Colorado Legislature's Education Suggestion Addresses Senior Slump
by Jim Brown
December 2, 2003
(AgapePress) - Colorado lawmakers have requested that state education officials study the possibility of eliminating the 12th grade and establishing a year of preschool instead.State Senator Ron Teck is concerned that many U.S. high school students who meet graduation requirements by their junior year end up taking easy courses in their senior year -- courses that do not help them adequately prepare for college. He believes this "senior slump" could be addressed by rethinking the way the education system is designed.
The senator says the suggestion is a response to a common criticism of the current system that students have been getting very little value out of their 12th-grade year. "If that is the case," Teck says, "maybe we should consider taking the money that we spend on that and putting it into early childhood development programs where we are told time and time again we can make a significant difference in preparing young kids for school and success later in life."
Of course the idea does have its drawbacks, one being the fact that some students who graduate a year earlier may not be emotionally prepared for college. Nevertheless, the plan has been advanced for consideration.
Teck says the idea of dropping the 12th grade in favor of another year of pre-school was partly born out of frustration with a 100-year-old education system that does not appear to have changed much over the last century. He feels the state needs to consider creating a single education department that focuses on a K-16 model without the expectation that every student will go through the 16th year.
The senator says his primary objective is to take a look at the way the state's children are being educated and to ask whether they are getting the best possible preparation for their later life.
"Our fundamental goal is the good, solid education of our kids," Teck says, "and we've seen the United States' math scores on an international level drop to abysmal levels. So other countries must be doing some things that are better preparing their students for the modern world than we are."
The Pueblo, Colorado, native says he is working hard to find answers to these challenging questions and wants to improve both educational quality and opportunities for students throughout the state.
