Georgia
Graduation Rates at 79% fall in the 70-79% range along with 13 other States. If
they could move to 80%, Georgia would be in the 80-89% range and would join the
36 states in the mainstream.
Georgia is
in the same range as New York 79%, Wyoming 79%, Idaho 79%, Florida 78%,
Louisiana 78%, Washington 78%, Colorado 77%, Arizona 77%, Alaska 76%, Oregon
74%, Nevada 71%.New Mexico 69% and Alabama (not reported). The other 35 States are in the 80-89% range.
The highest graduation rate is Iowa at 91%.
The
overall Graduation Rate in the US is 83%.
Graduation
rates by race include Asian 90%, White 88%, Hispanic 78%, Black 75%, American
Indian 72%
I have
wondered about Georgia’s obsession to raise graduation rates and must assume
that it comes up when they try to attract companies to move their operations to
Georgia. If these companies are passing on Georgia because of their Graduation
Rates, they don’t know what they’re doing.
When I
came to Georgia in 1983, I had applicants tested, based on what job they
applied for. I had to go to Temp Services to have office staff screened, because
the direct applicants did poorly on the General Clerical Test Battery. I also
had to check to see if I could find good applicants for Electronic Technician
jobs and had to hire “top of the class” graduates to get what I wanted. But I
adapted to hiring in Atlanta and found the applicants I wanted.
Before
Georgia, I spent 8 years in Salina Kansas and found a very high-functioning
workforce. Many were farm kids who had to do chores and get 100% on their
tests. They scored very high on all the tests I gave them.
I have
several theories about graduation rates. I think students drop out for lots of
reasons. Those who fail a grade, but are advanced on with their age group may
never catch up and they just quit. I am sure others have family issues and were
not “encouraged” to learn.
We don’t
all advance at the same pace and a lot of students don’t see how what they are
being taught will be needed when they are adults. US education needs to stress
reading, writing and math and keep students in classes with the same bandwidth
of academic ability. All education is self-education. Students really learn
things when they want to or need to.
I went to
private schools in St. Louis. The guys in my grade school were smart, but
didn’t do well in their school work. The guys in my high school were much
better at school work, because we needed a certain score on the entrance exam
to be accepted. Still, some of the guys in high school didn’t make good grades.
Many of these caught fire in college and ended up with PhDs.
I’ve known
kids who didn’t do well in school and didn’t go to college, but they ended up
millionaires, because they started businesses.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment