Read: Weekend Watch Edition

More opportunities to learn. Photo of St. Anthony Catholic School, Washington, DC

What’s happening in the dropout nation:

- The Foundry takes aim at the opposition among some D.C. politicos to reviving the soon-to-be-shuttered D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. Harry Jaffe of the Washington Examiner offered his own thoughts — and gave one of the District’s city councilmen the business earlier this week. Jaffe thinks vouchers “will get funded for another five-year program.”

- Meanwhile, in The Catholic World Report, I take a look at one of the key alternatives to D.C. Public Schools: The Archdiocese of Washington’s Catholic schools. Two years after Archbishop Donald Wuerhl decided to spin off several of its financially-lagging schools and convert them into charters, the proverbial Mother Church is working hard to ensure educational opportunities for its poorest families while fostering additional funding and support from the flock.

- One of the three School Reform Andys (Rotherham, in this case) and Education News Colorado take aim at the Denver school district’s decision to hire a counselor to help school board members with their marriage problems (among other personal issues). Why should the kids — half of whom are likely to never graduate – count for anything? Well, at least it isn’t all going into administrators’ salaries, as it seems to be happening in the case of Indianapolis Public Schools.

- Will the AFT embrace school reform? Based on its New York City affiliate’s response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Race to the Top efforts, keep the money off the betting line.

- In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger prods the Democrat-controlled legislature to take further steps in competing for federal Race to the To funds. The president of the state’s AFT affiliate isn’t thrilled with any of it.

- In research: The Center on Education Policy surveys state government uses of federal stimulus funds for education. The conclusions are mixed.

- Joanne Jacobs takes a look at the Deloitte study on the disconnect between the expectations of high school from parents and children, and the expectations of those who teach the latter. My thoughts will come later.

- In Charleston, S.C., one school superintendent is lambasted for winning an award, one that doesn’t have to do with improving the education of the children in the district’s care.

More news coming the rest of the weekend. Meanwhile, follow Dropout Nation on Twitter for continuous news and updates.

- Parent Revolution’s Ben Austin offers his own reasons why California needs to reform public education and prepare for Race to the Top.

Too Many Kids Attending or Not Attending College? Those Are Not the Real Questions.

One dropout at a time. Cartoon courtesey of Lisa Benson

Are there too many teens attending America’s colleges? Marcus Winters says more of them need to attend. Robert VerBruggen, on the other hand, argues that since 25 percent of college grads are allegedly working in jobs that don’t require college degrees, the answer is no.

The reality is that the argument is much more complex than either of them let on.

While a good portion of college students are working in jobs other than the ones for which they aspired, it is likely as much a failure of them to understand that college is not just about the degree. As a son of one of my former bosses learned recently, college is also about networking, building the relationships that can translate into jobs and future opportunities. Even before the recent recession, there were plenty of journalism majors who never realized that you had to also work at a college newspaper, freelance prolifically, and gain internships in order to move into the professional ranks.

The bigger problem is that far too many students of all socioeconomic backgrounds are ill-prepared for college in the first place. This problem lies not so much with universities, but with the abysmal instruction inside America’s public education system. More than one-third of college freshmen and sophomores reported that they took at least one remedial reading or math class, according to a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Education. It starts early with the social promotion of students who should be held back and given different teachers who can help them get up to speed. After elementary school, the additional preparation for college — in the form of Algebra 1 classes in the eighth grade and solid college-level reading courses in ninth grade — doesn’t come early enough.

And then there is the nature of the comprehensive model used in America’s public education system, in which students and their parents aren’t given the choice to give their children a college prep education in the first place. The fact that teachers and guidance counselors are the gatekeepers to these college prep courses means that many students not deemed college ready for subjective reasons never get the shot they need until high school — if at all.

The question isn’t whether or not there are too many kids attending high school. The real question is how to improve America’s public schools — and give them the kind of enriched education that gives children as many choices in life as possible. Sure, not every kid will attend college. But not every kid can also become a plumber. Besides, even a plumber should be literate enough to quote Chaucer — and aspiring welders need Trigonometry and Algebra in order to become apprentices.