Literary Reading in Dramatic Decline, According to:
National Endowment for the Arts Survey

Concern for Student Performance in Math and Science:

National Science Board:

More Foreigners Getting Advanced Science-Engineering Degrees:

National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)

The General Education High School Program

In order to equip citizens with the ability to effectively evaluate and choose their representatives in Government, a system of Public Education has always been recognized as the underpinning for the long term success of our Democracy. Generally, access to Public Education via Governmental support, through High School, has been successful. However, there seems to have developed a diminution in both the quality of Public Education, particularly in Inner Cities, and the recognition of its’ importance both to the individual and our Democracy generally. This is difficult to understand in light of the technological transformation of our society and the demands it requires for a better educated citizenry. This contradiction, in fact, requires the necessity for transforming access to Public Education (at the High School Level) so as to match these technological changes.

Our Secondary School System is structurally obsolete! Students, of any age that seek a High School education, need not attend classes daily five days a week for 10 months. Some may wish to do so; but technology has made this unnecessary and counterproductive for those who recognize a failed System of Public Education and seek an alternative, and for those who, as recent arrivals to our Country, because of age and/or language differences, cannot successfully integrate into our High School

There should be an alternative to our current Public System of High School Education: The General Education High School Program.

    The essentials of this program are the following

  • The Program will be modeled after the General Education Diploma (GED) Program. Attendance is voluntary. Federal Grant monies will be made available to private non-profit organizations to establish and maintain the program,
  • Classes will be scheduled for 3 hours a day, three days a week, at night and on weekends,
  • Study materials will be available online for individual paced study,
  • Subjects covered will be: English Language Studies, Mathematics, Science (non-laboratory), and History/Geography, and
  • Successful completion of the program requires a 70% score on examinations, in these subjects, administered, online, through the Department of Education.

    This is only a broad outline of an alternation for satisfying the academic requirements of a High School education for those who seek an alternation to the current system. Technology has made this a possible and viable option; the current status of Public Education requires a more suitable alternative.