Solution for dropouts - The Boston Globe:
"EVERETT - Usually, big social problems are so complicated that it’s hard to imagine ever fixing them. And, daunted, we don’t."
But sometimes, solutions are closer than you think.
A state report released Wednesday painted a grim picture of dropouts in Massachusetts: Ten thousand kids quit our schools every year, joining the ranks of those most likely to be poorly paid, unemployed, on welfare, or in jail.
The numbers haven’t budged for over a decade. A lot of kids drop out because of a mass of intractable social ills. But for about a quarter of dropouts, it’s a little simpler: They leave school because they’re having children.
“I don’t know of a single group more tied to the dropout issue than pregnant and parenting teens,’’ said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy. She estimates that there are currently 10,000 pregnant or parenting girls in this state, and 4,000 parenting boys. Keeping them in school, and lowering teen pregnancy rates, would put a huge dent in the dropout rate, she said.
"EVERETT - Usually, big social problems are so complicated that it’s hard to imagine ever fixing them. And, daunted, we don’t."
But sometimes, solutions are closer than you think.
A state report released Wednesday painted a grim picture of dropouts in Massachusetts: Ten thousand kids quit our schools every year, joining the ranks of those most likely to be poorly paid, unemployed, on welfare, or in jail.
The numbers haven’t budged for over a decade. A lot of kids drop out because of a mass of intractable social ills. But for about a quarter of dropouts, it’s a little simpler: They leave school because they’re having children.
“I don’t know of a single group more tied to the dropout issue than pregnant and parenting teens,’’ said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy. She estimates that there are currently 10,000 pregnant or parenting girls in this state, and 4,000 parenting boys. Keeping them in school, and lowering teen pregnancy rates, would put a huge dent in the dropout rate, she said.