© 2009 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D.
It was a case of them holding up a red flag to get a charging bull to stop. I cannot resist commenting on today’s news that the graduation rate from the free education in New Mexico public schools is putrid. By graduation time, the free public education is being discarded by almost half of the students.
To make things worse, putrid politicians are barging around trying to make political hay. Every politician who chortles and grabs for power because of this misfortune needs a swift kick in the keister.
The New Mexico dropout numbers show that, statewide, for every student who graduates from a New Mexico high school another does not. At some high schools the graduation rate for boys hovers around 40 percent.
Relax. I will address what to do about dropouts. But first I have to vent about how most of our politicians are so sorry that we should trade with New Jersey.
Predictably, both political parties want to look at the problem as a political issue. I got a press release today — “GOP Agrees: 54% Graduation Rate Unacceptable – Time to Hold Richardson & Denish Accountable.”
The error is that neither political party can hit water from a boat about education. Most politicians have not been in a classroom this century. It is not so much what they do not know as what they think they know that is not so.
They puff, “We must treat these students like we were treated when I was in school. Beat them until they learn to enjoy school. They will thank us in their prayers.”
If you are waiting for them to say something sensible, you lose. Many think if we would just make these students more miserable they would stay in school and graduate. We nod our heads and wonder how they get home at night because they are obviously too stupid to drive themselves.
Before worrying about junk food…
Given how bad our dropout numbers have been over the years, I was appalled that Governor Richardson was chosen as “America’s Greatest Education Governor” this year by the National Education Association. Why did he get the award? Because he restored collective bargaining rights for teachers, put in a statewide pre-kindergarten program, supported a tiered-licensing system for teachers and personally was at the forefront in the effort to remove junk food from schools.
Say, before I spent time worried about junk food it seems to me I would try to get the other half of the student body to graduate, eh? A place to start with this problem would be understanding why that half of the students decided that a free education costs too much for them to continue.
Many people believe a student dropping out reflects irrational behavior. Not me. I have been on the frontlines for the last couple of years and have spent a lot of time on just this question. In fact, dropping out may be the most rational thing they do, given the inflexibility of some public schools. Many students cannot read effectively and feel stupid sitting in class without those skills. Many cut up in class to hide how inadequate they feel and have felt for their entire lives in public school.
The core problem is that when these students were in early elementary school they did not learn the skills necessary to become literate. They were taught those skills but they were not able to take that teaching and consolidate it into long-term skills, abilities and knowledge.
They were taught but did not learn.
It is wrong to think that students who are lacking in middle school were never taught literate skills. They were. But the instructional model precluded the method they needed to achieve their own literacy, and the system is not doing what it should to catch them up in literacy. The data is compelling that they are not being helped in a way that is useful to them.
Starting the first day of school
The dropout problem starts the first day of school for many students. The system wants to teach them one way; however, it is not a way by which they learn. George Evans wrote, “Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.”
Even if they have gone years without the proper skills, they can become literate. That is what I do professionally every day. I can provide anyone interested with data supporting this.
Every student comes to school that first day curious, excited and happy. Then the factory model of education descends upon them and they suffer hours and days that for some are just awful.
My friend Janet teaches first grade. She says to anyone who will listen, “Three things we must do with our students: First, we must engage their curiosity. Second, we must give them the literate and numerate tools they need to satisfy their curiosity. Finally, they must enjoy the passage of time while in school.”
“It does not have to be a carnival, but if the institutional need is for them to do work at preparing for standardized tests for which they have no interest, and they spend a great deal of time doing this activity which most despise, the heart and soul of education is lost forever for that child,” Janet says.
I agree completely with Janet. We can do so much to prevent dropouts, but we must change our perspectives. This is an educational problem that can only be solved with an educational solution.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.