Our Nation’s Education Dilemma - Does it matter?

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

- Dr. King, “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” April 16, 1963

I think Dr. King was right, I am only recently beginning to internalize this. I think there are far too many of us who feel and act as if we can isolate ourselves from societal issues, issues that only affect ‘those’ people. One of these issues is public education. What are the implications of having roughly half of 9th graders graduate from our urban public school systems? My gut tells me that this hurts all of us, even those of us who can afford to reside in an area with a ‘good’ school district or send our kids to private school.

My man Vinnie Vee sent me an article highlighting the recently released annual report Education at a Glance by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation. The report aims to help leaders see how their nations stack up. What do we think of this? I wonder what our ‘leaders’ think ? I wonder how much of the political discourse over the next 2 months will be on this most important of issues?

The US large high school dropout rate is alarming when compared to other nations and how it impacts poverty in this country. I don’t know what the long term societal implications are however a growing education disparity in our nation can’t be a good thing.

Some excerpts from the report:

…among adults age 25 to 34, the U.S. ranks 11th among nations in the share of its population that has finished high school. It used to be first.

The high school and college graduation rates of recent U.S. students are now below the international average.

Adults who don't finish high school in the U.S. earn 65 percent of what people who have high school degrees make. Adults without a high school diploma typically make about 80 percent of the salaries earned by high school graduates in nations across Asia, Europe and elsewhere.

44 percent of adults without high school degrees in the United States have low incomes - that is, they make half of the country's median income or less. Only Denmark had a higher proportion of dropouts with low incomes.

However if you do not agree with Dr. King and you do have a degree, things are cool… for now. More from the report:
An adult with a university degree in the U.S. earns, on average, 72 percent more than someone with a high school degree. That's a much bigger difference than in most countries.

Spending money is not the answer.
From elementary school through college, the United States spends an average of $12,023 per student. That's higher than in all countries in the comparison except for Switzerland.

So why is it that we as a nation spend more money than comparable nations and produce fewer graduates? Why are we not more concerned? I think it is because those of us with the loudest voice and most political clout seem to believe we can simply ‘move away’ or finance our way out of the issue by taking care of our own, while ignoring large, growing portions of our society.