Every once in a  while I am accused of having an argument that is a little too simplistic and/or not knowing what I’m talking about. I was involved in a conversation in college almost 20 years ago where exactly THAT happened to me.

It was a conversation about the Dual-Track education system in Europe and, to be honest, it got very heated. I have always thought that the dual track system was a good idea because it prepares EVERYONE for life. In the dual track system, students are tested at various times throughout their school career and placed either in college preparatory schools preparing them for college or they are placed in career technical schools which prepares them for a career in a trade. And let me tell you, I have known several Europeans and many of them graduated from the technical schools ended up going to work at Mercedes Benz or BMW making (the equivalent of) $60,000 a year… right out of high school.

I know the idea of “testing” students throughout their school career and “placing” them does not sit well with many people, but in a way we are doing that anyway. We place students in remedial classes or hold others back for not meeting certain criteria. We only give a “Certificate of Completion” to a student who does not pass the state-mandated performance test. We give passing grades and failing grades, always affecting the way students feel about themselves. When a student is always receiving a failing grade, it works to slowly chip away at his or her self esteem and often leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure and forfeiture. My thought has always been that our job is to prepare a student for LIFE as best we can. If they are good with their hands, or are good taking apart engines, and are excited about mechanics - but not especially good at skills that we generally determine are “college prep” - then we need to prepare that student for life as best as possible.

In our present educational system, we have made ALL pegs square and are trying to fit them all into round holes… no matter what. We are so afraid of saying that maybe one child would better be served by skipping college and learning a valuable skill, because we don’t want to hurt that child’s feelings or the feelings of that child’s parents. However, I propose that when that child drops out of school when there was a possibility of saving him or her, the feelings are hurt much more.

I know this is a controversial issue. Because in our society for some reason we believe that “No Child Left Behind” means that “Every Child Should Go To College”…. but I disagree with that logic. Not every child is going to go to college, and right now, many children are being left behind.