[kearnyirish2]

“Forty seven percent of the people living in Detroit and New Orleans cannot read or write.”

Newark must have similar stats; high school graduates wouldn’t have graduated grammar school in a neighborhood that matters. Whole blocks of tenements without a single book...

[Straight Vermonter]

How are these millions of "students" going to participate in any meaningful way in a modern economy?

Rate	District	Size rank	Rate	District	Size rank	Rate	District	Size rank
21.7	Detroit	11	53.7	New Orleans	48	68.4	Gwinnett County, Ga.	20
38.5	Baltimore City, Md.	30	53.8	Duval County, Fla.	19	68.6	Brevard County, Fla.	42
38.9	New York City	1	54.6	Clark County, Nev.	6	69.3	Fulton County, Ga.	45
43.1	Milwaukee	28	54.8	DeKalb County, Ga.	27	70.0	Hillsborough County, Fla.	10
43.8	Cleveland	44	55.1	Austin	37	70.2	Anne Arundel County, Md.	40
44.2	Los Angeles	2	55.2	Palm Beach County, Fla.	12	70.4	Cobb County, Ga.	26
45.3	Miami-Dade County, Fla.	4	55.5	Philadelphia	8	72.2	Granite, Utah	46
46.3	Dallas	13	56.0	Charlotte	23	75.3	Mesa, Ariz.	39
46.5	Pinellas County, Fla.	22	56.2	Orange County, Fla.	15	75.8	Northside, Tex.	49
46.8	Denver	43	60.1	Polk County, Fla.	34	77.0	Jefferson County, Colo.	33
48.5	Memphis	21	62.2	Jefferson County, Ky.	31	80.2	Jordan, Utah	41
48.7	Broward County, Fla.	5	63.0	San Diego	16	81.3	Cypress-Fairbanks, Tex.	47
48.9	Fort Worth	36	63.1	Fresno	35	81.5	Montgomery County, Md.	17
48.9	Houston	7	63.7	Hawaii (statewide)	9	81.9	Baltimore County, Md.	24
50.4	Nashville	50	66.5	Virginia Beach	38	82.2	Wake County, N.C.	25
52.0	Albuquerque	32	67.3	Prince George's County, Md.	18	82.5	Fairfax County, Va.	14
52.2	Chicago	3	68.1	Long Beach	29

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-20-dropout-rates_x.htm#grad