, Publisher
11-02-2009
Recently released statistics from the Louisiana Department of Education reveal the dropout rate in Lincoln Parish Schools has increased by more than 10 percent. In 2007-08 the graduate rate was 76.5 percent. In the 2008-09 school year, it was 65.1 percent. This certainly is cause for the school board to take preventative action, which is just what they plan to do. Superintendent Danny Bell has requested School Board President Otha Anders to name a committee to address the problem. The group will meet bi-monthly and gather case studies on school districts with low dropout rates.
This is a prudent move on their part, as high school dropouts are more likely to live impoverished lives and become criminals, thus negatively affecting the societies in which they live. Emulating these districts could be the key to keeping the crime rate in Lincoln Parish under control, to a degree.
A 2003 report by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 59 percent of America’s federal prison inmates did not complete high school, and 75 percent of America’s state prison inmates are high school dropouts. These figures make it plain why schools should do everything they can to retain their students until graduation.
Also, as today’s jobs increasingly require higher levels of specialization, there is less work for the uneducated. Unfortunately, the poor in mind become the poor in pocket.
The Employment Policy Foundation in 2002 reported that high school graduates, on average, earn $9,245 more per year than dropouts.
A key factor in creating an educated society is the reduction of teenage pregnancy occurrences. Young parents with poor literacy skills are likely to raise children of the same, and the cycle of poverty persists.
The Alliance for Excellent Education reports that male and female students with low academic achievement are twice as likely to become parents by their senior year of high school, compared to those with high academic achievement.
The high school dropout rate in this area doesn’t only affect the children who fall through the cracks — it affects all of us.
Other Top Stories
