Pubdate: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2005 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329 Author: Ike Awgu Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Note: last 4 paragraphs HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS DON'T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE Ontario Minister of Education Gerard Kennedy announced Monday that the provinces high school drop out rate had increased by 45%. That means over 32% of Ontario's high school students, or 48,000 kids, dropped out of high school in the 2003-2004 academic year. In 1999 before the removal of OAC, or Grade 13, the province's drop out rate was a mere 22%. Kennedy was quick to blame the significant jump in the number of dropouts on the double cohort, or elimination of Grade 13 that significantly increased the number of students graduating in 2003. He also pleaded with teachers to give more individual attention to students that are under-performing and likely to leave school. In terms of the double cohort's contribution to the swelling number of high school drop outs, Kennedy's right -- the elimination of Grade 13 did put more pressure on students. What he neglected to mention however, likely because the subject has somehow become taboo, is that the increase in high school dropouts is also the result of poor parenting and students failing to take personal responsibility for their own academic success. Increased academic pressure should not translate to a 45% increase in the drop out rate. Something is obviously wrong. Setting aside the argument that teachers simply don't have the resources to handle increasingly large classes, or that the teachers themselves (through the constant threat of strikes and work stoppages) aren't in some way putting students at a disadvantage, parents and their children are the next most responsible for high school achievements. Not everyone can graduate in the standard four years and academic pressure can be daunting, but there is no pressure sufficiently adequate to explain why 48,000 of Ontario's students are dropping out of high school and more importantly, why on Earth their parents let them. How many of you reading this column have parents who'd have allowed you to drop out of high school? A conversation with my Mom about quitting school would go something like this: "Mom, can I drop out of school?" "Hmm, well Ike, I brought you into this world and if you drop out of high school I'll take you out of it." My parents, like many, would never have allowed me to quit school and for 90% of my high school career I was far from the model student. My parents had to play an active role in my education; attending parent-teacher interviews, checking my report cards and talking to my teachers. A significant number of the high school kids in constantly getting into trouble have parents who have never been to a parent-teacher conference (unless they get a phone call), never read the letters sent home from the school and sometimes never even looked at their kid's report cards. When Things Go Wrong Teachers constantly struggle just to get parents to show up for interviews or act like they care about their kid's education. Then, when things go wrong, the parents blame the school, the teacher, the premier of Ontario, Santa Claus and everyone but themselves. Bad parenting is the No. 1 cause of kids dropping out of high school. The No. 2 cause is drugs. Marijuana has created more high school dropouts than Grade 12 Algebra ever will, and the weed lobbyists who'd argue differently are more consumed with satisfying their own pleasures than addressing the problems marijuana's abuse creates. In high school, weed is a gateway drug, plain and simple. I've watched dozens of my fellow high school students go from marijuana to hash to mushrooms, or begin smoking and have their grades, like weed, go up in smoke. Eventually everything becomes secondary to getting high. A significant number of dropouts, as all high school students already know, are potheads. Canadians students are no longer just competing with each other or Americans, they're competing with the world. Brains, not oil or diamonds, are Canada's most important resource. Please, let's not waste them. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth