Carol Sager (sageredent@aol.com) wrote:
> For better than a decade business groups have been sharing their needs
> with educators. National surveys and several major reports have noted
> exactly what you have mentioned above. Part of the problem is that
> educators don't usually listen to their customers (or even think they have
> any).The average high school drop out rate is approximately 25% per year
> and up to 50% in many urban areas. Any business that lost 25% of their
> customers, year after year, would be out of business. Case in point: I
> have attached an article written by high school students.
I'm pretty sure the average high school dropout rate is more like 10% than
25%. If I remember right, that 25% figure is for students who don't have
a diploma 12 years after starting first grade; as such, it lumps students
who have repeated a grade together with students who have dropped out.
IMHO, the student who sticks it out and graduates from high school even if
it takes five years to do so has much more in common with the student who
graduates in four years than he/she does with the student who gives up.
One of my best friends, who has a high school diploma, would be counted as
a dropout under the system that gives the 25% figure.
-- Eric Bohlman (ebohlman@netcom.com)