The real dropout crisis

The dropout crisis in America has been a big story for years. We keep hearing about how we need to do whatever it takes to keep kids in school. I have a different perspective. We have a dropout crisis, but it's not because too many people are dropping out.


One of the remarkable things about the dropout discussion is that there is a simple question that needs to be asked to make sense out of the numbers, but nobody bothers to ask the question. What is the ideal graduation rate? We seem to be using an assumption that 100% is ideal, but I don't see how ensuring that all education occurs within the confines of a restrictive schooling environment is ideal. At the very least, there are some strong self-motivated independent learners who should drop out in order to pursue their ideal educations. It should be clear to anyone who knows anything about education that we should be significantly lower than 100% graduating.

If we stop crushing the natural desire to learn and start supporting education outside of the schools instead, the number of individuals who benefit from the schools will decline drastically. I would even say that if we optimized our educational environment, the schools would become unnecessary. Perhaps they would evolve into a support system, but the lack of today's strict controls would no longer allow people to be classified as graduates. In the ideal world, the graduation rate would be 0%.

There are things that need to change before we can attempt the 0% graduation rate. Even before we make those changes, we need to see more children dropping out in order to pursue healthy educations. One organization not too long ago touted an 80% graduation rate in this country. That number is not too low. It is way too high.

We do not have too many people dropping out in America right now. The real dropout crisis is that we do not have enough people dropping out. Unfortunately, I did not have the courage to do what was right. Staying in school definitely ranks among my biggest regrets in life. Hopefully, future generations will succeed where I failed.