NC Panal Examines Dropout Age

The Winston Salem Journal examines the prospect of raising the age of compulsory education from 16 to 18. Because of the changing economy, most drop outs are no longer able to work in the fields or factories for a living wage. North Carolina is one of 28 states that allow students to drop out at the age of 16.

Many teachers are asking why states still allow students to leave school at 16 when a high-school diploma is considered the bare minimum to support a family.

"Just as we established compulsory attendance to the age of 16 or 17 at the beginning of the 20th century, we must now eradicate the idea of 'dropping out' before you achieve your diploma," said Reg Weaver, The NEA's president.

The dropout rate in North Carolina and across the South is often downplayed or ignored. New data suggest that the problem is epidemic.

For years, legislators thought the dropout rate was about 10 percent and concluded that those were "just a few bad apples," Messer said. But when studies compared the number of students starting in ninth grade with the number graduating, the dropout rate turned out to be 30 percent.

High-school reform is pushing this movement, and new studies are challenging official data about the magnitude of the dropout problem. Some studies now conclude that the dropout rate may be as high as 30 percent nationwide, hitting more than 50 percent among blacks and Hispanics. Nearly 65 percent of North Carolina ninth-graders remain in school and graduate four years later, according to recent data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

If the South wants to participate and expand its role in the modern economy then public education must be reformed. Amending the age of compulsory education is a start.