According to this article, the number of kids not wishing to finish high school is mind-boggling. Apparently, some major cities have drop-out rates as high as 40-50%. That's pretty.....interesting. It appears (IMHO) that the divide between the educated and the uneducated is increasing....particularly in a time when higher and higher forms of education are required to stay competitive in the job market. I just couldn't imagine ever applying for a job and not being able to show ANY indication that I had ANY type of formal education. Without, at least, a high school diploma, employers wouldn't be able to objectively tell an 11th grade dropout from someone raised in the back hills of Kentucky learning to make moonshine from the day they were born. Heck...without a high school diploma (or equivalent), the MILITARY wouldn't even take them. That's saying a lot!
I personally think that it has less to do with kids thinking they already know enough or that they're wasting their time and more to do with a lack of motivation. The sad fact of the matter is that you really have to WANT to learn to ever be able to get there. If someone doesn't want to learn, then there's very little that you can do to help them.
2 comments:
Hmmm... my freshman class in high school back in 1994 was over 900 strong. Four years later, less than 400 graduated. I'm sure some of those were transfers or what not but that really is depressing to think about.
Having gone to a private high school, I can't say that our number were nearly that severe. Then again, I don't exactly know them off the top of my head.
I'm actually rather torn on the subject. On one hand, my selfish side is conforted to know that the competition in the work force is waning. On the other, it's not fun to think about people who are content with a lack of education. Our country never really has been on the forefront (sp?) on that topic.
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