Earlier this year, Congressman and former gubernatorial hopeful Artur Davis expressed his convictions on Alabama’s dropout problem and suggested a number of policies to address the issue. His ideas ranged from deterrents to parent tax penalties. Sadly, his defeat in the June 1 primary to fellow Democrat Ron Sparks resulted in the death of his platform, and neither nominee has yet picked up his mantle.
Even though I do not agree completely with every plank of Mr. Davis’s dropout prevention proposal, I agree on the severity of this malaise and share his concern for this issue. Solving the dropout epidemic should result in an improved economy, a skilled workforce and a negligible number of actual dropouts. This is why Alabama gubernatorial candidates should push for an opt-in system that allows would-be dropouts to earn a vocational diploma during their last two years of high school instead of the traditional academic curriculum.
Alabama’s situation relating to the graduation rate is far beyond abysmal. According to the Manhattan Institute, only three out of five students who enroll in ninth grade will complete high school, placing us in the bottom quintile of the states. I can attest to this, since my ninth grade class started with 205, but ended with 113 graduates. It is unacceptable that, in the most powerful nation on Earth, only 62 percent of students receive a diploma.
The results of withdrawal are sorrowful, to say the least. The average annual income of a dropout was 50 percent lower than a high school graduate, and a college graduate will earn $1 million more over their lifetimes than dropouts, translating to an annual loss of $6.8 billion in income for Alabamians. It is personally heartbreaking to return to my home in Brookwood and see acquaintances of mine who dropped out trying to attain just enough to meet fundamental needs, much less wants. In light of this, vocational training would be a godsend.
The biggest reason for high school withdrawal provides an even stronger argument for an opt-in system. A 2006 report by policy think-tank Civic Enterprises found that approximately half the dropouts found class to be boring, leading to a lack of motivation. Why?
The answer is remarkably simple. Rather than focus on the strengths of pupils, our education system puts a bold emphasis on attempts to bring their weaknesses to par with their strengths in an effort to make students “well-rounded.”
Financial guru Dave Ramsey often asserts this system will lead to abject misery and half-hearted efforts. A great analogy is a bakery that makes only cupcakes. If you don’t like cupcakes but prefer muffins instead, you’re just out of luck.
A vocational opt-in would break the cookie cutter mentality by offering courses that would allow at-risk students to play to their individual strengths by using their hands to do what they love, not what they hate. So instead of pushing Joey to be an engineer even though he has no math skills, he can opt-in to taxpayer-funded (remember, they’re still in school) classes that focus on being a welder because he has steady hands.
Or, instead of Kira having iambic pentameter crammed down her throat, she can now learn to electronically file medical records due to her personal gravitation towards organizing things.
The result of these training programs would be profound. In a short memo, Seth Banks, professor of manufacturing at San Jose State, cited a report by the SREB that found high-risk juniors and seniors who enrolled in an opt-in program reduced their likelihood of dropping out by 90 percent. Also, having a specific skill set is very appealing to employers. In an NFIB survey, 40 percent of respondents deemed occupational skills as the number one hiring criterion, with academic knowledge getting only 7 percent.
It is no wonder then that an opt-in program would be a very attractive deal for would-be dropouts.
Some detractors would say that the lack of transportation or money would make it a burden, but while their arguments might have been correct ten years ago, their ignorance of technological advances shows greatly. The advent of the Internet has caused a quantum leap in distance learning. My only question to the doubters is, “If taxpayer-funded distance learning worked for AP Calculus, why could it not also work for a medical technology class?” The possibilities are endless.
The days of new, bloated retention programs or using expanded social safety nets are numbered. Both options blow holes in state budgets, treat the symptoms rather than the disease, and currently have the ire of the taxpayer. New strategies are in order and must be implemented if we are to cure the opprobrium on our education system.
Is my idea the one true path? No. More proposals that focus on the uniqueness of the individual and his or her contributions to society will begin to heal the gap between skilled and unskilled workers. The road is long, and the challenges are tough, so let us opt-in now so we do not have to drop out later.
Gregory Poole is a graduate student in metallurgical engineering.
