Even back in the dark ages when I was young, it was commonly understood that graduating from high school was a prerequisite for any kind of success, and it was even fairly clear that at least some college might be useful. So it's discouraging that, at this late date, so many still aren't getting the message:
Chamber president Kevin Brinegar said the report, which estimates that more than 20,000 young Hoosiers drop out of high school every year, does not bode well for the state's work force.
"Dropping out of high school in today's economy is the equivalent of an economic death sentence," Brinegar said.
It's doubtful there are any easy answers, though we might have been further along if school systems hadn't been underestimating the scope of the problem by inflating their graduation-rate estimates. I wonder, though. If kids are so thick-headed that they don't comprehend the need for high school diplomas, are they really going to have such wonderful lives even if they are somehow browbeaten enough to stick it out for all four years?
Comments
But wait a minute: High school drop-outs are bad for our economy? Then why do our government and business leaders encourage millions of uneducated (many with a grade school education, or less) third worlders to come here, by hook or crook?
"Dropping out of high school is an aconomic death sentence"? Then why do our government and business leaders wish to encourage the continued importation of unskilled labor? To watch all of these third worlders economically die?
Perhaps our leaders could pull their heads out of their a$$es long enough to notice that some people aren't suited for schooling, but are perfectly suited to manual labor, and if American drop-outs didn't have to compete against hordes of third world immigrants, they might actually be able to make a living.
Barry, answer to your first paragraph:
To get votes and make more money.
Barry, answer to your second paragraph:
To get votes and make more money.
Barry, response to your third paragraph:
The majority of American kids that drop out are not competing with third worlders for jobs, they are making meth and babies.
Tim,
The majority of American kids who drop out _cannot_ compete with third worlders for jobs, because Americans aren't willing to work for wages so low that they can afford only to live with 20 others in a three bed/one bath house.
Perhaps the ennui and despair that drive many of our drop-outs to meth and other drugs have something to do with the hordes of third world immigrants who take jobs traditionally performed by unskilled American workers.
But hey, if Dick Lugar (who is so popular among Hoosier voters that Democrats aren't even bothering to run an opponent) thinks the Mexicanization of Indiana and America is a good idea, who are we plebs to disagree, right?
Perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm not sure the drop-out rate and the immigration issue are even related, ... I live in a border state (that would be the Mexican border, ...) where the immigration issue is very visible and persistent and we don't really have that kind of a drop-out rate. In fact, we have a very high graduation rate and a pretty respectable average high school GPA, ... could the drop-out rate in your area be related to, say, something else ?
Larry, my point was only that on the one hand, the American government encourages its citizens all to finish high school and, increasingly, college or trade school, while at the same time pursuing a policy which admits millions of unskilled laborers.
Don't you see the disconnect? The fact is, we need unskilled laborers, and some Americans aren't suited for much schooling--they're suited for unskilled labor.
But the value of their unskilled labor is being undercut by the importation of millions of unskilled foreign laborers.
We worry and lament about high school drop-outs because these drop-outs are unskilled laborers who do so poorly in the job market, but in large part they do so poorly in the job market because millions of unskilled Third Worlders are taking jobs that used to be done by unskilled American workers.
Oh, and a belated Happy Birthday to Leo!
Barry, you state " the majority of American kids that drop out cannot compete with third worlders for jobs because they are not willing to work for wages so low etc etc etc."
We're talking about high school dropouts..high school age kids....6 to 8 bucks an hour.....these are the kids being forced out of that busboy job by illegals?
I absolutley agree with you the govt speaks out of both sides of it's mouth and issues become overlapped and muddled, and I'm a big believer in border security and deportation, I don't want to see ANY illegal aliens hired, but as Larry points out...the two issues really have nothing to do with each other. American kids drop out of high school because their either lazy, stupid, or both. (period)
I think kids should at least have a high school diploma although all won't because I think some really do have a very difficult time with learning from books. But they can do alot of unskilled labor jobs. I don't know how many manufacturing jobs are lost to illegals, but if they are doing those jobs, yes they are taking them from the people with no diploma and those with one. One other note, a college degree does not guarantee success either. School costs so much and then when you graduate these corporations don't want to pay a comparable wage. Job market is too tight.
Truly...a CATCH-22 if EVER there was one...!
B.G.