Third World America - Arianna Huffington [43]
A National Assessment of Educational Progress report found that just 33 percent of U.S. fourth graders and 32 percent of eighth graders were “proficient” in reading—while 33 percent of fourth graders and 25 percent of eighth graders performed below a “basic” level of reading.94
In 2001, amid much fanfare, the D.C. establishment passed No Child Left Behind, shook hands, patted one another on the backs, and checked education reform off their to-do lists.95 But it turned out to be reform in name only.96 Despite a goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math, eight years later we are not even close. In Alabama, only 20 percent of eighth graders are proficient in math. In California, it’s just 23 percent. In New York, it’s 34 percent.
“Education,” said President Obama during his May 2010 commencement address at Hampton University, “is what has always allowed us to meet the challenges of a changing world.”97 But he made it clear that the bar for meeting those challenges has been raised, and that a high school diploma—formerly, in the president’s words, “a ticket into a solid middle-class life”—is no longer enough to compete in what he called the “knowledge economy.”
“Jobs today often require at least a bachelor’s degree,” he said, “and that degree is even more important in tough times like these.98 In fact, the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is over twice as high as for folks with a college degree or more.”
But rather than rising “to meet the challenges of a changing world,” we’re taking a tumble.99 Our high schools have become dropout factories. We have one of the lowest graduation rates in the industrialized world: Over 30 percent of American high school students fail to leave with a diploma. And even those who do graduate are often unprepared for college.100 The American College Testing Program, which develops the ACT college admissions test, says that fewer than one in four of those taking the test met its college readiness benchmark in all four subjects: English, reading, math, and science. And among those who are qualified, many are having trouble making the payments necessitated by large tuition increases.
University of California–Davis honors student Rajiv Narayan was raised in a two-income, solidly middle-class family. But shortly after he started college, his family’s financial security was upended when both of his parents lost their jobs, driving their family income down from $90,000 to $30,000 per year. “Initially, I did not worry too much over my financial situation,” he says. “I work hard, my grades are high, and from my understanding, FAFSA [the Free Application for Federal Student Aid] and the California grant system are designed to support good students from low-income backgrounds.”
But the university’s aid programs, it turned out, weren’t flexible enough to accommodate his family’s abrupt and radical change in financial circumstances. “For me to receive more aid, my parents would have to be unemployed for two years,” he explained. Instead, the amount his family was expected to contribute toward his tuition jumped from $17,000 to $27,000. Set on finishing his degree, Rajiv applied for more loans and trimmed his expenses, budgeting just $18 per week for groceries, while his brother—who graduated from the University of California–Berkeley with about $80,000 in loans—took on a third job to help him cover the increased costs. “It appears I’m being punished for my new financial hardship,” he says.
To save money and avoid going into debt, UC Berkeley student Ramon Quintero moved into a motor home.101 “They increased tuition, they increased the rent,” he says. “But instead of giving you more grants, they give you more loans.”
Patsy Ramirez says she was able to go to the University of California–Riverside with the help of a $10,000 grant, paying for the rest of her tuition, her books, and her living expenses with a part-time job.102 But the grant program was cut, and without it, she couldn’t afford