President Obama has turned his ongoing focus on the status of US education to the current high school dropout rates. Even though the rate of dropouts has decreased steadily over the last few decades, current statistics are still astounding:
• According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 18,248,100 students enrolled in school in 2007.
• The NCES reports the dropout rate for that year was 8.7%.
• Based on these statistics, that would mean that approximately 1,587,584 students dropped out of school in 2007.
The result? More than a million-and-a-half high school dropouts, with little hope of employment in today’s job market beyond minimum wage and a higher risk of deviant activity.
“On average, each high school dropout is estimated to cost the taxpayers over $292,000 in lost tax revenue, government support, and incarceration costs,” says U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “In today’s job market, you cannot drop out of high school anymore and land a decent job. All too often, dropping out of school is an apprenticeship for prison, not for success in the workplace.”
The President is seeking funds and support for the second phase of the America’s Promise Alliance initiatives to strengthen American schools called Grad Nation. The announcements were made at an event attended by the President, Alliance Founding-Chair Secretary Colin Powell and Duncan.
The goal of this aspect of the Alliance is to make the United States a world leader in high school graduation rates, which will not only reduce the tax burden on American, but raise the bar for economic expectations in the United States for the future.
Posted By: Paul Adams
Friday, March 12th 2010 at 10:18AM
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