How bad does the U.S. education system need to get when our own high school students tell us that they need to be challenged more?  Apparently, we are there, according to an article published in The New York Times, summarizing a survey of over 10,000 high school students completed by the National Governors Association.  Governor Mark Warner of Virginia pretty much sums it up with these statements: 

*"I might have expected kids to say, ‘Don’t give us more work; high school is tough enough,’ “

*"Instead,...what we got are high school students actually willing to be stretched more. I didn’t think we’d get much of that.”

Here’s the real kicker - 36 percent of students who are considering dropping out stated that they were “not learning anything” and 24 percent said “I hate my school.”

So, again, I wonder how bad it really has to get before we start taking notice.  And what is driving these issues?  I’ve been feeling like a real troublemaker for asking my local school district why the kids are not more college-focused, and now I realize that the students are wondering too.  It seems that many education related special-interest groups out there want more money in the budget for something, but now I’m thinking that money isn’t it.  Is there an “x” factor that we’re not considering, aside from funding?

Hopefully this survey will shed some light on a problem that we really need to focus on and give us motivation to make changes.

The New York Times (free, subscription required) summarizes findings from this survey, and really highlights the salient points for us:  our education system is in need of deep reform.  I can’t imagine the frustration of a student being told that they need to behave in class day after day when they are bored stiff.  Have we really dumbed down our secondary education that much?  Let’s hope not.  In the meantime, parents need to keep pushing for increased quality and hope that our kids don’t end up feeding another round of negative survey results.