Public education in America is in big trouble. “The nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates of less than 50 percent,” according to a report by America’s Promise Alliance. That was 10 years ago. Today, in Philadelphia alone, only 22 percent of the senior class will graduate on time. Our schools need help.
Human beings are prewired at birth to learn. During the first year, a baby’s brain will double in size. By age three, a child’s brain will reach 80 percent of its adult volume. Numerous studies have shown that when children under the age of five are exposed to a normal, nurturing yet stimulating environment, their brains develop like a sponge, capable of absorbing and processing new information at a much faster rate than in adulthood.
In the second and third year, in the brain of a normally developing child, synapses (brain connections between neurons) form faster than at any other time. Typically, at that age, the brain will develop twice as many synapses as it will in adulthood. The pervasive nature of these brain-growth connections makes this time in a child’s life fertile ground for learning.
Genetics play a key factor in brain development that begins soon after conception. However, during a child’s early years, external experiences begin to play a larger role in learning, development, and education. Children exposed to negative stress, poverty, neglect, and abuse are subject to educational challenges that could have lifelong consequences.
Traditional classroom settings are not equipped with the cutting-edge technology necessary to actively engage today’s generation of students. In a world full of interactive connections, focusing on one-way conversations can be a challenge for most children. Children facing the struggles of daily life may find such lessons not only uninspiring, but not worth the effort.
21st century education requires 21st century tools. Teachers need tools to teach, students need tools to learn. For students to learn, they must be engaged. Many low-income students do not have access to computers other than at school. Many schools do not have sufficient access to computers due to a lack of resources.
Without technology, students get bored. When they get bored, they lose interest and start to fail. Nearly 2,000 high schools in the US graduate less than 60 percent of their students. Each year, more than 1.2 million students drop out of high school across the United States. That’s one student every 26 seconds, or 7,000 per day.
With school failure, failure in life often follows. In the US, high school dropouts commit about 75 percent of crimes. By contrast, high school graduates will earn about $200,000 more than lifetime high school dropouts. College graduates will earn about $1,000,000 more.
Today’s modern vision of success-based education embraces state-of-the-art “touch feedback technology” in the form of interactive flat panel displays. Flat panels provide students and teachers with a more interactive way of teaching and learning. Students stay engaged, interested in their subjects, and begin to experience success.
Education is key to giving people a stronger foundation to develop value within themselves and in the eyes of others. Transforming hopelessness into hope is what quality education does.
