Graduate or Go Hungry!

It’s high school graduation time and across the Upstate there are proud parents, relieved graduates and smiles all around.  There should be, because the graduates being celebrating have achieved something 25 percent of their fellow classmates have failed to accomplish.  Does that matter?  It should, because the facts don’t lie:

               A high school dropout will earn $9,200 less than a graduate.

               Greenville County high school dropouts are twice as likely to be unemployed.

               High school dropouts in Greenville County are 2.5 times more likely to live in poverty.

               High school graduates live 9.2 years longer than high school dropouts.

So your kids are grown and gone, so you’re single and don’t plan on having kids and you really don’t care?  You should.  Low high school graduation rates cost everyone in our community more money.

High crime rate - High school dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested and 8 times more likely to be in jail or prison.

Expensive prison system - It costs more than twice as much per year to incarcerate a prisoner in our state ($13,590) and in our county ($17,213) than to educate a student in Greenville County ($6,498).

More expensive government assistance programs - 40 percent of dropouts receive some type of government assistance.

Higher unemployment rates -Studies show when students drop out of high school, their prospects for the future are greatly dimmed without a degree. 

Fewer jobs for uneducated workers - The number of jobs requiring education beyond high school is growing twice as fast as jobs that only require on-the-job training.

What can you do?  Everything from learning more about the problem to getting involved with a school tutoring program, a mentoring organization, speaking at a school career fair, and talking sincerely with the children you know about what they want to do when they grow up and what it will take to reach their goals.   Keep encouraging those kids at every step along the way.  Caring about a child’s future will pay big benefits for the child and for our community.