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When can you call something a “crisis?” Is it when a problem gets worse than ever before? When some aspect of life falls apart completely?
Or, can a crisis be something that lingers for years - maybe even decades - until it poses a threat to the community?
That’s the story of the high school dropout in America. The raw data shows that the percentage of those graduating high school hasn’t really changed for a long time. As it was decades ago, about 25 percent of students drop out - that’s about one million a year.
The difference is - you used to be able to find a job without a high school degree. That’s not the case anymore.
WNPR - along with The Public Radio Exchange- are taking a look at this crisis in an hour-long special being carried by public radio stations nationwide, called “Left Behind, Dropping Out.” You can hear it tomorrow afternoon at 2.
It’s part of American Graduate - an initiative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to try and solve the crisis.
Today, where We live, we’ll hear parts of this special - stories of programs that are working - from here in New Haven, and in San Diego. But first, we turn to one of the national experts on this issue - Robert Balfanz - a researcher at Johns Hopkins and co-director of the “Everyone Graduates” center. He was in New Haven last night to speak on a program with with Geoffry Canada, Founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone. We talked yesterday afternoon before the community forum at the Schubert Theater.