State Rep. Tricia Cotham, member of the North Carolina education establishment, wants to change the way dropouts are counted. Currently, dropout figures include students who leave (one might say drop out of) their traditional school and enroll in a community college to obtain a GED. A GED is no substitute for a high school diploma and should not be treated as its equivalent.
North Carolina’s education establishment is embarrassed by the state’s high number of dropouts and, rather than trying to solve the problem, would like to tinker with the numbers and pretend that there is no problem. Although recent legislative efforts to curb dropouts have failed, at least proponents of failed initiatives like dropout prevention grants acknowledge that there is a problem.
To be honest, I am not sure why Lynn Bonner of the News and Observer is writing about this issue now. Even she points out, “The bill did not make it out of either chamber for the legislature’s self-imposed deadline for non-money legislation…” Moreover, the state released dropout figures earlier this year. And graduation is still weeks away. Perhaps she just wanted to give a shout out to Tricia Cotham.
