Brad Hollerbach is the Director of Information Technology for the Southeast Missourian. His opinions are his own and do not reflect those of the newspaper or its editorial board. He writes this blog primarily for his own amusement and to parody the absurdities of the world we live in. He lives with his wife and two cats that don't really care for one another in Cape.

Don't like the Results Then Change the Scale

Posted Monday, January 25, 2010, at 1:30 AM

The other day I read a report that the number of poor people in 15 suburban St. Louis counties had increased by 27 percent between 2000 and 2008.

That same day, the Southeast Missourian, had an article discussing efforts to increase the graduation rate at the Cape Girardeau School District. It had a graduation rate of 72.3 percent in 2009, far less than the statewide average of 85 percent.

These are both complex problems with no easy solutions.

After all, what can you do about poor people? I suppose you can throw money literally at that problem, and that will temporarily make them not poor people.

But if you throw money at them, they'll just spend it and then they will expect you to keep throwing money at them, and we all know government funding doesn't grow on trees. It comes from the taxpayers and we have more important things to do with taxpayer money like paying for wayfinding studies and important things of that nature.

And when it comes to graduation rates, you're talking about human free will. If a kid wants to drop out of school and he or she is 16, then the kid is going to drop out of school. Are they stupid for exercising their free will? You bet they are. And they will likely continue making similar stupid decisions the rest of their lives.

Obviously, efforts are being made locally to try to find out WHY some kids choose to do this and break this cycle of stupidity, but as I said, there is no quick or easy solution.

Locally, we could possibly pay the kids to attend school as an incentive not to drop out, but that would cost a lot of money since we'd have to pay ALL kids to be fair. It's anyone's guess how much that would cost.

And when word got out that the Cape Girardeau Public School system was paying kids to stay in school, our enrollment would probably double overnight. Shoot, we might need an $80 million bond issue.

Basically, there is no cheap solution for either of these problems that most people would like to go away.

We don't want to know that the numbers of poor people are increasing or that the graduation rate at Cape Public School District is nose-diving no matter how many football stadium and auditorium bond issues are put before the voters.

That's not happy news. We like happy news. But what can we do to make that unpleasant information disappear without spending a lot of money?

Simple, just change the scale.

That's what I do whenever I don't like a measurement. For instance, if I'm feeling fat, I might go metric or if I'm feeling really fat, British. It just sounds better to say I weigh 89 kilograms or 14 stone rather than 196 pounds.

In the case of poor people, the federally defined poverty line for a family of four is currently $21,834. I think we should not say anything to the feds and have Missouri lower the poverty line to say $10,000. I bet we get rid of at least half the poor people if we just tweak the numbers a smidge. Problem solved.

And as far as Cape Girardeau Public School graduation rates, why don't we consider students to officially "graduate" when they are 15. Because they can't drop out until they are 16, our dismal "graduation" numbers will become a very successful sounding 100% in no time at all.

For the students who want to continue studying until they are 18, I feel we should create a new term to describe them.

Since their classmates who "graduated" at 15, but then foolishly chose to leave school when they turned 16 and whose job opportunities are probably limited to working the drive-thru windows at fast food establishments such as Taco Bell, perhaps we could call these students who stuck it out until they were 18 to be "Graduates Grande." I think it has a nice ring.

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While some kids can turn it around, you can't save everyone. Like you said Brad, it's about freedom, whether you use it to your advantage or be stupid is up to you.

Sometimes people learn best whenever they get a swift kick in the ... yeah. If they drop out and get limited opportunity I think that'd be a better life lesson than paying them to go to school. Plus they can always go back to get their GED.

Some people believe that everyone is entitled to a high school education, make $40k a year, and work at their dream job, but that's just not the way things work. If they don't want to help themselves, screw it, leave that child behind!

-- Posted by almighty on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 7:25 AM
Me'Lange, I was stating that some children can be worked with, and some can not. While there are some you can work with that just need a little motivation, there are some that simply have no motivation to go to school or do much of anything.

And while sometimes management can be held accountable, sometimes the subordinate just isn't getting the job done.

-- Posted by almighty on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 8:58 AM
Once upon a time in this region, kids could drop out of high school and still make a living on a factory line. It may not have been a great living, but it was a living.

However, that was back before the textile plants closed and I believe our society wasn't nearly as consumeristic as it is today. In other words, people got by with less. Do you remember when air conditioning was considered a luxury?

In today's world, you have to have an education. Period.

I wish there was a silver-bullet cure for this dropout problem. I've heard about students being paid to stay in school and I've heard that the results have been good. But I also know that in today's society, too many people have a "Where's mine?" attitude.

"My kid goes to school everyday and he's a solid C student, so where's his paycheck for going to school."

Blame for this dropout problem must also be shared with the parents or lack of parenting that the children have had in their lives. Some people are just not mature enough to be parents, but in this country, you need a license to fish, but not a license to have a kid.

I believe there will always be some kids who will not learn or cannot learn. That's one reason why I think the "No Child Left Behind" act is a crock initiated by politicians and overly-educated educators with little clue on the real world.

Thanks for reading.

-- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 9:52 AM
Rick, I never said anything about college. While I have a degree and my wife has three (I'm what I like to call a SPUD or Spouse of Ph.D) college is not for everyone.

In fact, I think some professions can make a much better living than those with a college degree. Think mechanic, plumber, electrician, essentially any "trade" where you have to get your hands dirty.

There will always be outliers, people who succeed with unconventional backgrounds. But most people are not outliers. And since our current economy is so much service and retail oriented, the opportunities to make a decent and honest living without some kind of education (high school, vocational, apprenticeship) are very limited.

TFR

-- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 10:24 AM
I remember no air conditioning, we never got early dismissal from school for high temperatures either.

I agree there are those that can not or will not learn but there are also those that learn in a more non-conventional manner. Don't bore me with endless mind numbing textbooks I can't learn a thing no matter how many times I read it. Let me get my hands on it and I can have it figured out for you in no time.

What's the solution, that I can't say but if Cape County wants to pay me $120,000 a year for the next 19 years I will be more than happy to conduct a study and release my findings at my retirement party.

If we were living in an ideal society people and employers would stop associating education with intellegience and/or ability.

-- Posted by Cutlass1964 on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 10:40 AM
Melange, I realize that NCLB is a federal mandate with state controls, but I think having a goal of 100% of ANY SET of individuals is just unrealistic.

I have some friends who are are long-time elementary and secondary educators and they feel some of the requirements are nearly impossible for them to achieve with the students they have. Perhaps, that's just them grousing. How many people like to be told how to do their job?

Personally, I believe in NBLB -- No Beer Left Behind.

By pursuing that goal, it makes me completely forget about drop-out rates and poor people and bond issues and all the other imperfections that can be found in our otherwise ideal world.

TFR

-- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 11:00 AM
Me'Lange, the problem I have with this is that I'm sure kids are told about a thousand times about how not having a diploma will likely wreck their chances at a great job, yet they refuse to listen or just flat out don't care. You can't force someone to get out of bed and go school.

I know school is boring as all get out, and that needs to be addressed. Brad, I also liked your comments about the terrible parenting. But if the child doesn't have the discipline or foresight to know that going through a couple more years of school could work out better for them in the long run, then I believe there's nothing that can be done.

In addition, there will always be places to work for those who don't finish school. Granted, they may not be glamourous, but our economy and world needs them.

-- Posted by almighty on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 11:45 AM
After some thinking, I think the solution is doing the homework in the classroom instead of piling it on for home.

Our generation (I'm 24 years old) doesn't like going to school all day and then going home to do homework all night. Plus, every once in a while you get a perfect storm of teachers who think that students have no other classes besides theirs.

I think previous generations were accustomed to getting it done outside of the classroom and didn't have to have the work (school)-life balance as our generation does. Yes, I'm admitting that previous generations are much tougher than us in that regard. For the most part, we just can't suck it up and get it done, which is unfortunate.

That being said, the generation of parents today also need to get on their kids about doing the homework they do have, not the kid just saying they did it and then playing video games. I think about a couple hours a week during the week during school would be very beneficial for all grades, not just ones who are lucky enough to get a study hall. When students can work at school and still have time to play and hang out with friends, you'll have much more motivated students.

Plus, is it just me or do they keep on extending a little time onto the school year each year?

-- Posted by almighty on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 1:22 PM
The result of progressive education (started over 100 years ago)has been the gradual dumbing down of each succeeding generation. Of course, there are those who refuse to be dumbed down and learn in spite obstacles in their path.

-- Posted by voyager on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 3:00 PM
Voyager, your comment just reminded me of something I read in the book "Superfreakonomics," the sequel to the acclaimed "Freakonomics."

For those of you, who aren't familiar with these books, they're co-written by an economist who draws very interesting conclusions from typically unrelated sets of data.

In one chapter of their most recent book, the authors argued that the K-12 education system has been drastically impacted by feminism.

Using teacher test scores, they showed that before feminism, most smart women became teachers. That was their career path. After the feminism movement of the 1960s and 70s, women were more empowered to seek out more challenging careers in law and medicine which created a brain drain on the educators in the K-12 system.

However, on the plus side, the authors of the book -- using a different set of research -- found that while children were not getting as "good" of teachers, the women who pursued medical degrees provided better care than their male counterparts.

Obviously, this is all open to a significant amount of debate, but I thought it was a fascinating perspective. I think both books are a good read.

TFR

-- Posted by Brad_Hollerbach on Mon, Jan 25, 2010, at 3:26 PM

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