Do we prepare kids for college or for life?

January 16, 2008

The College Question

Is our K-12 education system too focused on preparing all kids for college, at the expense of preparing them for life?  This basic question has been setting the edusphere ablaze recently.At A Place at the Table, Susan Graham’s blog at Teacher Magazine, Graham asks “Have we all been part of a collusion that promises our young people an Emperor’s New Education when we insist that success, fulfillment, security and happiness can only be cut and stitched from the fabric of a four-year college degree? ” Several recent posts explore various aspects of the issue: Are students choosing college for the right reasons – or any reason at all? How is the college choice affected by increasing global economic competition? Is the push to college robbing some students of other, more fulfilling options?

Over at the ed blog Principled Discovery, a hotly debated post noted the significant number of students who don’t go to college and asked, “could forcing college as the only path to the workforce actually be limiting real opportunities by not valuing other skills and turning a blind eye to the majority of Americans who do not earn a degree?”

We at InService couldn’t let this mini-meme pass by without throwing the issue out to our readers. Is there too much emphasis on college for all? Are we providing appropriate post-secondary options for all students? Check out the blog posts above and their lively comment threads, and then let us know what you think.For perspective from Educational Leadership, see the April 2007 issue, “The Prepared Graduate”, particularly the articles “The Challenge of College Readiness” and “What About Those Who Don’t Go?”

Posted by David Snyder in Education Policy | Permalink

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Too often I hear the reasoning for practice being “because they need to know this (or do this) in college”. The practice is seldom examined as to whether it is a sound pedagogy for teaching high school students. (In some cases, it is not a sound pedagogy for college students!) Often, we have only managed to further alienate our students who do not plan on college as an option. Certainly, we need to prepare students for post-secondary options, however, we should stop treating high school as only a stopgap between middle school and college with no purpose of its own in preparing students for life.

Posted by: Marlene | January 17, 2008 at 10:55 PM

I look forward to the day when high schools will brag about the number of graduates who DON’T have to go on to college. If high school were more useful fewer graduates would have to go on to college. The current college preparatory curriculum is useless in the work world. We can prepare kids for the work world in high school

Posted by: Larry Schlack, Kalamazoo, Michigan | January 18, 2008 at 03:37 PM

Of course college is important…….if you plan to become a teacher, a doctor, an engineer, an attorney, or enter into a profession that requires specific training at a level beyond high school. But not everyone wants to enter into one of these fields of endeavor. There are many who are talented in the arts, music and other fields that need post-secondary training, but not in a college/university setting.
With the current emphasis on testing we no longer have the time, let alone the energy to teach our students to be good citizens, to balance their checkbooks, to study geography so they know where in the world they are, or to learn about such things as the fabulous world of culinary arts or fashion design.
It is time we took a close look at the damage being done to our students by emphasizing that college=success. That is definitely not true. Look at Bill Gates and others who either did not attend college or dropped out prior to completing their studies. And, we certainly would not label them as failures. College is not the only pathway to success and it is time that politicians and educators acknowledged this fact!

Posted by: Janet | January 18, 2008 at 04:04 PM

Take a look at any high school’s course offerings. Are there any courses that are specifically designed to assist students with “real-life” challenges: writing resumes, determining the cost of financing a home, searching want ads for apartments, etc.? If these skills are embedded in college-prep courses, then students are getting the best of both worlds: preparation for college coursework and for the world outside of college.If the school doesn’t have these skills incorporated into the current curricular offerings, seek help. Ask a principal, guidance counselor, community leader, etc. to establish at least some electives in that school to help all students be ready to confront life head-on!

Posted by: Rusha | January 18, 2008 at 04:59 PM

At the risk of duplicating arguments already covered by others in the other comment threads linked above, I’d like to make two observations.First, it’s true that many kids don’t go to college. They should have the opportunity to pursue preparation for their post-high school lives that will be relevant to them and enhance their success in the field they actually choose, rather than a hypothetical future that involves a four-year college.

Second, though, the viable career options for adults without a college education are rapidly decreasing in number. I’m not convinced that pushing all kids to pursue higher education – whether two-year or four-year – is a bad idea.

The strength of vocational programs, of course, is that it links these two concerns, connecting kids who won’t go to college with careers that will make it OK for them to have not gone to college. This means living-wage, skilled work, which does require training and apprenticeship, in most cases.

But I don’t think it will work to just offer “career” education without a specific skilled trade in mind, because of the decreasing job prospects in (what’s classified as) unskilled work.

Posted by: Eduleadership | January 18, 2008 at 09:36 PM

Malnutrition and Children…what can we do?

 

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Back to Story – Help

Malnutrition Responsible for a Third of Child Deaths Worldwide

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay ReporterThu Jan 17, 5:02 PM ET

THURSDAY, Jan. 17 (HealthDay News) — A international epidemic of maternal and childhood malnutrition accounts for more than one-third of childhood deaths and 11 percent of the world’s disease burden, researchers report.

“The key messages here are that the international nutrition system is fragmented and dysfunctional, and reform is needed,” lead researcher Dr. Robert Black, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said during a news conference Wednesday. “The problems are long standing and embedded in organizational structure, but a concerted effort can provide greater progress and accountability. Progress is possible.”

Black was lead author of a special series on maternal and child malnutrition appearing online Jan. 17 in The Lancet.

The issue was hailed by different development agencies at the news conference.

“[The World Bank] does agree with the conclusions in the series. They have huge implications for the architecture of an international nutrition system,” said Joy Phumaphi, vice president and network head of human development at the World Bank. “We want to associate ourselves with the report.”

According to Kent Hill, assistant administrator for global health at USAID, there are some 852 million chronically hungry people living in the world today, and roughly half are children. Even though many can eat enough to ward off hunger, many still don’t get the nutrition necessary for growth and development. Mothers and children are the most vulnerable, Hill added.

The quandary has far-reaching consequences for individuals, societies and economies, the experts said.

“Malnutrition and nutrition as a whole is an economic imperative,” Phumaphi said. Nutrition affects productivity as well as cognitive functioning and performance in school. “It also increases health costs and, therefore, has catastrophic implications,” she noted.

According to Jayaseelan Naidoo, board chairman of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), in the absence of proper nutrition, many people are abandoning therapy for HIV/AIDS because of side effects.

The Lancet series starts off with a paper from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore and Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, which finds that one-third of child deaths and 11 percent of the total disease burden globally are a result of maternal and child malnutrition.

Deficiencies in vitamin A and zinc had the greatest effect among the micronutrients studied and caused 0.6 million and 0.4 million deaths, respectively, in 2005. Deficiencies in iodine and iron are of lesser concern because of successful interventions. But suboptimal breast-feeding is estimated to be responsible for 1.4 million child deaths worldwide.

“We concur with the report that the first six months of a child’s life should be exclusively focused on breast-feeding,” Naidoo said.

The second study reported that poor fetal growth or stunting during a child’s first two years of life can lead to shorter adult height, lower school attendance and reduced adult income potential. Better nutrition can remedy much of this.

Other researchers found that implementing existing nutrition-related interventions for mothers and children could prevent one-quarter of all child deaths in the 36 countries with the most severe deficits. Breast-feeding counseling and vitamin A supplementation would provide the greatest boost.

The fourth study found that 80 percent of undernourished children worldwide live in just 20 countries. The final paper reported that the international nutrition system is fragmented and needs reform.

“We need to take this amazing piece of work and translate it into practical, measurable results,” Naidoo said.

But in addition, said other experts, the world needs better knowledge.

“As much as we know about food, we know very little about the science of food,” said Dr. Tadataka Yamada, president of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “In a sense, nutrition has been a little bit of a fractious community, because the less you know, the more your opinion counts. We need new knowledge in nutrition, and we have to invest in this because that will allow other investments we make in nutrition to be wisely and strategically placed.”

More information

Visit the World Health Organization for more on nutrition and malnutrition.

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The information contained above is intended for general reference purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment. Medical information changes rapidly and while Yahoo and its content providers make efforts to update the content on the site, some information may be out of date. No health information on Yahoo, including information about herbal therapies and other dietary supplements, is regulated or evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore the information should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease without the supervision of a medical doctor.

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