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In a speech today, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that 25% of high school students in America fail to graduate, and only 40% of young people earn two- or four-year college degrees.

The negative impacts on the global competitiveness of the U.S. workforce are staggering:  such a large segment of the population entering adult life uneducated translates to a whole range of problems, from extensive, systemic poverty, to long-term unemployment, to high crime rates, to unsustainably low productivity. 

What are the causes for failure in education?  Here are some ideas based on anecdotal observations and long-time experience in education:

• Broken homes, bad neighborhoods, danger:  students, who have to deal with massive stressors in their lives, cannot be expected to do well in school.
• Cultural stressors:  racism, prejudice, and unequal treatment of underprivileged students.
• Drug use, especially meth.
• Procrastination: many students are spoiled - they have never learned to complete a task on time.
• Discipline:  many young people have never had any discipline in their lives: they do not understand that their actions - or lack thereof - have actual consequences, sometimes for the rest of their lives.
• Poor instruction: many teachers are poorly educated themselves: all you have to do, is read some of the newsletters or notes your children's schools send home...  Too often, teachers lack the intellectual foundation as well as the social skills to manage a classroom effectively.
• Lack of empowerment:  schools and educators have lost all leverage to compel relucant students to do the required work.
• Lack of motivation:  many teachers have not learned - or lack the energy - to motivate their students to excel; they simply do not invest enough personal capital into the teaching process.
• Lack of attention span:  a poor diet, lack of discipline, excessive access to alternate entertainment forms, neglect, fear of violence, all conspire to prevent students from a consistent focus on educational deliverables.
• Bad upbringing: students who lack manners and respect for their own parents and other persons in authority, and who speak a form of English heavily corrupted by slang do not have the tools to do well in the structured format of school.
• Uneducated parents or caretakers:  it is difficult, (but not impossible,) to rise above a deficient intellectual environment at home.
• Learning outcomes: lack of a good correlation between instruction and learning outcomes.

This list of shortcomings in education and student success obstacles is but a summary of a much longer list of known problems.  In order to improve student learning successes, a range of initiatives and distinctions is recommended:

• A return to valuing discipline, respect, and accomplishment, including community recognition of teachers, and a culture of respecting your elders and persons of accomplishment.
• Focus on language, not just math and science: the latter do little good, without the ability to communicate at an advanced level.
• Access to physical exercise within the framework of disciplined activities, such as team sports.  Sports are a good place ot acquire good habits of discipline.
• Supporting parents' learning together with their children.
• Bridging gaps across race, culture, socio-economic-status, ..., to ensure collaboration and mutual understanding (for example, for every Mexican child who learns English, an Anglo child should learn Spanish ...)
• Encourage success by increasing vigilance and providing more one-on-one help, more communal support, and more safety from bullying, gangs, etc.
• Empower educators to obtain student respect - give teachers the same enforcement rights as the guards at Juvenile Hall, or the drill seargents in the Army.
• Measure results more effectively and base continuous improvement on measured outcomes.
• Replace teacher tenure with accountability incentives. Pay teachers as the professionals they are.