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To the Editor:
Last week’s News reported that, for the second year in a row, the Anti Drop-Out Coordinator’s position was at risk because of budget cuts. Last Spring, the position was restored after strong community support developed for maintaining it. The reasons for retaining the position are as compelling now as they were then.
The importance of having at least a high school diploma in today’s world cannot be overemphasized. We live in a society that places great stress on credentials. A high school diploma is therefore a stepping stone, not only to further academic work, but also to better, higher paying jobs. In this sense, a student who drops out of high school is likely to be limited, for a life time, to unskilled, low paid work.
It is true that a diligent, well motivated person who has dropped out of high school may make up for his or her educational deficit by obtaining a high school equivalency (GED) certificate. To do so, however, requires hard and sustained work in the face of competing demands of job, family and community. Volunteers at LVA Rappahannock have witnessed the often painful effort which GED candidates must make if they are to be successful.
Having worked as a volunteer tutor for a number of years, I consider it essential that everything possible be done to keep our young people in school until they graduate. The cost of the Anti Drcp-Out Coordinator’s position is small in comparison with the substantial benefits to be obtained from maintaining it — benefits that will last a lifetime for the young people concerned.
1 strongly urge that the Supervisors and members of the School Board to do whatever is necessary to continue the work of the Anti Drop-Out Coordinator as the present, full-time level.
LEE BIRD
Washington
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