"We're All Above Average"

Joe Klein:

The conversation turned to education. "The fundamental assumption is that we're all 'above average' and that everybody should go to college, but that's unfair to the kids who are not cut out for college," Morgan said. "A lot of kids go to college and drop out immediately. My high school class started with 600 and is going to end with 400-there should be other paths, like vocational education, for the ones not suited for college," she said and later admitted that she'd read my piece about Career and Technical Education in Arizona a few months ago. What a brilliant, discerning girl!

Morgan was one of the three who were taking online courses. She was taking American History from the University of Miami. "It's more work than all my other AP courses combined," she said. "I wish I could take all my classes online." The other girls disagreed about that. Kelly Silnes had a great AP History teacher, "but when I have a bad teacher, it makes me feel dumber." Abigail Stone loved the social life of her school. Martha Scott* was taking college-level courses in government and economics. She said she had a weekly phone call with her online professors and participated in a chat room with her fellow online students. (This seemed to me a very promising educational development, a way to challenge top high school students and expand the curricula available in smaller high schools.)

I asked the girls about their less-extraordinary schoolmates. "I look at some of them," Morgan said, "And I think that five years from now, they'll be the sort of adults you see around town-their glory days were in high school. They won an athletic championship or were a cheerleader, or whatever. I can't understand that. I'm desperate to get out, see the world."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 11, 2012 5:22 AM
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