What do you do with schools that have a 50% drop out rate?
This is the question that perplexes many in education today. A recent column by Christina Hoag relays the complexity of the "drop out " issue. How does a school convince a kid that a diploma is worth the hassle?
One solution by a school district in the Los Angelos area was a a $200,000 multi-media campaign that aimed to convince kids to stay in school. According to the article the program seems to have produced some results. One local high school achieved a 23% increase in the number of 12 graders that passed the graduation exam.
Although a 23% increase in achievement is impressive, I am skeptical about the future success of a drop out programs. My reasoning is simple. The drop out problem is not an "education" problem. Kids who drop out are symptomatic of a culture that does not value education. I am a firm believer that school officials can enact policies that go a long way to improving the values and opinions of their students. The problem, however, is the influence (or lack there of) that many of today's children get from home.
We can not simply take a problem that is caused by many different groups of people and lay it at the feet of educators. So far that is the solution that has been presented and I believe it will fail.
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29/10/10 18:56
I agree with your opinion. It is not an issue of education but rather one with the culture kids grow up in not supporting or valuing education. I also agree that this issue should not be "thrown at the feet of educators" but instead be shouldered by parents. It seems to me that parents aren't as involved in their children's lives. Everyone claims that they are "too busy" to be involved. Things need to first change at home before they will change at school. Parents need to focus on being parents first and raising their kids then being concerned with the many "stresses" and "time consuming-ness" of their jobs.