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Sat, 08 Apr 2006

What's wrong with America's high schools?

Curious - I dropped out of Shelbyville Senior High School as a junior in 1973. I had been close to being at the head of the class, academically, but left when I discovered that the administration was going to throw out all of my credits for the past semester, because I had been absent too many days. Never mind that my grades were right up there with the best - they had the rules to enforce, and state law said you showed up or got docked credits.

So I volunteered for the Air Force. had a GED by the end of the year and by the time my class graduated I had two years of college credits via testing, my Air Force training and the local community college...

The real lesson here is that it's not always the student's (or his teachers) "fault" when he drops out. Look to the bureaucracy for some real answers.

An increasing number of researchers are saying that nearly one out of three public high school students won't graduate -- a realization that has administrators taking a hard look at the problem. "Ten years ago," says one high school principal, "if we had a problem student, the plan was, 'OK, let's figure out how to get rid of this kid.' Now we have to get them help."

(link) [CNN.com]

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