Do too many Americans graduate high school ?

[Ferguson97]

Fewer high school diplomas would mean companies could better differentiate between the people who actually learned stuff and those who didn't without the former having to waste money to prove it in college.

I’m a bit confused by this comment. Are there really that many jobs that need a high school diploma (need, not require)? And I think that the second half of your comment demonstrates a misunderstanding of the purpose of college. Even if we stopped giving high school diplomas to people who don’t deserve them, people would still need college degrees for those jobs.

But regardless, if they’re struggling to graduate high school, it’s already too late for them anyway. Elementary school is where the majority of the development happens.

The damage is already done. The reform needs to happen at the pre-K-to-3rd level. Functional illiteracy is on the rise.

[lfromnj]

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/03/10/new-numbers-show-falling-standards-in-american-high-schools

Springfield, in massachusetts, might seem an improbable setting for an education miracle. The city of 155,000 along the Connecticut river has a median household income half the state average; violent crime is common. Yet graduation rates at the city’s high schools are surging. Between 2007 and 2022 the share of pupils at the Springfield High School of Science and Technology who earned a diploma in four years jumped from 50% to 94%; at neighbouring Roger Putnam Vocational Technical Academy it nearly doubled to 96%.

Alas, such gains are not showing up in other academic indicators. At Springfield High scores on the sat, a college-admissions test, have tumbled by 15% over the same period. Measures of English and maths proficiency are down, too. The pass rate on advanced-placement exams has fallen to just 12% compared with a national average of 60%.

Interesting article. I assume some of the latter portion might just be a push for more students to take it.