Adversity

When I was a young person (long ago), I knew a lot of very accomplished people who had no college education. They had a high school diploma. That piece of paper used to mean the holder had a basic education, the ability to read, write, reason and compute. No more. Our K-12 system is a fiasco. Our students rank in the second or third tier compared to other countries. Over the last few decades, spending per pupil has more than doubled but test results have not improved. Many of today’s high school graduates are functionally illiterate.

Starting with grade inflation and tenured hippies in the late 60's, colleges have gone down the same slope. Aside from some STEM programs, college is a party. The average “student” spends 30 hours per week on a combination of class work and study. Much of the rest of the time is occupied ingesting mood altering chemicals and “hooking up”. Admission to elite schools requires massive effort, but, if the right classes are selected, graduating can be a breeze. After four (or five or six) years, a graduate emerges unprepared for life’s responsibilities and packing a load of debt. Much of the debt will default, and you, dear taxpayer, will have to pick up the tab.

We have now reached a new nadir. The folks who bring you the S.A.T. will be assigning test takers an “adversity” score, which will be sent to college admissions officers along with the test score. This will allow colleges to work affirmative action to a fare-thee-well behind a theoretically objective criterion generated by an unaffiliated entity.

In an age of rapid technological change, failure to produce an educated populace is a threat of significant magnitude. The Shining City on the Hill could become a shadow of itself and the hope of the world could descend into irrelevance. What could we do?

We could actually address the “adversity” problem while preserving academic excellence. S.A.T. could design a vehicle that did not simply test attendance at AP and test prep courses. It could test the capacity to master advanced academic material. Those who could not afford an AP class could spend a year or so doing remedial work for cultural catch-up.

We could actually solve the debt problem by creating programs that combined work and study. Students could emerge with some job skills and no debt. They could drink/drug on their own time and their own nickel.

We could once again restrict college admission to those willing and able to do advanced academic work. We could do aptitude testing in high schools and have an infrastructure of trade schools for those not capable of (or interested in) advanced academic work. We could combine on-line and classroom work for those who discover academic willingness later in life and those who need retraining to accommodate a changing employment environment.

We could even rein in the power of teacher unions and resurrect a K-12 system that produced graduates who could read, write, reason and compute.