A big first step: Michigan's new high school graduation requirements are a boon to employers.A report by Michigan Michigan (mĭsh`ĭgən), upper midwestern state of the United States. It consists of two peninsulas thrusting into the Great Lakes and has borders with Ohio and Indiana (S), Wisconsin (W), and the Canadian province of Ontario (N,E). Scholars, a business/education partnership, concludes that two out of three Michigan students graduate from high school lacking the skills they need to succeed in college or other post-secondary education. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This is cheating our young people--and the business community--in an era where some form of post-secondary education--a four-year college or university degree, a two-year community college degree or a technical certificate--is absolutely essential to succeed. A mandatory core curriculum for high school graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. has been one of the Chamber's public-policy priorities for more than 15 years. That's why the Chamber was a strong backer of the new Michigan Merit Curriculum signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm <noinclude></noinclude> Jennifer Mulhern Granholm (born February 5, 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian-born American politician and the current Governor of the U.S. state of Michigan. last year and now in effect in schools across the state. Michigan now has some of the most rigorous high school graduation requirements in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The Michigan Merit Curriculum requires students entering 8th grade to obtain a minimum of 16 credits in math, language arts language arts pl.n. The subjects, including reading, spelling, and composition, aimed at developing reading and writing skills, usually taught in elementary and secondary school. , science and social studies for graduation. It also requires students to have an online course or learning experience. With this new law, Michigan is telling employers that our students have mastered the reading, writing and math skills required to succeed in the workplace, and it is telling college and university admissions officers and career and technical schools that our students are ready for the rigors of post-secondary education. Significantly, the Michigan Merit Curriculum requires students to master concepts as opposed to courses. Although there is a specific list of subjects now required, local school districts are given the flexibility to teach those concepts in creative ways such as project learning (i.e., geometry geometry [Gr.,=earth measuring], branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of and relationships between points, lines, planes, and figures and with generalizations of these concepts. taught in a woodworking class) Although it will probably be at least a decade before their impact is fully realized in terms of workforce development, these requirements are a big first step in Michigan's commitment to having the best-educated workforce in the nation. About the Author Greg Handel is senior director of workforce development at the Detroit Regional Chamber. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] RELATED ARTICLE: Michigan Merit Curriculum High School Graduate Requirements Mathematics (4 credits) -- Algebra algebra, branch of mathematics concerned with operations on sets of numbers or other elements that are often represented by symbols. Algebra is a generalization of arithmetic and gains much of its power from dealing symbolically with elements and operations (such as I, Algebra II, geometry, one math course in final year of high school English Language English language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. Arts (4 credits) -- Each year in grades 9-12 Science (3 credits) -- Biology, physics or chemistry, one additional science credit Social Studies (3 credits) -- U.S. history and geography, world history and geography plus one-half credit each in civics civics, branch of learning that treats of the relationship between citizens and their society and state, originally called civil government. With the large immigration into the United States in the latter half of the 19th cent. and economics Foreign Language (2 credits) -- In grades 9-12 or equivalent learning experience in grades K-12 Physical Education & Health (1 credit) Visual, Performing and Applied Arts (1 credit) Online Learning Experience -- Course, learning of integrated learning experience |
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