Tough requirements needed in Cape schools

Cape Henlopen school board has been debating its graduation requirements for four months. Most recently, science teachers appeared at a board meeting to urge the board to increase graduation requirements, calling for all students to take four science courses for graduation.

While it makes sense for the board to delay a final decision until incoming Superintendent Kevin Carson is on board, there can be no doubt an increase in requirements is in the best interest of Cape students.

Any increase in requirements carries with it a need to ensure all students can meet minimum requirements. Requiring four science credits and four social studies credits means all students will have to pass a science and a social studies class every year they are in high school. This is certainly a change students might find demanding, but it's one that will serve them well, whether they are bound for college or for work.

As the underwater robotics team on its way to international competition demonstrates, Cape is already leading the way statewide when it comes to offering students opportunities to learn skills already in high demand in today’s workforce: building robots and writing the computer programs required to operate them.

Those same skills are needed not only for tomorrow’s innovators and engineers but for all students who hope to have jobs in tomorrow’s economy. Computer technology and robotics are already in use in every field, from farming and retail to manufacturing and banking.

Today’s students live in a computer-operated and computer-modeled world; high school graduates who hope to find a productive place in that world will have to master basic science. Similarly, today’s citizens, more than ever in human history, are citizens of the world. Tomorrow’s workforce – from trade workers to professionals – will constantly interact with people from around the globe.

Increasing graduation requirements is merely a first step in preparing today’s students for the world they will live in. Once new requirements are established, teachers and administrators throughout the district must work to ensure students are engaged in high-level learning in all grades and in all subjects.

Tough requirements might appear demanding to some, but there’s really no time to lose. Our children cannot afford to miss out on the jobs of the 21st century.