Dropping Out: The Ugly Secret Behind the Data

In 1940 my 16 year old mother graduated from high school. At the time the graduation rate was about 50% of 18 year olds. The newspapers reported the great success of increasing graduation rates. Following the close of World War II graduation rates had increased to the 65% range and once again the news touted the continuing success of America’s public schools. The language has changed since then. We don’t hear about graduation rates; now we hear about dropout rates. The connotation of contrasting graduation rates and dropout rates is obvious to the most casual reader when they are juxtaposed.

It is difficult to determine the graduation rates in 2010 because people with a political agenda have become much more sophisticated at manipulating the data to suit their particular view of public education, vouchers for private schools, and likely a real belief that education is failing. But is it?

Schools don’t look like they did in 1940 or 1955 or 1965. Before the early 1970s schools were still mostly segregated by race. There hadn’t been a migration of people from beleaguered or war torn nations creating an influx of new immigrants that allowed schools to declare, “One-hundred languages spoken here!” Unfortunately those 100 languages are spoken largely by the students who are expected to learn in the language of instruction, English.

Any text about bilingual education will explain the four major approaches to preparing non-English speakers for English-speaking classrooms. It is unclear from those readings which of the four methods is most successful. Laws guiding the rules for bilingual education vary by state and by region and sometimes those laws defy common sense. I give you states that have adopted English as the official language when their populations reflect large numbers of new immigrants who have not yet acquired skills in English. This is a social issue, not a school issue.

Schools take all the children – rich, poor, homeless, adjudicated, gay, straight, special needs – some of which are extreme, and they do the best they can. Politicians would have the public believe that all public schools are failing, that all private schools do a better job, that charter schools (which are public) are the silver bullet for assuring success. The research suggests that private schools do no better than public schools when educating children at the lowest tiers of society, attending on vouchers. Research also suggests that smart kids, from middle class families will do well wherever they attend school. Charter schools also receive a mixed report card; some are good and some are poor.

For the past 50 years the number one reason for young women to drop out of school is unplanned pregnancy. Some progress has been realized in this area, with schools establishing programs that make it possible to finish high school with a child. There are still too many schools that subtly and not so subtly “shove” those girls out of school, lest they taint their classmates.

During the same time period, the number one reason for boys to drop out of school is to get a job in order to help support their families. Many boys who are already at risk are “shoved” out of school by administrators who don’t want to deal with their issues.

These social issues are emblematic of the baggage students bring to school and sometimes the baggage that causes them to leave school. Is this the result of poor teaching? If the lessons were more interesting or more relevant could we keep the pregnant girl and the boy who needs to work in school? Will good test scores in math and reading resolve the issue of being homeless, frightened, or hungry?

The graduation rate is somewhere around 75% nationwide, considerably better than after World War II and pretty amazing when considered against the social problems that remain unaddressed and unresolved.

Criminalizing Normal Childhood Behavior

Let's talk about Zero Tolerance Policies. These are policies that purport to have zero tolerance for certain behaviors in schools. Typically these behaviors include fighting, having weapons or drugs, and engaging in sexual harassment.  No problem.  Who could disagree with such policies? 

The problem with these policies lies in the lack of discretion used by those who are charged with enforcing the policy.  We've all read the stories.

• A kindergartner is expelled for kissing a female classmate.  Then the parents of the little girl sue for sexual harassment.
• A whole 4th grade class is suspended after a field trip to the National Aquarium and their teachers are docked a day's pay because the children bought laser pointers for a souvenir.
• A third grader is suspended for having a teeny, tiny Lego gun (not 1/2 inch long and plastic) in his backpack.
• Countless young women suspended for sharing a Midol or an aspirin.

Where is the common sense?  If young men get in a fistfight, a fairly common occurrence when I was in school; now the police are called, assault charges are filed, and young lives are derailed.  There must be a better way.  I remember my various brothers having to shake hands, apologize, and agree to work harder at understanding the other person.  You have to wonder if the escalation of consequences has also signaled upping the ante with various weapons and continuing grudges being the result.

The five-year old sexual deviant has to be one of my favorite examples of the adults in charge failing to understand anything about developmental levels and normal behavior.  I distinctly remember first tackling, then straddling, then kissing a little boy in my first grade class.  When the same little boy and I were in third grade we got in a fistfight - more of a shoving match - but a fist fight by today's standards.  In high school we dated some.  I think this sequence could have been predicted.  Had we had ink wells in our desks and had I worn pig tails, then he probably would have turned my blond hair blue.  What was considered innocent and normal in the 1950s is now deviant and criminal.

Until the adults in charge of schools can demonstrate some basic common sense let's do away with Zero Tolerance Policies.