A Life Saving Investment For Society

At many schools across the country, there are many students who we as a society lose for no reason. At some of our public high schools or “dropout factories,” 700 students begin the 9th grade. By the 11th grade 400 students are left. By the 12th grade. 350 students remain. At graduation there are 330 students. The schools will tell you that the graduation rate is 95%. 95%! The school leadership will operate the school as if 95% of the students who enter the school actually graduate. The honest educator and concerned community member should in reality ask themselves, “What happened to the first 700 students and specifically the 370 students who did not graduate?” Where are those 300+ students? At many schools, especially urban schools in low income communities, schools are in every way a dropout factory and fuel the “school to prison pipeline.” Schools across the country contribute to the school to prison pipeline when they claim to have a 95% graduation rate when they cannot answer where are those 380 students out of the first 700 students who entered the school in the 9th grade? One may think that some students left the school because of life circumstances. This is true. Many families from Grant, Castori, and Oakdale had to move due to real life challenges. Some moved back to Mexico. Some needed to move to be with a different family member. But 380 students? If 700 students enter the 9th grade and the school has a culture of love and care for every student where every student felt valued, would 380 students leave the school where they entered with graduation in mind? How does this happen? Many of those 700 students who entered caught up in trouble at school. Some had to change schools because they were getting bullied at school. Other students were failing all their classes and were low on credits. Thus, those students had to leave school to attend a continuation school. Some students get expelled for breaking the rules. Other students get incarcerated. Many students simply stop going to school because they do not feel cared about. Other students are failing so many classes that they start believing school is not for them. There are students who wander the halls of many of our schools failing all their classes and no one knows about it. The majority of those 380 students would have never had a personal conversation with their counselor before they chose to leave or headed down the path of failure. When our schools only have 1 counselor per 400 students in urban low-income schools, how can a counselor know all of her students? How can she create master schedules, do college presentations, work with seniors on college applications, and still check in with 400 students in any meaningful way? As a result of this lack of attention, there are so many students in the halls of our schools all across the country, failing all classes, disengaged, and walking around as human beings who feel like numbers because no one knows their name, face, and story. Who cares? Students who do not feel cared about are more likely to drop out of school. High school dropouts are 5 times more likely to end up facing poverty than high school graduates. More incarceration and gun laws will not address the root cause of dropping out of school, homelessness, crime, and violence. On the other hand, an educational experience at Miracle University that is based on culturally responsive pedagogy, safety, wellness and love through culturally responsive mentorship, will make the difference. As Victor Hugo once said, “He who opens a school door closes a prison.”