COLUMN

Old-School Way Can Still Work Today

By JOSEPH H. BROWN

Published: Nov 11, 2007

Although my high school reunion held in Chicago a few weeks ago did not have a theme, one quickly developed: "Man, it's been 40 years!"

Yes, I graduated from high school 40 years ago. The registration form acknowledged as much when it asked alumni to list their spouse, children and grandchildren.

It's fascinating to be in a room full of people you haven't seen in four decades. A reunion is a mixture of curiosity, nostalgia and, in our case, pride. Almost all of us agreed that the foundation we received there prepared us for obstacles we would face later in life. All agreed that when we attended the school was just as important as where.

Some of our old teachers showed up, and we let them know how important they were to our success because they believed all of us were capable of learning and wouldn't allow any excuses for failure. It didn't matter that some of us came from low-income homes - each was still expected to excel. Maybe if your house burned down, they would cut you some slack.

School Was A 'Graduation Factory'

To show you how "old school" our old school was, I know of only two girls who got pregnant and our dropout rate was less than 10 percent.

I mention this because a few days before the reunion, a report came out criticizing some U.S. high schools as "dropout factories." If anything, my high school was a "graduation factory," even though in those days it was still possible to drop out and get a good-paying job in a factory.

Most of those jobs - in steel mills, auto plants, stockyards, etc. - are long gone, and today's dropouts face a tough road. So it amazes me that so many kids today fail to finish high school, which is free to all.

A National Crisis

The same week that the report came out, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told the United Way of Greater Los Angeles that "each year's cohort of dropouts costs us $325 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes. Dropouts are eight times more likely to be in jail or prison than high school graduates. Only a quarter of dropouts vote. The figure for high school graduates is half, and it's three quarters for college graduates."

Gates is convinced that solving the high school crisis is the nation's "most pressing moral obligation and our most urgent domestic policy priority."

Indeed, while President Bush's No Child Left Behind program imposes serious consequences on schools for low test scores, it does little regarding dropout rates - where students are definitely left behind. Then again, they can't force kids to stay in school any more than they can force them to apply themselves while there.

So why drop out? A Gates Foundation survey of dropouts provides a few answers: Forty-seven percent said they left because "classes were not interesting," and seven in ten said they were "not motivated" or "inspired to work hard," but two-thirds said they would have worked harder if more was demanded of them.

Also, 35 percent said "failing in school" was a major factor, and 45 percent said they started high school "poorly prepared by their earlier schooling."

There are no easy solutions to this crisis, but my old school was an example of what worked. I think it can still work 40 years later.

Joseph H. Brown is a Tribune editorial writer.