One of out two?
One out of two is a great batting average--but a horrible statistic if it describes the number of students who enter high school and graduate four years later.

The group Clergy for Educational Options reminds us why a state's poor record (in this case, South Carolina) matters:

----------------------------
For Immediate Release

June 29, 2006

GRADUATION RATE HANDICAPS STATE PROGRESS
The NBA Finals just concluded and for those of you who care, the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks in six games. I’m a major fan of the NBA, but didn’t follow the season like I have in years past. But I did watch the finals. And as much as I think I know about basketball, I was somewhat amazed that one of the most dominant players of our time, Shaquille O’Neal, was not in during the final stretches of most games. Shaq, being such a dominant force on the court, would often cause me to forget that Shaq’s free throw percentage was 47% during the regular season and only 37% during the playoffs, knowing this, it’s easy to understand why their coach made that decision – Shaq would have been a handicap to their winning the title.
While I’ve heard numerous excuses as to why Shaq cannot make free throws. However, the fact remains that he cannot get the job done from the free throw line. Consequently, the coach made needed changes to help ensure they accomplished their goal of winning the title.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the “coach” of South Carolina’s education system. Despite another dire report that shows South Carolina graduating only 52.5% of its students, Coach Tenenbaum and her “assistants” refuse to make needed changes to a system that clearly is not producing as it should. Instead, they continue to make excuses, saying it’s not fair to compare states because we have different graduation requirements.

What they refuse to acknowledge is that comparisons are not what matter most – it’s production. In this case, having a system that is producing only one graduate for every two that enter high school is the problem – not the comparison with other states. It’s time for the education establishment to wake up and realize that their excuse making only exacerbates the real problems associated with our low- graduation rate.

Regardless of where we rank nationally, the simple fact is that only 52.5% of our children are graduating. That is a horrendous statistic that cannot be discounted or excused simply because we make our high school students take a 10th grade level exit exam or require that they pass with 24 credits rather than the 20 many other states mandate.

Education and elected officials across South Carolina are doing a disservice to the state by not implementing real reform that will help increase graduation rates.

South Carolina needs to decide how we can better prepare more of our students for college and life beyond high school. That’s the only way South Carolina will better its economy and the quality of life of its citizens. The cost of not graduating more students has a tremendously adverse affect on our state. According to the Education Week report:

FYI: Subcommittee members voted 4-1 to adjourn debate on this bill - which was a procedural move to kill the legislation for this year. Rep. Lewis Vaughn voted against the adjournment motion while Reps. Adam Taylor, Lanny Littlejohn, Jim Battle and Herb Kirsh voted against children, parents and their colleagues by supporting the motion.


Over a lifetime, an 18-year-old who does not complete high school earns about $260,000 less than an individual with a high school diploma, and contributes about $60,000 less in federal and state income taxes. The combined income and tax losses aggregated over one cohort of 18-year-olds who do not complete high school is about $192 billion, or 1.6 percent of the gross domestic product. (Cecilia Elena Rouse, economist, Princeton University)
Individuals with a high school diploma live longer, have better indicators of general health, and are less likely to use publicly financed health-insurance programs than high school dropouts. If the 600,000 18-year-olds who failed to graduate in 2004 had advanced one grade, it would save about $2.3 billion in publicly financed medical care, aggregated over a lifetime. (Peter Muennig, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University)
Adults who lack a high school diploma are at greater risk of being on public assistance. If all dropouts receiving assistance had a high school diploma instead, the result would be a total cost savings for federal welfare spending, food stamps, and public housing of $7.9 billion to $10.8 billion a year. (Jane Waldfogel et al., Columbia University School of Social Work)
High school dropouts are far more likely to commit crimes and be incarcerated than those with more education. A 1% increase in the high school completion rate of men ages 20 to 60 would save the United States as much as $1.4 billion a year in reduced costs from crime incurred by victims and society at large. (Enrico Moretti, economist, University of California, Berkeley)

Additionally, the United States Census Bureau estimates that on average, workers with a high school degree earn 30% more than those who drop out of high school and that a worker with a bachelor’s degree earns 72% more than one with only a high school degree. And, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis, college graduate can expect to earn on average $2.1 million in his lifetime, nearly twice as much as a worker with only a high-school diploma.

With only 1 in 2 students graduating in South Carolina, the resulting costs associated with these statistics are staggering. We are clearly doing the state great harm by not implementing programs that can help graduate more students.

School choice is a proven method for accomplishing that goal. It is time to acknowledge that the public school system is not the answer for every child. We must offer children educational alternatives so that their individual needs can be met, leading to a better chance of graduation and a more prosperous life.

Labels: Health care, School choice

(permalink)