Dropping out of high school -- and society

Yesterday's Washington Post highlights a tragic cost of the unthinkably high rate of high school dropouts in our nation: loss of civic involvement. According to the article, " High school dropouts are significantly less likely than better-educated Americans to vote, trust government, do volunteer work, or go to church, according to a new report that reveals a widening gap in 'civic health' between the nation's upper and lower classes." This compounds what we already had been hearing about the problem from the likes of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that people who drop out of high school, "... are twice as likely as their graduating classmates to slip into poverty. In 2001, four out of 10 young adults who had no high school diploma got some type of government assistance. In 2004, nearly three-quarters of all high school dropouts didn't have jobs." Community Foundations of America's research

indicates this these warnings about the "ambition gap"--the chasm between people and the educational achievement that will lead to a more secure future--should serve as a clarion call to all Americans, and particularly the philanthropic sector, to focus resources to finding solutions to this devastating issue....

Caroline Heine