More than one path to success? Be prepared to pay up.

The following is an OP-Ed piece from the Baltimore Sun. I will note that one of the controversies surrounding Montgomery County Public Schools this year has been the failure of the Superintendent and the school Board, under both President Nancy Navarro and President Shirley Brandman, to honor a student's Maryland Constitutional right to a free public education. While Superintendent Weast has scaled back some curricular fees, he is forging ahead with charging students curricular fees in vocational programs. Is that plan in the best interest of all children? The school Board has been silent on this issue. ~ Janis Sartucci

Baltimore Sun: More than one path to success

It's time for our schools to move beyond a focus on college preparation, which drives many black and Hispanic youths to drop out

By Walter A. Gill

April 23, 2009

There is a disconnect in the American education system. Blacks and Hispanics drop out of school in huge numbers, leading to high incarceration rates. Meanwhile, the schools impose a one-size-fits-all curriculum that envisions four-year college as a universal goal and marginalizes and minimizes alternative career paths.

It's time to connect the dots. Real reform, especially in large urban school districts, cannot occur until we recognize the reality that many students will not attend a four-year college - and provide alternative avenues to success for those students.

In his speech to Congress in February, President Barack Obama correctly noted, "The U.S. has one of the highest dropout rates of any industrialized nation," and said, "Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for." He recommended that students must "commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training."

Noble goals indeed - but first things first. Students need to graduate from high school before than can aspire to anything grander.

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