Down the Tubes
When you read the article below on drop out rates, think about the fact that in 2006, the poverty rate in the US was 12.3 percent. For whites, it was 8.2 percent, but for blacks, it was 24.3 percent.
In 2007, 46.8% of 12th graders, 35.6% of 10th graders and 20.9% of 8th graders (!) admitted to taking some sort of illicit drug in their lifetime.
African American boys who drop out of high school have a 73% unemployment rate in their 20s and have a 60% chance of going to jail in their 30s.
One of every two African-American and Latino students either won’t graduate on time or won’t graduate at all.
3 million people are in prison
A 13 year old was arrested for being a madame
Again, none of this is intended to be used as proof that Muslims should be isolated (as was done in the past), but to engage and offer our talents to provide solutions. We have to speak up and realize that bad culture has failed us…
Seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, according to a report released Tuesday.
The report, issued by America’s Promise Alliance, found that about half of the students served by public school systems in the nation’s largest cities receive diplomas. Students in suburban and rural public high schools were more likely to graduate than their counterparts in urban public high schools, the researchers said.
Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.
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Summit in every state planned
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The report found troubling data on the prospects of urban public high school students getting to college. In Detroit’s public schools, 24.9 percent of the students graduated from high school, while 30.5 percent graduated in Indianapolis Public Schools and 34.1 percent received diplomas in the Cleveland Municipal City School District.
Researchers analyzed school district data from 2003-2004 collected by the U.S. Department of Education. To calculate graduation rates, the report estimated the likelihood that a 9th grader would complete high school on time with a regular diploma. Researchers used school enrollment and diploma data, but did not use data on dropouts as part of its calculation.
Many metropolitan areas also showed a considerable gap in the graduation rates between their inner-city schools and the surrounding suburbs. Researchers found, for example, that 81.5 percent of the public school students in Baltimore’s suburbs graduate, compared with 34.6 percent in the city schools.
In Ohio, nearly 83 percent of public high school students in suburban Columbus graduate while 78.1 percent in suburban Cleveland earn their diplomas, well above their local city schools.
Disparity in data
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States calculate their graduation rates using all sorts of methods, many of which critics say are based on unreliable information about school dropouts. Under No Child Left Behind, states may use their own methods of calculating graduation rates and set their own goals for improving them.
The research was conducted by Editorial Projects in Education, a Bethesda, Md., nonprofit organization, with support from America’s Promise Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Filed under: Black American Muslims, Changing World, Children's Issues
Sometimes when articles like this come out, it just make you wonder how could this be. Technology was far better than it was in the past. Sometimes we may not get why?
Education is a joint venture: Educators, parents and the children need to work together to be successful in the classroom. In the past( Almost 20 years ago and more), you found more caring teachers back then than bad teachers. It was harder for prospective teachers finding jobs in their field. Now you cannot keep them. The problem is getting so bad that school boards are/have resorted to the troubling prospect of lowering the grading requirements for teachers becoming teachers( And yet our kids has to make a 3.0 or more to be academically competitive. How contradictory is that?) Even with some teachers, they are only there for a paycheck.
Parents also have to their part in their children’s educational life. I’ve been to a couple PTA meetings and heard some teachers say that they weren’t their students “baby sitters” and/or that “education start in the home”. Although some of the parents would turn red in the face at their comments, the educators are right. That is the biggest mistake some parents make.
You may see kids who seem more enlightened in their studies than some other students. Why? not because god made one child smarter than the other. Chances( and I just say chances as there are some go astray in spite of it) are that the parents have educationally nurturted them. Parents have to show compassion for the educational well being of their kids from day one: read to them as babies, take them to museums,libraries, science centers ( as older kids), be involved in their learning process etc. Show that they care about what they are doing. If the parent don’t care, how on earth do they expect for their kids to do the same?
Most of all , kids will have to take responsibility of what they are doing. They have to want to well, they will have to take initiative in doing so. They may not like to do certain subjects( I confess Math, science arrgh! ), but it has to be done. On top of that, some subjects are becoming important requirements that may help them out in in the future. It’s scary hearing about these rates because, they may not realize just how much harder it will be for them to get jobs of ANY kind. Even with some janitorial jobs, you have to have a high school diploma and in some cases, associate’s degrees to be custodians. It’s no joke. They do not realize how much they keep falling for the bait.
In addition to all of this, I must also play a little devil advocate about it. All of this red tape that are out there for children to be the best could also make some them worst. In my state, they have to take too many tests, as far as the 1st grade. Even though techers are required to make their students more competitive, you be make it so complicated to the point that becomes pointless and illogical. Children are not understanding it. Now that President has the No Child Left Behind policy, it has made things worse for students and teachers. It doesn’t make any sense what so ever and it’s not working. On top of that, they want to take ( or have taken)away recreation, foreign language( Oh no!), recess and music and add more stifling rules to their repitoire. Everybody needs a break, especially the kids. They go to school 5 days a week/6 hours a day. That is enough to tire people. You cannot function properly without it. On top of that ,when that kind of pressure is applied in the lives and their is no escape from it, you’re potentially creating problems for them.I’ve have heard some kids say that it is such reasons like this is why they drop out of school.
This is not new, this lack of respect for education has been taking place for quite awhile now and I don’t see the black leadership addressing it in any meaningful way except to excuse it.
Another generation of ‘victims’ are in the pipe and that, sadly, is acceptable to those that gain their power thru that message.
Check the DOJ stats for crime and murder and you’ll find a similar theme.