Nations Leader? Maybe Not.

We in Iowa pride ourselves for having some of the greatest education standards in the nation. Yet I’m guessing that most Iowans don’t know that Iowa has no statewide educational standards. That edge that Iowans believed we had (and actually did have for some time) in education is now beginning to slip. We are getting lower and lower grades in assessment tests of statewide education, our students are longer out in front of the pack in placement test, and there’s government pressure to improve. One step in the right direction is to increase the minimum drop out age to 18. Skeptics say that this will costs us millions in tax dollars. Are we not willing to pay that? Are we that hypocritical that we want to have a state that is a leader in education, but we really don’t want to have to pay for it? Raising the minimum drop out age is just the tip of the iceberg. If we are a state that is truly devoted to being the nations best then we need to prove it. We need to work harder to get our high schoolers into college (and create jobs for them in state after they graduate). We have to provide support systems statewide that offers help to any student struggling to make it. The act is called No Child Left Behind, whether you agree with its policies or not, the name says it all. Let’s step it up Iowa and show that we truly are THE nation’s greatest state for education.