Too many Maine students require remedial courses once they reach college, and too many are dropping out before they earn degrees.
That’s bad news for the state’s future economic prospects, Gov. Paul LePage writes in a guest column published June 6 in the New England Journal of Higher Education.
If we don’t have the educated workforce we need, our hopes of creating high-quality jobs in Maine and enticing them to come here will be greatly diminished.For many of our residents, that means the higher wages and healthier lifestyles that come with higher-skill jobs will be out of reach.
There’s no simple solution to this dilemma, but much of it depends on reforming our public education system so we can be sure the students we’re graduating are ready not only to enter college, but to succeed in college.
The Maine study fails to take into consideration students who go to private colleges and public institutions outside of the state. There are many well prepared students who excel in other places. It is true that they may not return to Maine but many do because they love the state and have been happy here. They will be good workers. Another issue is money. Many students are not supported for the full four years and so they leave college because they cannot afford to stay. It is also true that new STEM efforts are badly needed in Maine, and that families need to help schools by encouraging students to push themselves out of their comfort zone into harder academic work. Some responsibility rests with the students who need to respond to instruction. (Very few writers comment on that aspect of learning.) Also, a look at the Advanced Placement successes in Maine paint a much brighter picture. It is also true that Maine will need to find the funds for technology and technology education which seems to be what some educators mean when they talk about 21st c skills. In short, although it is true that much needs to be done, there are still plenty of success stories among high school graduates in Maine. We need to tell those stories too.
A major problem is that our educated youth from the Community Colleges and Universities leave Maine due to a lack of jobs in Maine or the poor paying jobs. It is a “Brain Drain” problem.