Alan Reynolds (Cato) has an interesting brief piece
Dropout Nation? where he notes some contrasting numbers between surveys on high school drop-out rates (both general, and comparing whites and minority groups). He argues that the recent Time magazine cover story on this subject is flawed.
Aside from the specifics of this situation, which is an empirical matter, I was glad to see him raise the increasingly important issue of grant and other funding for crises, and the role that the media plays in this. He ends with this nice zinger:
The only thing more tiresome than enduring the boredom of a monopolistic public high school is to grow up and be faced with the American media's naive and fumbling efforts to dream up an endless series of imaginary crises.
Maybe someday I'll start a list of "crises" that are exaggerated or fabricated by the media, with an emphasis on ones that lend themselves to channeling or increasing government spending to fix them. Would be an interesting project I think...
Labels: education_k-12