Elijah Mullins Sociology 120 11/8/07 Number Trends

The High School Graduation Rate in Kentucky

In our first assignment, “A Number Everyone Should Know,” I wrote about the national high school graduation rate with a focus on the drop-out rate of students who came from families in the lower quartile of house family incomes. This paper is more focused and looks at the high school graduation rates from public schools in the state of Kentucky since 1990. This is an important number trend for all of us to study. The National Center for Higher Education Management performed this study of all the states in America. The study kept record of all 9^th graders who had entered school and had graduated four years later from a public school. The study, however, did not account for students who had moved out of state, or for students who had transferred to private high schools and graduated. This means that there is a small margin of error for the data of all states.

The public school graduation rates for the state of Kentucky were listed in 1990, and then from 1995 to 2005. During the 11 years that the high school graduation rates were recorded by this study, Kentucky had graduation rates that ranged from 62.3% to 71.3%. This, again, does not take into account the students who moved out of the state of Kentucky and those who transferred to private schools. But it can be generally accepted that a majority of adolescents in Kentucky attend public high schools so the average would not have to be adjusted too much. This means that any given year around 30 to 40 percent of 9^th graders who enter a public high school will quit. This leaves a substantial amount of people in the state who are not educated well enough to hold professional positions or many jobs that require a moderate amount of training. In my first submission, I found that students who came from families with lower household incomes were less likely to graduate and the same can be expected here. Parents who have put less value on their education and work jobs that require little schooling and training will more likely to pass the same values on to their own children. Recent readings have also shown me that inner city students tend to value education less because of prejudice toward the usually white middle class that holds education very high. The graduation rates are probably lower then in large cities where there are more ghettos and areas of public housing such as Lexington and Louisville. These areas may also see their graduation rates lowered by second-generation immigrant students who assimilate too quickly and hold the values and views of the inner city children which can lead to discrimination by the middle and upper classes. Inner city high schools are not the only areas where graduation rates are high either. I’m sure in many rural areas of Kentucky, such as the southeastern area, put a small amount of value in their education. It is a very poor region of Kentucky and skills with your hands are more valued than skills in the books. Areas with lots of agriculture may also see lower graduation rates as students leave school to work on farms; this is probably an action that was more popular 50 years ago.

It is also important to realize that this graduation rate is an average. Some public high schools may have much higher graduation rates year in and out, while some public schools may have lower graduation rates every year. Either way, people who are not receiving their high school diploma are not going to be attending any kind of post secondary school. They are not going to be specialized or trained to use most technologies which in turn will keep them out of a majority of jobs. They are more likely to live with some sort of public assistance, like welfare. They are not helping to boost the economy and many will find themselves as dispensable workers who struggle with rents and health care costs just as Ehrenreich did. These 30 to 40 percent close themselves off from mobility ladders and end up either in the same class as their parents or in a class below.

Education, in my opinion, is the most important factor for positioning yourself and moving throughout the social structure. Education leads to skills, specialization, and knowledge. These three things allow people to find jobs that pay well, establish relationships that help build communities, and provide themselves and there children with brighter futures. Kentucky was below the national average of public high school graduation rates 7 out of the 11 years that were recorded in the study. This is a problem that our state must remedy. There are too many people who are not being educated and too many jobs that require specialization and degrees in order to be filled. I think a state which has been below the national average as consistently as Kentucky should be focused on keeping its children in school as opposed to bickering about whether gambling in the forms of slot machines and casinos should be allowed in state. I graduated from a public high school and know that many of my friends barely squeaked by, and many of them did not get by at all. Nobody ever wanted to be a teacher’s pet and for a lot of students being rude and lazy, as opposed to making A’s and B’s, was a way to fit in. But I hate to be so negative and say that Kentucky is in the dumps and there is no hope. The most recent year of the study, 2005, the Bluegrass State posted its highest public high school graduation rate recorded by the study, so maybe things are looking up.

Public High School Graduation Rates for Kentucky