The latest results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress that were compiled before the pandemic showed that the average math score has been flat since 2015, while the average reading score dropped two points on a 500-point scale (“Even Before Pandemic, National Test Finds Most Seniors Unready for College Reading, Math,” Education Week, Oct. 28). Is it any wonder that so many students fail to graduate?
I realize that no single test has total predictive value, but NAEP cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. Yet we persist in the fiction that college is for everyone. The truth is that not everyone is college material. They lack the wherewithal, whether in the form of IQ, study habits or motivation.
It’s time to give vocational education in high school the respect it deserves. There is nothing inferior about such a curriculum. Our competitors abroad have long tracked students. Only those who can pass rigorous entrance exams are admitted to universities. We should do the same.
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