Check out Saturday's article in the Portland Press Herald. Mr. Murphy did a superb job in capturing the potential of schools that "would be a blend of a traditional school and small-business incubator."
Group wants schools that mix business with lessons
We have a few quibbles about a few lines that could create some misunderstanding. Not the fault of Mr. Murphy, whose cheese-making example (crafted with some help from MES board member, Rosemont Market special project juggler, and very funny PPH wine writer Joe Appel) explains simply and elegantly the potential of learning linked to doing linked to the real work and markets of Mainers. The challenge Mr. Murphy, and MES faces, is describing a very different approach in the terms of the current system, which, quite frankly, makes some assumptions about learning and schools that we do not.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Time to Address Child Poverty and High Dropout Rates in Maine
From Brunswick Times-Record:
Time to Address Child Poverty and High Dropout Rates in Maine
I have often wondered why, as a society, we find it so difficult to address crucial problems like child poverty, child neglect, high dropout rates and student underachievement. Instead, we grind and rattle our way down the road until the wheels fall off the cart. We are now at the breakdown point with regard to our at-risk kids, and the costs of doing business as usual are bankrupting us. Consider the following:
• On average 21 students in Maine drop out of school each day, with the class of 2009 estimated to have lost 3,800 kids.
• The societal cost for each high-school dropout is approximately $292,000, due to reduced wages and taxes, welfare and high health-care costs, and--as is all to often the case--the costs of incarceration.
• Dropouts are 3 1/2 times more likely to wind up in jail than non-dropouts.
• It costs approximately $47,000 per year to incarcerate someone—more than the cost of sending that person to Harvard ($43,000).
Time to Address Child Poverty and High Dropout Rates in Maine
I have often wondered why, as a society, we find it so difficult to address crucial problems like child poverty, child neglect, high dropout rates and student underachievement. Instead, we grind and rattle our way down the road until the wheels fall off the cart. We are now at the breakdown point with regard to our at-risk kids, and the costs of doing business as usual are bankrupting us. Consider the following:
• On average 21 students in Maine drop out of school each day, with the class of 2009 estimated to have lost 3,800 kids.
• The societal cost for each high-school dropout is approximately $292,000, due to reduced wages and taxes, welfare and high health-care costs, and--as is all to often the case--the costs of incarceration.
• Dropouts are 3 1/2 times more likely to wind up in jail than non-dropouts.
• It costs approximately $47,000 per year to incarcerate someone—more than the cost of sending that person to Harvard ($43,000).
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