Set Our Teachers FREE!

Commonsense is alive and well! At least, there is some good common sense information in the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper.

Yesterday, they published the results of a report, entitled “School or the Streets: Crime and California’s Dropout Crisis”. This report is the result of a months-long study done by a group called Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a Washington, D.C.-based organization.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, then you know that I’ve been preaching about the relationship between our nation’s growing dropout rate and the massive increase in crime.

As I mentioned in a previous post, many people don’t see how dropouts in large cities have anything to do with their own lives. They feel protected against the problems with schools in other areas and don’t believe that failing schools can have any impact on their own well being or safety. Thus, we see lethargy or denial when it comes to motivating people to insist on education reform.

Though you may not be familiar with the group that conducted this study, you’ll be glad to know that they’ve proven a direct correlation between increasing graduation rates and a corresponding decrease in crime.

The study focused on graduation vs. crime rates in three Southern California counties: Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino.
The results showed that there is

“a distinct link between growth in the state’s graduation rate and a drop in crime.”

Statistics from the study estimate that a mere 10% increase in graduation rates could yield an estimated 20% drop in crime. The study has offered suggested numbers of homicides and aggravated assaults that could be eliminated or prevented in the three counties with those increased graduation rates.

Brian Lee, Deputy Director of Fight Crime gave some interesting information and statistics:

“People who go to school have a chance to make an honest living. That’s one of the basic, most fundamental things”.

“The vast majority of crimes are being committed by people who did not graduate from high school.”

“High school dropouts are more than three times as likely as graduates to be arrested and eight times as likely to go to jail or prison.”

“Policymakers need to pay more attention to improving the dropout rate, which would keep communities safer.”

San Bernardino City Unified School District Spokeswoman, Linda Hill, is also quoted.

“A good education is an effective way to steer people away from crime.”

An interesting thing to remember is that, in “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education”, Don Kingsland presents a plan that is in perfect alignment with the results of this study. He suggests schools start teaching successful habits at an early age and continuously reinforce the desire to excel in all students. The Kingsland Plan spells out ways to reduce the dropout rate and prepare all students for successful careers.

I repeat, commonsense is alive and well.

Brennan

Filed under: Education News