Kerry, High School Graduation Rates, And Failing Our Future

Two weeks ago, Sen. John Kerry claimed that only 47% of students graduate high school. Could he have been right? According to the New York Times, Kerry may have been on to something:

Among boys, the numbers were even worse, Mr. Mills said, calling them "particularly disturbing." Statewide, 59.4 percent of boys graduated on time in 2005, compared with 69.2 percent of girls. In New York City, the gap was more pronounced, with 37.3 percent of boys and 49.8 percent of girls graduating on time last year.

"It is a pattern that will carry through into college; it will carry through into the professions," Mr. Mills said. "It has profound negative effects for our future."

The state's numbers, released at a news conference yesterday, also included a more dismal view of New York City's high school graduation rate than the one that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg released last week as part of a package of statistics on government performance. According to the city's numbers, 53.2 percent of students who were scheduled to graduate last year did so, down from 54.3 percent the year before.

If you cherry pick your statistics, you might find that some figures might support Kerry's contention. The problem is how these figures were all derived.

Yet, any way you look at it, the education system in this country is deficient and where you're quibbling over a couple of percentage points when only about 50% of students are graduating high school within four years, you've got serious problems. No Child Left Behind and all the other big government programs sound great and throw lots of money at the public education system, but is that money actually doing any good?

New York City habitually bitches about how much money the State gives to the City as compared with the rest of the State. Even with the infusion of billions of dollars more to equalize the funding (and the City demanding ever more money - including money for an addition to one of my alma maters), the City is still failing its children. NYC spends more than $12,000 per student (FY 2004).

Whose fault is that? It's parents who don't take an active role in their children's education. It's teachers and unions who are more concerned about their fiscal wellbeing than making sure that the kids learn and have the skills necessary to succeed. It's the education bureaucracy that sucks money out of budgets like there's no tomorrow, and has little to show for it. And it's politicians who are more inclined to offer soundbites than offer real changes.

Now, Mayor Bloomberg can and should be congratulated for making fundamental changes in the Board of Education - giving the Mayor direct control over the Board for the first time, but the fundamental problems remain. Students are performing poorly and we must demand better.

These students must be able to be competitive with those from around the world, and if they do not have the skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace, the City, State, and country are in for a whole lot of trouble.

UPDATE:
The NY Sun has a more comprehensive roundup of the graduation rates and how they were calculated.