Jay Greene and Greg Forster, Manhattan Institute
September 17, 2003
One can no longer assume that a high school diploma means the recipient knows much or has the skills and knowledge to make their way in the world. The prolific Jay Greene has underscored this sad reality with his new report, funded by the increasingly venturesome Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Among the findings: only 32 percent of the high school Class of 2001 was ready to attend four-year colleges, meaning that they had graduated from high school, taken "certain courses in high school that colleges require for the acquisition of necessary skills, and . . . demonstrate[d] basic literacy skills." Especially troubling, Greene reports, just 20 percent of African Americans and 16 percent of Hispanic students are college ready when they leave high school. One can quibble with certain parts of this "readiness index." For example, students only meet it if they've taken "four years of English, three years of math, and two years each of natural science, social science, and foreign language." A worthy standard, yes, though a student without those courses could likely find a college that would readily accept him/her. And some of Greene's data is a bit old. But these are quibbles. The report is solid and further proof that not enough students are getting high school diplomas-and that the diplomas themselves mean less and less. Check it out at http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_03.htm.