That can't be right. That's more than half!

My freshman year in high school in Thompson Falls, Montana, we had 67 students in the school. 6 of them were seniors, and only 4 of them graduated.

two thirds do ? That's better than I would have guessed.

And this is TEXAS public schools. Graduating HS in Texas is like passing 4th grade in a blue state.

(disclaimer -- I am a product of Texas schools. I'm pretty much my own proof.)

Dont mess with undeucated Texas

that was happening back in the 80s and school taxes were obscene then.

it used to make me shudder to think how much the school taxes would be if they all stayed in for the full 12 years.

The other third retire as juniors at age 67

Well hell, they gave us all the damn Katrina kids

In all fairness, two of their last three governors have been functionally retarded. Then again... Texans voted for them.

I'm part of the 2/3 that did graduate.

/Class of 2000, biatches
//Don't Mess With Texas

NYC public schools have like a 20% graduation rate......

Does this have anything to do with the large hispanic population in Texas? Studies show that Hispanics are the least likely to go to college. I don't know if it has anything to do with their immigration status, such as the fact that many hispanics are recent immigrants, or whether it's a cultural thing.

It's part of the 1/3 left behind program.

TTU_Engineer

DAmn! beat me to it. But seriously. 9 times out of 10, most of those that dont graduate get killed by the New Orleans gutter crap that never went home.

oldebayer

Thread over before it even began.

Unposible!

Is our children learning?

TTU_Engineer [TotalFark]

Well hell, they gave us all the damn Katrina kids

It's a 20 year study. Katrina wasn't that long ago.

I mean, really? Damn. You don't even have to try to pass High School. You just have to show up.

/yea, really

It's all that promethazine they slip in their warm milk. Sippin' on that sizzurp will get you reeaall ssllooww..

I moved here from NY... my calculus teacher asked me what the last thing I studied in NY was...

To which she replied "Oh, we dont do that for about another year, year and a half"...

The stuff they WERE studying? We did... well.. about a year, year and a half ago...

I deduced TX is oh.. a year... maybe a year and a half behind NY schools at LEAST.

/MORANS!
//suck it, neocons.

LOL texans are teh stoopid

firefly212: In all fairness, two of their last three governors have been functionally retarded. Then again... Texans voted for them.



ah, I'm started to see the cunning plan here....

Does this means that 1/3rd of Texans go on to become Republican Presidential candidates???

/got nothin

I live in San Antonio. I graduated '05. Graduating means NOTHING. A huge dropout rate, thats a problem. But seriously, you can say "Hey, you showed up to class? Great you're graduating!" It doesn't mean squat. What matters is what kind of education we are getting. I'm not arguing that Texas has a great education system, I'm arguing that it doesn't matter that only 2/3rds finish. There are tons of jobs that those people can do. We dont need an effort to keep those people in school, we need more of an effort in making schools more productive for those who want to stay.


/you can bring a horse to water

Another third ends up in the electric chair.

And the other half goes on to teach there.

Aww Texas, chill out. I was just messin' with ya.

Oldiron_79 [TotalFark]

NYC public schools have like a 20% graduation rate......

38.9 New York City
48.9 Fort Worth
48.9 Houston

Frankly, all of these places have absolutely shameful graduation rates. Even some of the best large districts have only low 80% graduation rates. It's just pathetic... even if you think the USA is the leader of the world right now... it's hard to imagine how anyone could believe that will be the case in the future unless we totally overhaul our education system.

Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-20-dropout-rates_x.htm#grad

Dropouts on average earn about $9,200 per year less than high school graduates, said Frances Deviney, director for Texas Kids Count. That means dropouts give up about $900 million per year in wages.

Though apparently you can write for the Associated Press.

Deport all the illegals. That should increase the rate. As for blacks, they do speak English, so there must be some other reason they fail. Plenty of black people go to college, achieve high offices. Condoleeza Rice for example. Hate her politics if you want. So we can't say blacks are inferior. Parents need an attitude adjustment too. And there has to be opportunities after school. More good jobs. Maybe they should stop shipping jobs to enemy countries like China and keep them here where they belong.

3/4 of that half will swallow their own tongue.

Wait wait - I heard W fixed Texas education all up, and everyone graduates and goes on to college and becomes President. Are you telling me that's a lie?

Then they tell you UT is hard to get into...

Give me a farking break... I know some of the retards that go there, how hard can it truly be? Talk to me when you get into Cornell or some shiat.

Massive amounts of Illegal Aliens in the average who start and quit in the 9th or 10th grade should not be counted.

Yea, but it's a well-known fact that 100% of Texans are badasses.

Probably one of the most painful aspects of this is that Bush and Co. used Houston Public Schools as his example of positive change when pushing through the No Child Left Behind fiasco.

It was discovered a bit later that the Houston schools were misreporting their successes. Wouldn't it be nice if we could dismiss NCLB now? Oh, I know we're SORTA getting rid of it -- what with George's total reneging of all funding for the good-awful amount of insipid programs NCLB requires. But that's about it -- all its foolhardy requirements are still in place.

Yeah, so what!

I bet the folks who didn't finish had the most sex and fun during hight school!

So there...


/does not speak from experience

I don't see the problem with this.

The world needs people to fetch burgers and fries as much as the world needs lawyers and doctors.

Meh - this statistic pretty much reflects the national average of a 38% high school drop-out rate. Of course this gives many of you "geographically superior" folks a chance to crow so have a ball with it!

Make H.S. football season end 2 days before graduation.

One third...that's almost 33 1/3 per cent!

the service sector doesn't need high school graduates.

The world needs people to fetch burgers and fries as much as the world needs lawyers and doctors.

Kudos Crispy... I got some ha has out to that one.

I heard that 25.7654% of statistics are made up on the spot. But I don't believe 54/34 of what I hear.

Maybe I'm old and from a small Colorado town, but, WOW--like I said, you just have to show up to High School to graduate. I'm not sure that the problem is the education system--maybe parents? Home environments?

rockforever

Graduating means NOTHING.

Try getting any kind of professional job without a GED or HS diploma. I don't mean to burst your bubble there, but those kids who don't graduate or get a GED by the time they turn 21 are 88% more likely than high school graduates to live below the poverty line (Bureau of the Census, 1990 data). While what kind of education you get sort of matters (I went to crappy schools, but studied at home on my own), that piece of paper certifying you stuck it out really does count for alot.

You're right that there are jobs that they can do, and we sure do need people to work in restaurants, landscaping, and service industries like that... but the reality is also that with a less educated populous, employers that need an ample supply of skilled labor will look elsewhere, so the state as a whole suffers from the tax revenue loss of higher-paying jobs (I know there isn't an income tax, but higher pay= more spending= more sales tax), and those people who are highly skilled are either being punished by a weaker job market there, or they are moving to other places to practice whatever it is they are skilled at.

Why should everyone graduate? A high school diploma is supposed to represent a certain (albeit basic) level of mastery of the subject matter taught in school. Not everyone is going to get to this level, so why should everyone graduate?

Back when standards were tougher, a high school diploma meant something as a credential. Now, a high school diploma doesn't mean squat. It basically certifies that you could show up for just enough classes without zoning out to squeak out a "D". Thanks to degree inflation, you have to go out and get a 4-year degree in order to have the credentials to (barely) succeed. I predict in 5-10 years, the Master's degree will be the new requirement.

blink
i remember that news coming out, isn't it convienient how all the crap that might've made a difference in 2004 came out a month later?

/i'm not bitter about 2004, kerry had the persona of a brick wall.