The ones who fall through the cracks

[Cathy McCaughan]

"Each year, about 120,000 students fail to get a diploma by age 20, according to the California Dropout Research Project, which on Wednesday released detailed recommendations for state lawmakers and educators. Each annual wave of dropouts costs the state $46.4 billion over their lifetimes because people without a high school diploma are the most likely to be unemployed, turn to crime, need state-funded medical care, get welfare and pay no taxes, according to the report." link

What are the numbers and costs in Tennessee? In Knoxville? I seriously admire what we are trying to do to make our graduates more prepared for college and careers, but I worry that we are pushing other students even further behind. I have a high school senior and a freshman. I am stunned at the number of their peers who have left school. Intelligent, capable teens who just couldn't stay in school for a variety of reasons. We do exit polls when people leave jobs. Do we know the real reasons students are dropping out of school? Are we trying alternatives to help them get their diploma? Along with the 'more math and science' diploma, have we considered a 'more vocational' diploma? If the students get GEDs within a set period of time, are they still counted as dropouts in NCLB statistics? How much less would it cost to spend money to help the teens now than to have to pay the estimated costs of being a dropout over a lifetime?

[Travis McGaha]

I think you have hit on something real. What are the underlying reasons that children drop out of school? Is it apathy, disgust, laziness, disdain? I have a friend who says she dropped out of school at 16 because she wanted to get married and start a family. Today this woman is a small business owner with her husband and living a decent life. So, does dropping out of school automatically mean failure? Sure she and her husband have struggled through life, but WHO DOESN'T?What is going on in children's lives to make them NOT want to be at school?
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Try reading this LINK
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andThis LINK
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One story states that a child is truant for fear of being beaten up over and over again by peers. For that he is hunted for more vigorously than an illegal immigrant. In the other story, my own daughter is on the receiving end of a teacher gang-up. Do we really think that children want to be subjected to this kind of treatment once, much less over and over again?
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Here is a wild thought: "If we are concerned about our children's emotional and physical well-being, why is it that we have to PAY for the education at private schools or with home school programs while the local public schools still receive our tax money? Why can the public school system not come up with an acceptable home-schooling program using modern technology, ie - computer-based learning, teleconferencing for instruction, etc? After all, public schools can do this for children who are sick/homebound. Why can they not do this for healthy children. Why can they not offer the exact same learning experience for ALL children. Certainly this would relieve overcrowding in schools and it would give children a sense of identity with the local school system in some minute way.
Finally, if some children are EXCEEDING expectations, why make the class more difficult and jeopardize later generation's of students GPA's, thereby limiting possibilities of good colleges? Rather than making the high school level class more of a pain in the TUSH and antagonizing intelligent children why not let those who exceed expectations go on to college EARLY!!! Are we just that obsessed about our children having a PROM???"