The SAT is one of the two, nationally recognized tests that measure student's readiness for college work.
A perfect score is 1600.
While looking through the most recent scores that have been published, I noticed that less than 5%* of the students who attended Flint Public Schools had scored as proficient. That is, less than 5-in-100 students from Flint Public Schools who took the SAT are prepared to start college without taking remedial classes.
It gets worse as you dig more deeply.
Flint has a population of 81,00 and a life expectancy of about 72. That means that there should be more than 1100 kids of an age to graduate in any given year. Only 103 of that 1100 attended Flint Public Schools and took the SAT.
103 students took the SAT and five (or fewer) "passed" it. The real performance metric is that 5 (or fewer) out of 1100 demonstrated college readiness.
How many people need to attend college to maintain a First World economy?
The devil is in the details, but assuming that every person who attended college was enrolled in a high-demand field and that the student's intellect and interests matched up with the requirements of that field, the "right" number might be as low as 17% (one-in-six) or as high as 35% (one-in-three).
Going with the low number, 17% is 170-in-1000 which is much, much greater than 5-in-1100. In fact, it is over 30 times greater.
"How many people need to attend college to maintain a First World economy?"
ReplyDeleteAbout 80% less....................
Must be from all that lead in the water... or flying around in the air.--ken
ReplyDeleteMight be the demographics though. Or just the culture that lives there.
ReplyDeleteIt's the culture. Same results in Baltimore, Detroit etc.
DeleteYep, the 'culture' is the cause.
ReplyDeleteThe first way to improve SAT scores is to change the SAT. It will now be online, shorter and simpler. Scores will improve, at least on paper and in the news.
ReplyDeleteMail in test results.
DeleteI guess it depends on what you call college and what the other school system teaches. I remember in the UK we had around 10 % university attendance when I was young (we are roughly of an age, I believe). Here in Austria, it was probably lower, but there is a very good technical secondary school system combined with an equivalent for the economic and clerical line. So there was less need for university education. They also offer these technical schools as evening classes for those who could not or did not want to do them when young.
ReplyDeleteMost people do not grasp the enormity of the problem.
ReplyDeleteI saw a video last night of two 'youths' showing off for the camera+world. A commenter commented one sentence, and it took them 20 seconds to sound out every word.
People hear things like TINVOWOOT, and think they grok the problem... but they don't.
I would like to suggest that only 10% to 15% need college at the 4 year level and that community college, certificate, and apprenticeships are what we need most. We need people creating and doing things, rather than thinking or writing about how to do things. And less people in government employment.
ReplyDeleteWelp, I'm betting that soon there will be a lot of job openings in the exciting field of Cannon Fodder, so these lower achieving students can still be employed.
ReplyDeleteIf public attendance is that low, where are the others? Are they drop outs or are they home or private schooled? Both have expanded massively in the last 4 years.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that too many people get college degrees; we need more practical training and experience.
J