we have been satisfied with 'average,' and it has cost us dearly."
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US losing ground on pretty much everything except sky rocketing growth
of strip joints
Stop making college so unaffordable would be a good start.
"I suggest we correct our education decline by importing 20 million uneducated non-English speaking immigrants to overrun our schools and communities. Down with the fence! Let in those future Democratic Party voters. Amnesty for all !! "
Signed,
Democratic Party
Well it's no wonder.Seems to me that the only people that can get real financial aide are not the ones that are born and bread in America.
Our son and us are to pay back $123,000.00 for 4 years of college.A stinking peice of paper saying he earned a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice/Investigative Services. He graduated back in May of this year and has been working in a metal shop because he has not found a job for which he went to school for.Pretty sad,we teach our kids to do the best they can.Go to college and it will help you make a really good amount of money.WHEN? If he had to do it again he would not waste his time.
What is missing from the article but can be inferred from the report is the shrinking pool of children born to educated parents vs the number of children born to those with less education. So while the educated parents are training their replacements in the work force in adequate numbers, the country is growing a population of people with less overall education and, hence, bringing down the overall education level of the next generation. Unfortunately, the new dominate minority does not seem to value education as much as other current (or past) immigrant groups. Things aren't going to get better until either the focus of education by this minority group improves or is deported.
I'm sorry, but graduation rates do not indicate failed educations. US test scores are improving (based on an article on this page this morning) and applications as well as acceptance rates are through the roof. For example, Brown University accepted something like 20% more kids for the fall of 2008 than any other prior year, and now have big surprise 20% more attending in this years freshman class and have converted every spare room and closet, I kid you not, into dorms. Also, if you asked any foreigner if they could attend university in the US v. their own country I guarentee they'd say in the US, why else do we graduate 250,000 foreigners a year? Boston.com, when you're done publishing statistics that were presented in form to appeal to an anti american or declining american bias, please feel free to discuss all the american educated foreign leaders around the globe.
It's amazing how our (so-called) leaders can find money to bail out Wall Street and Detroit, but there is no strategy from Washington related to assuring a college degree for all who want one.
oscarbozach- lol. i know right...
Other Western countries have rising immigration populations as well, so why are we losing ground to them?
"Financial barriers prevent almost one-half of college-qualified low- and moderate-income high school graduates from enrolling in a four-year college."
Parents,
Turn off the T.V., video games, i-pod, and internet!!!! Try starting a hobby, reading or talking to your kids. Stop blaming the system all the time.
#6- right on! I totally agree!
IF WE CAN JUST BUCKLE DOWN WE WILL BE NUMBER ONE IN STRIP JOINTS BY 2010.
how about marrying the father BEFORE you have the baby, and actually finishing high school before getting married? Oh sorry I've offended the PC crowd?
In response to #6, the article didn't state anything about those attending elite schools like Brown. Certainly many students from foreign countries attend Brown and other schools in this country as American universities are highly regarded by overseas students and their parents. However, that isn't what the article is about. The article talks about the probability of America's younger generation not being as highly educated as its parents and those residing in foreign countries. The report's authors point out many but not all American students are not ready to perform at college level due to lack of preparation and funding. The report states a subset of students, Asian and white students, are doing OK in terms of educational attainment and are near or exceed the 55% graduation goal proposed by the report's authors. The issue highlighted in the report is the low educational attainment of certain minorities and its impact on the overall education level of the younger generation.
6,000+ students are dropping out of our secondary schools everyday. Many of them drop out because they cannot read/cipher adequately. Together with an emphasis on pre-school education, we also need to focus on teaching our secondary students to read/cipher adequately. Although it is important to up the quality of the secondary courses, it is also extremely important to teach the students to read so that a twelfth grader is not reading at the elementary level. Adults can be taught to read. So can secondary students. It takes extra effort and the qualifications of special reading teachers to do this. It costs more money. Reading ability goes down, when no reading is at secondary school.
Forget education what we need is a 1st class manufacturing sector. All of that education will NOT sufficiently aid the economy. This downturn or recession is the cure to all of our wishful thoughts about education. Besides a college degree is merely a paper and nothing else.( yes it does give you an unique experience within the college life but really nothing else with it). You can easily get your entire education from the most forgotten and neglected part of society: Libraries. I cannot believe that this newspaper is printing out such dire and bleak picture as if it is the end times for us. I think its a new opperunity to use this as a way to recreate our manufacturing base once more so that this country can become number one.
I think one of the biggest problems, in addition to economics, that lead to the poor enrollment and graduation rate today is the lack of values. Most of us (30 to 50) try our best to give our children all the things that our parents could not afford while ignoring all the social values that fuel ambition. These values are not automatic so we need to teach and live the way we want our children to. It's known that examples are the best way to learn so let's all re evaluate our reasoning and put some effort in portraying good values that will give our offsprings, not only an obligation for higher education but a need.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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