Challenge in Public High Schools

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Challenge in Public High Schools

Current public high school curriculum are simply too easy. Students are able to take too many easy classes that do not challenge them. This is the first point that needs to be focused on when trying to fix this problem. Within this one cause, there are many different solutions. However, I do not have the time here to name them all. I am going to focus on one particular recommendation that I believe would help the most.

What could possibly be wrong with current public high school curriculum. Students attend 4 years of high school and receive a well-rounded education. This education allows the students to function as a valuable member of society without necessarily continuing their education beyond high school. What could possibly be wrong with all this? Well, what about the students who do choose to continue their education after high school? Does high school prepare students well? According to the statistics, the answer is no. ACT, a non-profit organization that gathers statistics and researches the education field, states that "31% of students seeking a BA/BS degree at a public college drop out by the end of their second semester

Currently, many public high schools allow students to select their own classes and in turn, some students enroll in classes far below their intellectual ability. Major problems are down the road should students decide to go on to post-secondary schools. Students should be assessed when entering the 9th grade. Standardized tests should be given to help determine what course of study would be best for a particular student to pursue during their four year high school career.

There should be a minimum of three different "tracks" that students will be classified in. For example, a school could choose to have an advanced track, an intermediate track, and a remedial track. Some might say that this will limit the students too much in their choice of classes but this is not the case. It will simply give students a certain pool of classes to choose from. For instance, students in the advanced track of study will still have all the different choices they had before; they will just be geared towards more intelligent students. The same will apply for those in the remedial track of study, however the purpose of these classes will be to catch students up to where they should be.

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