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The Voice of Business,
Industry & the Professions Since 1942
North Carolina's largest
business group proudly serves as the state chamber of commerce
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Editorial
for March 2005
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High School Dropouts
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The number of students who dropped out of high school rose last year for the
first time in several years. The State Department of Public Instruction said
a little over 20,000 students, or just under five percent of all high school
students, left school for good last year. The drop-out rate had been
declining over the past four years.
Professionals whose opinions matter are weighing in on why so many young
people are quitting school, and the business community as well ought to give
this some thought. For example, we might ask ourselves if we aren’t partly
to blame. I think we are.
If you
remember the bad old days in public education in North Carolina — the 1980s
and early ’90s, employers had problems hiring high school graduates. A
frequent complaint was they had poor math and reading skills and didn’t know
how to work as a team. In 1995, the CEO of one large Charlotte manufacturing
concern stepped on some toes but voiced a view held by many when he said in
these pages that it was getting to be a big expense training entry-level
workers to do simple jobs.
Gov. Hunt
took up that cause and challenged North Carolina to build the best public
school system in the nation. He said a high school diploma ought to mean
something when applying for a job.
Years of
work raising academic standards and expectations have followed. Now we do
have great schools. Expectation and standards are high — higher, apparently,
than some students can meet. A high school diploma means something.
Gov. Mike
Easley might be onto something with his idea of combining the senior year of
high school with community college. In five years the student would earn a
two-year technical degree. Maybe this would encourage more students to
prepare for successful careers in the workforce.
“We are
committed to high academic standards and will never go down the easy road of
social promotion,” said State Board of Education Chairman Howard Lee. “We
will make sure that every child is ready to learn and that every child will
one day be ready to earn.”
But let’s
also make sure the ones who don’t make it aren’t forgotten. --
Steve Tuttle
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