Education in the arts can do more than boost a student’s creativity. A new report by the National Endowment for the Arts shows high school students who had “arts-rich experiences” had a higher overall GPA than students who weren’t involved in the arts. The report also found disadvantaged high school students involved in the arts were more likely to enroll in competitive colleges than their peers who weren’t involved, according to the article “Arts Involvement Narrows Student Achievement Gap.“
What made your no. 1 college choice stand out from the rest?
Over the last 45 years, the most popular factor in choosing the right college is still the institution’s academic reputation, according to the Chronicle. However, according to preliminary evidence from a new study by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, today’s college students have many changing factors and demands than students did 40 years ago.
Some schools choose to ban technology, saying it’s not that complicated and kids will learn it later. Other classrooms fully embrace technology to open windows to new worlds, including their own. But for many schools, financial restraints make the choice for them. Recently a group of inner-city students from Los Angeles who were fated with a technology depleted school decided instead of accepting their circumstances, they should set out to to start a revolution and change them, according to the Mind/Shift article “Students Demand the Right to Use Technology in Schools.”
In 2011, an unprecedented study found forty-five percent of students made no significant improvement in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during the first two years of college. Many were stunned by the number of college students entering and graduating from college without critical thinking skills, a core 21st century skill necessary for making smart personal and professional decisions.
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America’s unemployed youth each take $40,000 a year from the economy and cost the government $14,000 in taxes, according to the article “What Does One Jobless Youth Cost Taxpayers? $14,000 a Year.” The “lost generation” is projected to cost taxpayers $437 billion over the next five years, and possibly $1.15 trillion in their lifetime.
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What will the effects of social media be on communication skills when a new generation of students reach college? What will the effects be when they enter the workforce? What about when they start a family and join school, work, and social communities?
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As the price tag of a college education soars and families continue to adapt their lifestyles to the recession, students approaching college might be considering putting off college or looking for cheaper alternatives.
Could getting students out of high school earlier be beneficial to higher education and to the students themselves? More and more states think the answer is yes. An increasing number of states are encouraging students to take college courses or graduate early in hopes to bypass the senior slump, save families college tuition money, and curb the school districts’ instructional costs, according the the article “Some States Prodding Students to Graduate Early.“
Dropping out of high school doesn’t only effect the individual. While students who drop out of high school will personally have less chances of employment, make lower incomes, and are most likely just a piece in the poverty cycle, they also represent a huge drain on our economic potential. On a larger scale, high school graduates and dropouts shape our economy, define the abilities of our workforce, and set the stage for our leaders of the future in business, industry, and government.
Advances in technology have always come at the price of taking jobs, and we can expect them to continue taking even more. “As they say, if horses could have voted, there never would have been cars,” writes Thomas Friedman in his article “Average Is Over.”
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