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Florida's Graduation Rate America's Lowest


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Florida is last among the 50 states with a 56.8% high school graduation in 2005. The national average was 71.5% in 2005.

This makes me sick! How can it be that Florida, the greatest state in America (personal opinion) is dead last at anything... especially something like this.

Education Governor huh?

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Have you read the statistics for black males who graduate. I think it's like 38% graduate from high shcool.

But just observing these 2 classes of 2005 and 06 from my school I wouldn't be suprised to find that 65% of the seniors won't make it across that stage. It will be interesting to see the statistics for class of 06.

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Well florida does have two of the top 10 most dangerous cities in america, a LARGE number of illegals (not the most in the US I know) and I just read that my own hillsoborough county has the 5th largest ammount of homeless people in AMERICA. Shocking.

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I don't see how it can be worse. I knew we were bad, but I always felt better knowing that Alabama, Mississippi were lower. That statistic is a darn shame. The sad thing is, I do not see anyone doing anything or offerig any good ideas. But I could be wrong

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Of course, would you rather have social promotion and unqualified people graduating? Not to say this doesn't already happen ... but would you want it to be worse?

No... I'd rather have the state focus on teaching these students what they need to learn to graduate, and providing the motivation and resources to stay in school.

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To be honest, that statistic would not be that bad if there were jobs for indiviudals without a high school degree. But since our economy only rewards college graduates, this hits hard. We need to figure out a way to offer decent paying jobs for the average joe.

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Maybe if we paid these teachers more, they would be more motivated to figure out creative ways to keep their students focused on learning.

The teachers are not the problem (although their pay is lower than the nat'l avg too). It not only takes parental involvement in their child's education, it also requires the STUDENT take responsibility for their own educational success. Our schools need more "real world" teaching curriculum to show these kids the ramifications of staying in or dropping out of school.

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Maybe if we paid these teachers more, they would be more motivated to figure out creative ways to keep their students focused on learning.

Yea I agree w/ depeche, its mostly not the teachers fault. I agree they should be paid MUCH better than they are, but teachers do not enter the field for the money. One of the biggest problems of all, is letting government educate our children. No Child Left Behind is a joke at best. However, I'll give Jeb credit, he is trying. The class size amendment was a bad amendment voted on by the people. They really dont know how much money they sucked away from actual education funding, it just sounded like a good idea (that type of thing has no business in the constitution anyways). Education responsibilities needs to be taken away from federal, and even state government, and returned to local/county governments like they used to. Federal/State governments should only be involved in funding, and that should be the single most important issue in budgets.

Having said all that, I am definitely not for lowering our education standards to increase graduation rates (knowing that conflicts with my statements of getting big government out of education, but that is in a perfect world). I would venture to say that standards should really be raised. We (students, parents, etc) need to stop pointing fingers at people, saying theyre making it to hard for our babies to graduate. Instead, maybe we should turn off The Simpsons, Lost, or whatever on weekday nights, and help our children with homework, or demand that they do what is assigned (for the older students). That way, they become more accountable for their own actions, and just maybe become more dedicated to their schoolwork.

I also think that college is a privilege that should be earned, not a right. It should not be any easier for one ethnic group to get into than any other. Everyone should be held to the same standards.

Ok, I'm done yapping...

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One thing I read was that graduation rates where based on those who finished highschool in 4 years or less. That doesn't seem exactly right to me. However, I'd assume if all states use the same statistic then the ratio of 4year grads/overall graduates would be relatively static across the board.

The number still seems too low.

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Yea I agree w/ depeche, its mostly not the teachers fault. I agree they should be paid MUCH better than they are, but teachers do not enter the field for the money. One of the biggest problems of all, is letting government educate our children. No Child Left Behind is a joke at best. However, I'll give Jeb credit, he is trying. The class size amendment was a bad amendment voted on by the people. They really dont know how much money they sucked away from actual education funding, it just sounded like a good idea (that type of thing has no business in the constitution anyways). Education responsibilities needs to be taken away from federal, and even state government, and returned to local/county governments like they used to. Federal/State governments should only be involved in funding, and that should be the single most important issue in budgets.

Having said all that, I am definitely not for lowering our education standards to increase graduation rates (knowing that conflicts with my statements of getting big government out of education, but that is in a perfect world). I would venture to say that standards should really be raised. We (students, parents, etc) need to stop pointing fingers at people, saying theyre making it to hard for our babies to graduate. Instead, maybe we should turn off The Simpsons, Lost, or whatever on weekday nights, and help our children with homework, or demand that they do what is assigned (for the older students). That way, they become more accountable for their own actions, and just maybe become more dedicated to their schoolwork.

I also think that college is a privilege that should be earned, not a right. It should not be any easier for one ethnic group to get into than any other. Everyone should be held to the same standards.

Ok, I'm done yapping...

I understand you mean well in your post but in some cases that is far from a real world scenerio. I teach reading in a public high school & most of the parents of my students can not read or write. Having a parent sit down with the kid won't help at all. I would also add that most parents have to work 2 jobs to keep a roof over the kids' head (probably because they can't read or write). I've had some kids in class where both of their parents are in jail (again probably because they can't read or write) and the kid gets shipped to a different relative each week. Our state simply does not value education like other states do. When our state adopts a culture of education being important we will start to see a change in our graduation rate.

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^But how do you get that many people to adopt a 'culture of education'? It's such a predicament, and it's quite sad.... I feel almost helpless about our populace...

We're not helpless. All we need to do is throw untold billions of dollars at these people who don't care.

Alright, I'll try to be good. ;)

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^But how do you get that many people to adopt a 'culture of education'? It's such a predicament, and it's quite sad.... I feel almost helpless about our populace...

If I could answer that question I would be making 7 figures a year on the lecture circuit. My poor man's response is that we need to show people how a high paying job is the result of a good education. Floridians shouldn't settle for a $7-8 an hour at Wal-Mart.

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