Thursday, June 26, 2008

Seriously? Seriously???

This article is an inspirational enough bit on alternative methods of schooling, and I would have rolled right through it if I hadn't hit this line: "Last year’s graduation rate was 63 percent, Mr. Fisher said, nearly triple the rate of the old Bushwick High School, which once occupied the same building. The citywide average is about 50 percent."

50 percent???? Really? Is there a way to explain this to make it any more sane, or is it true that 50% of New York City's public school kids don't graduate from high school? At the risk of sounding naive (too late, right), this is insane! Maybe a decent percentage of dropouts get their GED, but it's still mind-boggling that half of the future (and maybe current) adults who grew up going to New York public schools do not have high school diplomas.

I'm....boggled.

1 comment:

msmcshane said...

The dropout rate in CA is, depending on whom you ask, roughly 50%. Seriously.