[wagglebee]

I'm guessing that they will conclude that this is Bush's fault and more money will fix it. The answer is school vouchers, so students who want to learn can go to non-government schools where they will be taught by non-union teachers who want to teach.

[cyborg]

Randi may be more evil than Crustfrau the Terrible.

[South40]

This is not news and should be immediately relegated to chat.

Sorry…couldn’t resist. :-)

[Psycho_Bunny]

Clearly, NYC hasn't opened enough gay schools.

[Salvation]

**a staggering 350,000 public high-school students have quit or flunked out of school since 1986, Department of Education data show.**

Something is terribly wrong here.

[Lunatic Fringe]

That's an average of 67 students per high school per year for 18 years.

[Super Mak90kid]

"I'm guessing that they will conclude that this is Bush's fault and more money will fix it. The answer is school vouchers, so students who want to learn can go to non-government schools where they will be taught by non-union teachers who want to teach."

I highly question the longterm results of school voucher programs. If we take the lowest common denominator out of the public schools and put them into private schools, the quality of private schools will end up paying the price. Eventually there would be no difference between public and private schools.

[stboz]

Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.

(Makes as much sense. Dropouts, stupids...all the same.)

[conservative in nyc]

The answer is school vouchers, so students who want to learn can go to non-government schools where they will be taught by non-union teachers who want to teach.

Absolutely. The answer is taking power away from the UFT educrats who have turned the schools into a cesspool and inviting competition --- make competing small schools within schools run by different non-UFT, non-NEA TEACHERS, not tenured educrats.

It always amazes me how the city's Catholic schools, which pay its teachers much less than the public schools, do much better than the educrat-run publik skools.

[farmfriend]

And I thought the education system in CA was bad.

[Happy2BMe]

"That means the number of New York City dropouts over this period exceeds the entire population of such cities as St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Buffalo, St. Paul, Minn., and Newark."

This is light work - between Hillary, Rangle, and Rev. Sharpton (and enough taxpayer money) these people will be "Movin' On Up To The East Side" before you know it.

[nmh]

Of course teachers will want more pay for such a fabulous track record of "educating" students.

[CurlyDave]

Note that they are going to try to emulate the schools with a 58% graduation rate. While this is certainly better than the 37% they achieve now, I think the net effect will be to pi$$ Bill & Melinda's money down a RAThole.

When I was in high school, graduation rates were in the 90+% range.

[okie01]

A top adviser to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein also cited the high dropout rate and low graduation rate — only one of every two high school students obtains a diploma on time — as reason to overhaul the city high schools.

Ya really think, Joe?

[nicollo]

The charge won't be Bush, but racism, which reads the same to your good New York liberal. This month's Harpers has a gorgeous map of the inequties in L.A. County schooling, and, oh, how awful it is that the failures are in the lower class black and hispanic districts... Gee, how 'bout rather than pissing on the better schools, why not emulate them -- in every way, not just in funding?

It's all a stunning indictment of the failure of liberal America. So sad, though, that they'll look for inadequacies in "the system" rather than in the players in it, especially the students.

Heh, New York: how 'bout holding the kids to the fire for a minute or two? You coddle 'em until you have no choice but to let 'em go. They should have been failed out in the 7th grade, or earlier, but you chose to slide 'em up until the last. Sure, blame the President for holding you accountable for the 12th grade. Now, go look at your younger students and imagine them a few years ahead.

There is no solution here until the communities of New York, and around this nation, demand that their students do well. It starts at home, yes, but it's top to bottom wrong. A good, vicious revolution in schooling is needed. But nobody is willing to put up with the casaulties.

Meanwhile, the students bleed dumb.

[hatfieldmccoy]

The final data is not in for the years 2001-2003, but the city already knows that 39,181 students in these three graduation classes had dropped out by the age of 18. If trends continue, another 20,000 to 25,000 students aged 19-21 still in the system will quit. "That's pretty remarkable," said council Education Committee Chairwoman Eva Moskowitz (D-Manhattan).

Eva, clearly you have a firm command of the obvious. Yo Eva, in my neck of the woods we call it "embarrassing".

[Flavius]

yeah well their jobs are in india so might as well drop out and search other types of employment like rap
and tv annoucers

[Captainpaintball]

When will Americant's realize what liberalism has done to this once great nation? Big cities are petri dishes, and liberalism is the infecting agent. When you give liberals power, streets get filthy, people stop es-spicking English, (unless you are there to get free stuff or pick up a check) crime goes up, taxes go up, quality of life goes way down, stupid laws are enacted, and kidz get dumber. I'd like to see pictures (preferably of the same area) of NYC in 1944, 1954, 1964, 1974, 1984, 1994, and 2004. In other words, I want to see what hell liberal programs and administrations have wrought on the people.

[beaversmom]

It's obvious what the problem is--we need to throw more money at the situation.

[tiki]

Don't worry, it's just the poor, the minorities, and the immigrants. But don't worry, with the Liberals in control in NY will help them as they have in the past with more welfare so they don't have to have a diploma or know how to read. It would be criminal to give good solid Dimocrat votes a leg up to prosperity and Republicanism, they have to keep them in virtual slavery to Dim largesse.

[SuziQ]

John Cardinal O'Connor offered back in the mid 90's to take 1000 of the most underperforming kids off the hands of the public school system in NY. He asked for the city to pay $3,000 for each child in order for that child to attend the Catholic school of the parent's choice. That amount was ONE THIRD of what the city was paying to 'educate' those kids.

The city refused, citing the idea of 'separation of church and state' which was totally bogus. The city wouldn't be subsidizing religion, just a better education than the city was delivering.

Just think, 1000 of those dropouts could possibly have been saved from their lives of ignorance, but for the stupidity and parochialism of the NY City School Board.