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Report: High school dropouts cost economy billions
Associated Press ^ | Feb 25, 2013 5:07 PM EST | Philip Elliott

Posted on 02/25/2013 2:35:15 PM PST by Olog-hai

High school dropouts are costing some $1.8 billion in lost tax revenue every year, education advocates said in a report released Monday.

If states were to increase their graduation rates, state and federal lawmakers could be plugging their budgets with workers’ taxes instead of furloughing teachers, closing drivers-license offices and cutting unemployment benefits. While advocates tend to focus on the moral argument that all children deserve a quality education, they could just as easily look at budgets’ bottom lines. …

Lawmakers in state capitols are making tough choices about whether to raise taxes to keep classroom lights on or to sell off state agencies to provide health care to seniors. Federal officials, meanwhile, are looking at some $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that are set to take hold at the end of the week. …

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Education; Society
KEYWORDS: dropouts; generationy; teens; welfarestate
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1 posted on 02/25/2013 2:35:17 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

Harvard Law School graduates cost economy trillions.


2 posted on 02/25/2013 2:37:34 PM PST by Senator_Blutarski
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To: Senator_Blutarski

Thanks for the corollary.


3 posted on 02/25/2013 2:38:35 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

water down those standards some more!


4 posted on 02/25/2013 2:38:47 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: Olog-hai

I disagree. Even if every American had a college degree, there will always be a lower class. There will always be unemployment, there will always be fast food burger flippers, janitors, Wal-Mart helpers etc. High School dropouts don’t cost the economy anything, they fill the above roles.


5 posted on 02/25/2013 2:38:47 PM PST by wolfman23601
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To: Olog-hai

Too often employers require education degrees for jobs they didn’t used to, even though base skills haven’t really changed.

This costs the economy billions, because it keeps people out of the workforce for years more than what is really needed.


6 posted on 02/25/2013 2:42:05 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: Olog-hai

It’s easy to see how those who don’t graduate cost us serious $$$...but I see no mention made of graduates who can’t read their diplomas.


7 posted on 02/25/2013 2:42:32 PM PST by Gay State Conservative ("Progressives" toss the word "racist" around like chimps toss their feces)
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To: Olog-hai
The real problem happens at 1st grade. Reading must be the first objective. A child should not be pushed into 2nd grade until the core subjects are passed. There is nothing wrong with keeping a child in first grade (or any grade) until the child is able to do the work. It is a complete disservice to keep passing the child along.
Teachers should be graded and the ones who can not teach should be allowed to seek another job where they can succeed.
8 posted on 02/25/2013 2:44:49 PM PST by Eternally-Optimistic (anything is possible)
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To: wolfman23601

If the student is just wasting space in a classroom, they’re wasting taxpayer dollars as well. Personally I think the K thru 12 model is an outdated failure.

I dropped out in my junior year, took my GED a few months later and “graduated” nearly a full year before my classmates. I was already running a department in a local factory and hired a couple of my classmates when they graduated.


9 posted on 02/25/2013 2:45:55 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Jonty30
Too often employers require education degrees for jobs they didn’t used to, even though base skills haven’t really changed.

Yup, give me an ambitious teenager who can read, do basic math, and follow directions, and I'll make him an expert at any job I have expertise in. (If he or she has the interest)

I'm a high school dropout and I've learned to set up, maintain, and operate some pretty high tech machinery including robotics.
10 posted on 02/25/2013 2:54:27 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Olog-hai

They wouldn’t cost us anything if the government wouldn’t give them freebies. If you quit high school, fine...no welfare, no food stamps, no cheap housing, etc. I also think everyone should start off with a certain amount of government money...say 10K and once you go through that, your done for life. If we had started this 40 years ago, we would have zero problems.


11 posted on 02/25/2013 2:56:33 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: Olog-hai

How many are illegal aliens?


12 posted on 02/25/2013 2:57:14 PM PST by donna (Pray for revival.)
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To: Senator_Blutarski

Harvard Law School graduates cost economy trillions.

At least they eventually contibute to society...not like the high school dregs.


13 posted on 02/25/2013 2:57:26 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: Olog-hai

I don’t see a problem, the Marxist proletariat output of the government schools has never been better.


14 posted on 02/25/2013 2:57:59 PM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: Olog-hai

This is sloppy logic. The low level jobs happen to be populated by high school dropouts, but they are not caused by high school drop outs. Similarly, high school graduates do not for the most part create higher paying jobs that cause more tax revenue, they just happen to get them more often. In this economy, unemployment is high at all levels, and the lower level jobs are being occupied more and more by higher educated people.


15 posted on 02/25/2013 2:59:10 PM PST by jimmygrace
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To: Olog-hai

The gov’t is going broke with the citizen as tax slave model of ruling.


16 posted on 02/25/2013 3:00:18 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: napscoordinator
At least they eventually contribute to society...

Yep, we all need compost.

17 posted on 02/25/2013 3:00:40 PM PST by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: Jonty30

Instead of requiring degrees companies used to be able to give $50 aptitude/IQ tests. Then it became legal to sue them for discrimination when favored minorities did not score as high as whites or asians.


18 posted on 02/25/2013 3:01:19 PM PST by RightOnTheBorder
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To: Olog-hai

Just give out free diplomas. Problem solved.


19 posted on 02/25/2013 3:08:53 PM PST by Owl558 ("Those who remember George Satayana are doomed to repeat him")
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To: napscoordinator
They wouldn’t cost us anything if the government wouldn’t give them freebies.

That's a relatively recent development as well. Up until 20 or 30 years ago, most high school dropouts went right to work like I did.
20 posted on 02/25/2013 3:16:51 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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