10-time author and designer with a focus on change in organizations and communities. HappinessChoice.com. Contact Jack at jack(at)happinesschoice(dot)com
A zen perspective on how we think about the future
The US education system is currently designed to produce a 70% chance of a ninth-grader completing high school. This figure is roughly 30% lower than what anyone would tolerate from the performance of any appliance, technology, investment or vehicle. The costs of perpetuating this design are astronomical on many levels.
It is a call for significant redesign innovation. There is no reason to continue current teaching and testing practices that are intrinsic to the shortfalls of the current model. Teachers, parents, and business innovators must co-conspire with local innovations and success stories need to be tweeted around the clock.
And none of this needs to be incentivized or subsidized because the benefits are natural consequences.
If we could reduce the current number of dropouts by just half, we would yield almost 700,000 new graduates a year, and it would more than pay for itself. Studies show that the typical high school graduate will obtain higher employment and earnings — an astonishing 50 percent to 100 percent increase in lifetime income — and will be less likely to draw on public money for health care and welfare and less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system. Further, because of the increased income, the typical graduate will contribute more in tax revenues over his lifetime than if he’d dropped out.
When the costs of investment to produce a new graduate are taken into account, there is a return of $1.45 to $3.55 for every dollar of investment, depending upon the educational intervention strategy. Under this estimate, each new graduate confers a net benefit to taxpayers of about $127,000 over the graduate’s lifetime. This is a benefit to the public of nearly $90 billion for each year of success in reducing the number of high school dropouts by 700,000 — or something close to $1 trillion after 11 years.
10-time author and designer with a focus on change in organizations and communities. HappinessChoice.com. Contact Jack at jack(at)happinesschoice(dot)com
10-time author and designer with a focus on change in organizations and communities. HappinessChoice.com. Contact Jack at jack(at)happinesschoice(dot)com
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