The high school dropout rate is not as bad as it once was, but
it's not as good as it needs to be. A national crisis is looming
because we can no longer sustain a work force that is needed to
staff higher-skilled jobs. Hands-on, real-world education is not
just for students who others' believe are incapable of handling
text-based, literacy-based college prep courses. Education
circles, communities and the Legislature talk about solving "the
high school problem." We have not moved beyond the talking
stages other than to burden students with inflexible pathways,
imprison them with time constraints, and basically continue to
use models that are out of date and not reflective of the
technology use that would actually enhance and expedite student
learning. However, the cruelest reality is that we have grown
accustomed in this country and state in all of our high schools
to accept that approximately 30 percent to 40 percent of our
freshmen students are not going to make it to graduation. Once
upon a time, the dropo