UW graduation rates higher than national average, group says

    We have been taught from a young age that a higher education is necessary to get ahead in life. Reviewing figures that correlate to college however, specifically graduation, it's evident that students today do not all feel this way.   

     National graduation rates are based upon students receiving a degree from a higher education institute within six years of study. Most recently, the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), announced only 57.2% of students have graduated with a bachelor's degree within six years. The UW education is faring only slightly better, according to Barb Kauth, assistant campus dean for student services here at UW–Waukesha. Four year schools in Wisconsin are graduating 60% of students within the same six year timeframe.

     Just 60 %? Most of us would agree that an investment with a two-thirds success rate would be a gamble. With the U.S. economy struggling, the financial strain and bleak employment outlook post-college might not be enough for many students to just ‘get a degree.'

     "It's a good idea for those students who are degree oriented. If you need a degree for a specific profession, then absolutely," says David Brookins, a student at UW-Waukesha. "but going just to go won't get you anywhere."

     Are today's students simply less academically motivated? Or is this low percentage due to a fundamental flaw in the way we educate students?

     On Sept. 24, President Barack Obama, in a weekly radio address to the nation, stated, "It is an undeniable fact that countries who out educate us today will out compete us tomorrow. Businesses will hire wherever the highly skilled, highly trained workers are located. We have to pick up our game and raise our standards."

     Obama has announced he is putting educational standards back into the hands of the states, essentially bypassing ‘No Child Left Behind,' (NCLB) enacted by President George W. Bush in 2001. Done via executive fiat, Obama has opted out of passing the law through Congress, and will now be holding individual states accountable for academic standards, as opposed to a national standard, as with NCLB.

     It is remarkable to think that in a developed country such as the United States, which was once home to the most proportionate number of college grads, education could fall so far behind. We now rank 12 out of 36 nations on this front.

     A fundamental change must occur with how we perceive a college education, to see it not only as a benchmark for a job down the road but the foundation of our lives. Teaching students that college is not a social obligation, but rather an option for those eager and qualified to attend, could very well raise our success rate in educating our nation.