Too many students don’t know the joys, benefits of graduation

Thousands of college students and high school seniors in the Mahoning Valley are proudly walking across stages this spring to collect their reward for years of dutiful attendance, responsible conduct and academic growth.

The processionals began Saturday, when about 1,500 students received college sheepskins at Youngstown State University. On Sunday, members of the first high school Class of 2015 – Youngstown Early College – proudly collected their diplomas, which represent their passport to the future. We congratulate all of the graduates as well as their supportive parents, teachers and other mentors and motivators. The Vindicator will recognize all high school graduates at Valley high schools with a week of special pages in their honor beginning June 8.

The ceremonies at schools large and small in our region and our nation serve as a reminder of the value of a high school diploma and of the urgency to increase the shamefully low graduation rates in secondary schools across the United States.

President Barack Obama recognizes that urgency in challenging the American educational system to strive toward achieving a 90-percent graduation rate by the end of this decade. It is a goal just as worthy as that set by John F. Kennedy five decades ago to land a man on the moon by 1970. Like that goal, it, too, can be achieved with commitment, innovation and focus.

As Obama told students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., “If you quit on school, you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.”

Students indeed sacrifice many personal and societal benefits when opting out of attaining that one valuable piece of paper. According to the U.S. Department of Education, a high-school diploma recipient without a college degree:

Earns an average of $8,400 a year more than a high school dropout.

Contributes more to a state’s economy and requires less public assistance than high school dropouts.

Becomes substantially less likely to be imprisoned or require public assistance.

Realizes a net lifetime benefit of more than $470,000.

In the Mahoning Valley, graduation rates show significant disparities. According to the 2014 Ohio Department of Education Report Cards, Poland schools had an impressively high rate of about 98 percent – already far surpassing our president’s goal. But in the nearby district to its north, Youngstown City Schools had a distressingly low rate of about 69 percent.

Stimulating programs

To its credit, Youngstown schools have been working to increase academic performance and graduation attainment. In recent years, graduation rates have slowly but steadily increased. City Schools Superintendent Connie Hathorn has shown clear results in implementing stimulating programs designed to enhance student interest and achievement, and, by extension, increase high school completion rates.

But in Youngstown, as in any school district, education leaders can only do so much. Parents and guardians of young people must work diligently to instill a culture that values learning and achievement. That includes monitoring their work closely, keeping lines of communication with teachers open, dishing out applause for good performance and punishing children when they purposely fail to apply themselves.