Graduation Rates

The disparity is as plain as stepping from the sunny side of the moon to the dark side. Compare high school graduation rates in the suburbs with high school graduation rates in the cities and you see a spread of 45% or better in some cases. The divide is unmistakable. While families with some means make choices about living in better school districts or sending their children to private schools the families without the resources have little choice, but to send their children to the public schools.

When we talk about long term solutions to economic problems one of the first places to look should be the schools. Educated children turn into educated adults. Educated adults can more easily thrive in the world, provide for themselves and their family and contribute to community and culture.

The alternative is not only a personal hardship, but also a drain on society and our limited resources to provide for the needy. That is one way of explaining why everyone should have concern for the poor performance of students in school even schools in neighborhoods that might look different than yours.

We featured Hillside's Work Scholarship Program tonight on our newscasts. It's a mentoring and tutoring support system that intensively tracks performance starting with the fundamental basis for success in school: everyday attendance. The program than reaches further in supporting at risk students. Here's the kicker to it all, the program works. Virtually every one of the students in it graduate from high school. That's out of a group that would have been considered most likely to drop out.

So there are paths to success. They require new ways of thinking and spending. But, don't be fooled that everything's alright because your district is doing fine. If they are not all better the larger community will suffer.