EDITORIAL: Stop Dropouts: Drive Home Value of Staying in School
Posted on: Sunday, 15 January 2006, 06:00 CST
By Detroit Free Press
Jan. 15--A decline in the high school dropout rate gives Michigan much to cheer about. But the state must keep at the problem.
The drop in dropouts -- from 6% in 1995-1996 to 3% in 2003-04, according to the annual Kids Count survey -- still represents 13,726 young people who face the challenge of succeeding without the golden key of education.
Michigan's economic future depends on drilling into every child the consequences and costs of saying no to education. Wayne County, for example, surely pays a price for having Michigan's highest rate of public high school dropouts, 7.1%, or 5,879. That drives away parents and potential employers, and a chance for economic recovery.
It must become the mission of school and government leaders to let more young people in on the bleak future they face for making such a choice.
The high school dropout who manages to find a job can look forward to about $6 an hour full time. That's half the earnings potential of high school graduates.
Michigan has to work to put this truth in front of every child. And while the state is at it, it's high time it add more detail to its count of high school dropouts. Currently, districts are required to report as a dropout any student who is not re-enrolled in the fall and not accounted for among graduates and those who transferred out of the district.
But like 38 other states, Michigan doesn't report graduation rates along racial or ethnic lines. This is important, because the state has no accurate way of measuring what happens to minority students. The national trends say they drop out at much higher rates and for far different reasons than white students.
Michigan should make the effort to find out what's true here -- and why. Exploring the patterns and problems of minority students could be just the solution needed to keep the dropout rate down permanently.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Detroit Free Press
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Source: Detroit Free Press
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User Comments (2)
| 2. |
Posted by danclark on 04/29/2008, 10:45 No he won't because Stephen Colbert could take out Norris any day! |
| 1. |
Posted by straighta's6 on 04/29/2008, 10:42 If you drop out chuck norris will take you away at night |
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