Fingers Crossed for Graduates

It's that time of year once again. Robes. Weeping grandmothers. Proud parents. Wistful memories. Long-winded speakers. Beaming students. Tassels. Pomp and Circumstance. Handshakes, hugs, and smiles all ‘round.

‘Tis the season for graduations and for our graduates to step out onto the world's stage. We wish them all the best, and we hope that we have done them the best. We high-five them with one hand . . . but keep our fingers crossed on the other.

Graduations should be celebrated, graduations should be cherished, and graduations should be earned.

But graduations should also be expected.

We owe it to future graduates to expect them to graduate. For them to start their academic careers expecting to graduate. To expect that they will finish what they start.

But finishing what they start seems to be getting harder and harder for American high school students.

I recently read a horrifying statistic in a Time cover story (4/17) that no doubt horrified many of you: 30% of American high school students drop out without graduating.

That's three out of every 10 high school kids in the country. Even if that statistic were two out of every 10 or even 1.5, it is still a horrifying number of students not graduating from high school.

It seems to me that graduation from high school should be the lowest possible level of educational expectation we should have for America's children, for our children.

There are all sorts of reasons to do everything we can in order to encourage students to graduate from high school. For one, there is a clear positive correlation between level of education achieved (number of graduations earned) and salary earned. While high schools must not solely define themselves by how many students they send to colleges, I believe that an essential question to ask of schools is "To what extent are you preparing students for college?"

Without a high school diploma, one's economic opportunities are severely - perhaps even permanently - compromised; and though making money should not necessarily not be an educational goal, making money is closely correlated with choice in America, so not making money can significantly curtail one's choice.

Graduating from high school should not be a choice that students have. We should expect our children to graduate. We can accomplish this in a number of ways: some states suspend driver's licenses of those who drop out; other states encourage students to enroll in community college courses; and still others have established non-traditional avenues to graduation including online programs, night school, and courses that do not have finite timelines for completion.

Regardless of the strategies used in order to ensure graduation, one thing must remain constant - high expectations for all students. From the moment students enter kindergarten, every one - teachers, families, peers - should expect them to graduate to the next level of learning: high school, college, graduate school.

And we should all celebrate when they do graduate. So go ahead, clap wildly, cheer raucously, and high five your graduates; they deserve it.

But keep your fingers crossed for those who have yet to graduate.

--Steve McKibben
6/10/06