Letter: Self-motivated students learn more

I am writing in response to a statistic contained in the education article regarding college readiness in the Dec. 26 edition ('Steep climb to reach Iowa education goals”). The article stated that only a third of Iowa's high school graduates met all four ACT college readiness benchmarks.

Those students should be rewarded with a special diploma specifically stating they are academically prepared to pursue a four-year degree. Another diploma should be awarded to those students meeting the readiness requirements for a two year degree. Another diploma would signal that the student completed the requirements needed for a high school degree.

Students would be free to decide what type of diploma they wanted to seek. I realize that this would put some pressure on the students to learn and meet requirements. However, this may reduce the amount of apathy in today's classrooms. If the students can become more self-motivated, more learning can take place. Isn't this what everybody wants and needs?

Darryl Syverson

Strawberry Point