Associated Press (AP) Poll on Education

The Associated Press (AP) just released the results of a poll about education in the United States.

The first thing that really caught my eye was question Q8, which asked “If you had to choose, which one subject do you think students should spend more time studying in school?” The respondents were given 11 choices plus an “other” category. Conspicuously missing from the list was any mention of CTE (Career and Technical Education) courses. In fact, I would have been happy with a mention of the archaic “vocational ed” term.

It’s really no big surprise that the respondents selected Mathematics (38%) and English (21%) as the top choices. “Other” was a distant third place with only 10% of the vote.

Yet, back in question Q7, 77% of the respondents said that the problem of schools “placing emphasis on the wrong subject” was somewhat or very serious.

The responders ask for more math and English not realizing that NCLB (No Child Left Behind) forces the schools to emphasize math and English in order to increase scores on standardized tests in those areas. But do these standardized tests really prepare the kids for the real world?

What we really need is more applied math and English. When a student does poorly in math class, the prevailing opinion in education is to get the student a tutor and sign him up for an additional math class. This is like if the kid doesn’t like to eat peas, then make him eat more peas!

What we need to do with the kid who is struggling in math or English is to get him into a CTE or art (visual, music, theater, dance) class where English and math are learned because they are applied to class activities, and applied in such a manner as to have real-world applications that the students will remember for years to come.

Hide the peas in a casserole, or sprinkle frozen peas on top of ice cream. That’s applied peas versus “peas for the sake of peas.”

Q14A got me going too. “If all Americans graduated from a two or four year college, what effect do you think that would have on the overall economy?” 84% of the respondent said that it would “help the economy.”

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (table I-1), only 26.1% of all job openings projected from 2006 to 2016 require a two or four year college degree.

74% of the jobs projected through 2016 do NOT require a two or more year degree, yet the public perception is that the economy would be helped if 100% of Americans got the education required for only 26.1% of the jobs. The only sector of the economy that this would help is the college sector of the economy.

Don’t take my word for it, read the results yourself and see what you think.

Well, that’s the way that I see it. Let me know what you are thinking, and stop by again soon for more of my ramblings.