Plan B-Skip college

This article is questioning whether college is right for everyone, and whether it’s necessary for many jobs. According to a study, in 2006, eighty percent of the college students that ranked in the bottom quarter in their high schools won’t ever get a bachelors degree, or even a two year associates degree. Richard K. Vedder from Ohio University and Robert I. Lerman from American University, the political scientist Charles Murray, and James E. Rosenbaum, an education professor at Northwestern are calling for a change for the way students are getting through their high school years. Their plan is to steer some students in high school to get career training in extra school programs. They’re telling students that college isn’t really necessary for hundreds of jobs. But they are encouraging students to go to college, and maybe join a program that CVS is helping to fund, by making students assistant pharmacists in local CVS stores. During a 1999 survey, Professor Vedder found out that fifteen percent of mail carriers have a bachelor’s degree. I think what these professors are telling the students is important, because some people go into college, and leave less successful then they were when they started. I like that because the students that are doing badly in school have an idea what they would be doing as a nurse or a neurosurgeon. According to the article, in a 2008 survey of more than 2,000 businesses in Washington State, employers said low-level workers were the most deficient in being able to “solve problems and make decisions,” “resolve conflict and negotiate,” “cooperate with others” and “listen actively.” I hope that this will change over time, because if this continues, the unemployment rate will start to increase drastically.

Arizona has problems

This article talks about how the lack of good education in Arizona didn’t stop people from finding employment. Because in Arizona had an increasing population, even high school dropouts have always been successful with construction real estate sales, and retail jobs. But now the population is decreasing, and a lot of the usual job markets have stopped hiring. I think that it’s interesting that graduating from high school might not be necessary if a place had a lot of people in it; you could still be successful in certain jobs. Now the jobs available in Arizona can’t help-out the 23,000 K-12 dropouts that the Arizona school system produces each year. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau Survey, 16.3 percent of citizens from Arizona of twenty-five years or older lack proper high school education. This number is higher among poorer communities. I think that it’s a little late for the government of Arizona to just be beginning to come up with a way to solve their education problem. Also, I think that it’s going to be hard for them to provide the proper amount of money to the schools because the country is in an economic recession. I do like the fact that the school system is realizing that they have a problem, and trying to fix it before their education starts to become one of the worst. According to the article, by 2020 Arizona schools need to get into the top 20 or top 10 U.S. schools in order for their economic safety to be confirmed, for more companies want to go to Arizona, and, jobs to be made open. I hope that school systems all over the country start to come up with the same sort of developments.