Persistence Unnoticed

Is a diploma by any other name a diploma? I suppose it depends on who you ask. Graduation rates in the country are just under 70 percent, meaning that fewer than seven in ten freshmen who enter the system graduate from high school four years later.

Many of those who don't make it through are dropouts who quit school entirely, but a portion of this number are students who are taking longer than four years to complete the curriculum. A recent article in the Washington Post addresses this discrepancy, featuring the stories of students who are working full-time and coming to classes at odd hours in order to finalize their high school education. Though many favor the method of tallying the graduation rate as described above, many students are getting their diplomas and going on to find success by taking the long road.

This is a problem that is particularly pronounced in the Latino community. The Washington Post article features a handful of stories concerning students who are supporting themselves, sending money to family in other countries and completing school. In Public Agenda's summary of educational data, "A Matter of Trust: Ten Key Insights from Recent Public Opinion Research on Attitudes About Education Among Hispanic Parents, Students and Young Adults," we find that Hispanic students are more likely to say dropping out is a serious problem as well as more likely to see cutting class as a serious problem. So the encouraging thing to take from the Post article is that students are returning to school to get the job done.

According to "A Matter of Trust," most young Hispanics say they got a lot of encouragement to go to college. This is a promising sign, and getting their diploma is a first step. Such an education is highly valued among Hispanics, with 52 percent saying most people are really impressed by someone who graduates from college.

So the process is highly valued -- it may just take longer to get to the finish line than what is traditionally measured. States such as Virginia are tallying five-year graduation rates as well as four-year graduation rates. As the situation improves, we expect to see higher rates of graduates in both categories.