Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 1, No. 2 | Meeting the challenge of the urban High School, page 2

One reason for these troubling statistics is that the traditional high school has served as a sorting device, sending graduates off to college or to pursue a vocation or service work and sending students who did not graduate to unskilled jobs. Even though the changing workplace now requires many more people to think creatively rather than perform only manual labor or service work, too many high school students do not graduate, and many who do still do not meet the entrance requirements of colleges and universities. This is particularly true in urban areas where the high school graduation rate is much lower than the national rate.

The problem is compounded by the fact that few, if any, high schools teach reading even though many ninth grade students do not have the basic skills to pass required courses and advance to the next grade. In large urban schools, which have never graduated more than half of their students or prepared more than two-in-five students for postsecondary education, there is a significant schism between students who achieve at a high academic level and those who do not.

A “shopping mall” approach to secondary education allows students to take only the courses they want and does not place too many demands on students except those in a high-pressure, high-achievement group. This relaxed approach to education coupled with the fact that high schools often do not demonstrate how education and the world of work are connected prompts too few students to take challenging courses. Although some students tackle rigorous academic work, they represent only a small minority of high school students, and there is an appalling lack of scientific literacy or interest in mathematics, according to Charles J. Sykes who cites a “legacy of dumbness” in his book Dumbing Down Our Kids (St. Martin’s Press, 1995).

Even kids making every effort to get the most they can out of their school day face situations that their best intentions cannot resolve, such as violence. U.S. Department of Education data show that, in 1996, more than one-quarter million students, ages 12 through 18, were also victims of nonfatal serious violent crime at school and that in a four-year period more then 1.5 million teachers were victims of crimes. Drug and alcohol abuse are problems for teens, too, and contribute to low achievement rates in school.

A Disconnected Society

The urgency of the situation in our schools must be viewed in the context of larger changes that have taken place in our society. In Bowling Alone (Simon & Schuster, 2000), Robert D. Putnam cites data attesting to the fact that people tend to live more and more in isolation, not reaching out to connect with others. At home, families too often do not interact, spending less and less time vacationing together, attending religious services together, or just talking together. These features of modern life affect parents and children alike; everyone has a busy schedule and many families even find it difficult to gather for a meal on a regular basis. One study showed that, since 1980, the one-time family ritual of eating dinner together declined by a third, dropping from the 50 percent range to 34 percent. Teenagers may also spend many hours watching television or surfing the Internet, unsupervised and not in close association with another adult.

Students who attend large urban schools report feelings of anonymity, of being just one person among thousands of other youth without an adult in their lives to help negotiate problems and provide support. Many students do not have a relationship in their schools with even one caring adult who knows them personally and participates significantly in their development. Yet in many ways, young people do signal how important it is to them to have strong social and civic connections: across the country, they are becoming involved in volunteer and community service activities in unprecedented numbers.

Our new knowledge-based economy with its emphasis on problem-solving and the ability to cope with change makes it imperative that high school graduates attend college. Yet too many students are unable to meet college entrance requirements and those who do often find postsecondary education to be highly challenging. Many students have difficulty transitioning to college not only because of educational deficits but because their high schools have not provided opportunities for them to interact socially in ways that will help prepare them to live and study in a college or university environment.

Looking Back

How have we reached this crossroads? The history of the American high school began in 1821 when the English Classical School of Boston (later renamed English High School), was established as the first public high school in the country. In the 1880s Calvin M. Woodward and other educational leaders sparked an interest in vocational training with the first manual training high school opening in Baltimore in 1884. Other such schools soon followed with the purpose of training youngsters to become employable plumbers, bricklayers or other manual workers.

Early in the 20th century, John Dewey sparked an interest in educating the whole child so that youngsters would be able to take on the mature responsibilities of participation in a democracy and enjoy meaningful work and economic success. Educators today find themes in Dewey’s concepts that are relevant to current school redesign efforts.

In the middle of the last century, the launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, caused the United States to rethink its school system, and in a 1959 Carnegie Corporation-sponsored report, James Conant urged that mathematics, science and foreign language curricula be strengthened.

Other changes in the latter part of the century stemmed from the Vietnam War and its accompanying student protests, which resulted in the addition of electives that students sought as relevant to their lives.

Toward the close of the 20th century, the Internet and other changes in global technology further exacerbated the need for redesign of obsolete urban schools.

Next page: “We have good teachers in America; they are committed, and they well when we have to raise standards significantly with the rising workplace requirement.” Gene Bottoms— Director of High Schools That Work and Senior Vice President of the Southern Regional Education Board.

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