Alaska's Dropout Rate Double National Average

A surprising trend has been on the rise in the education of Alaskan students. Greater numbers of students are dropping out of high-school and the numbers are expected to rise.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that, according to the U.S. Department of Education, about 8% of Alaskans didn't graduate in the last year, about double the national average in the 2005-2006 school year. The declining trends are so severe, that predictions estimate about 2 in every 5 ninth graders (38%) will not have earned their high school diplomas 10 years from now. At this rate, Alaska will be dead last in producing post-secondary education (college level) graduates among the U.S.

The educational crisis in Alaska obviates the question, why are students failing? Is it the State or are there other reasons? Despite the fact that educational spending is among the highest in the nation, Alaska cannot seem to keep it's students in school long enough to graduate. According to University of Alaska president Mark Hamilton, the trend does have cultural influences, but clearly parents undervalue their children's education, failing to realize it's importance in skilled-labor.

"We have to stop saying, 'College isn't for everyone,' [...] Post-secondary education is for nearly everyone unless your goal is to be the head fry guy at McDonald's."

In a
recent panel convened at the bequest of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, she stated the following:

"We are the wealthiest state in the nation, if you look at our bank account," Murkowski said. "And yet look at our drop out rate -- we are at the bottom of the barrel, so you can't tell me that throwing money at the problem is going to address that situation."

Swimming in cash, but the will just isn't there... If something isn't done to reverse this trend, Alaska's future is looking pretty gosh, darned grim:

Most people go to college to increase their lifetime earnings or make more money. In Alaska, and Alberta, Canada, with the oil industry overflowing with profits, 18 year olds can make close to $100,000 per year with no educational requirement.

I'm sure a lot of people will think it's a mistake because college is more than money. There were people that thought Tiger Woods was foolish to leave Stanford early to join the PGA. But those people, regardless of the number of their degrees, do not make Tiger Woods money. Or are married to a Swedish supermodel.

Anyway, my point, which is not very clear in this convoluted post, is that a low college rate is not necessarily a symptom of a failure in the society or education system. In can simply reflect the equilibrium in the supply and demand for labor in regions with booming economies and few workers.

No it's not, but there's been a similar issue in Western Australia for a few years, where there's been a mining boom, leading to really high house prices and sub-par post-secondary student enrolments.

Understandably, an abundance of low-skilled, high paying jobs has contributed to this trend and is a part of the "culture" alluded to in the article. However, when a society embraces a system that rewards intellectual deficiency, successive generations will ultimately pay the price (I keep thinking of the dystopian view of the future in Idiocracy, but likely darker and even less humorous).

The point is that people who are given such opportunities with little merit do not appear to value education as enriching and, therefore, see little reason to challenge their children. There are bound to be a host of other social issues that come a the cost of a lack of education, including increased crime, drug-use and under-aged pregnancies (thus spawning a whole new generation of underachievers).

I don't think this is just a matter of institutional failure, sure many people don't fit the mold and there should be other ways of encouraging people to learn beyond the standard approach, but the point is they aren't even being challenged, parents have become complacent and so have their children. I've struggled much of my adult life with earning a college degree, but I still try. I've accepted that things don't come as easily to me as others, but I've mostly failed whenever I doubted myself. I guess that I'm just being too stubborn, I should just move to Alaska or Alberta, work for an oil company and be done with it.

Another fact to keep in mind is that the drop out rate is highest amongst the native American populations of Alaska. In that case, the fact is that there are very few opportunities available for men and women in the villages with, certainly, a College degree, but also even a High School one. If one wants to actually find employment that fits their degree, they are forced to leave home and move to either one of the hub towns, or the cities. This, when coupled with the way in which education was carried out with BIA schools in the past, has created a culture which can be openly hostile to Western education.
I remember one woman, in the village I taught at, being ostracized for attempting to get a college degree, because the rest of the community felt that she was trying to prove herself better than them.
Other problem sin the native communities which lead to a high drop out rate, is the high prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse, the high rate of teen pregnancy (I had several girls in my classes who already had children by the time they were Sophomores, and several boys who had already become Fathers) and a very high level of children with learning disabilities (I, personally, suspect that much of this is cultural; many students are English-as-Second-Language for instance.)
This is not, in anyway, to be a slam on the native communities in Alaska. I was given the honor of living in a village for two years and teaching their children, and I still have the upmost respect for the people I met while there. However, that community, as many others, did have a very high drop out rate, and I would expect that this plays a part in the general high rate present in Alaska.
I can not say if the same trends are true in the Anglo-communities in the state, however, as I had little contact with them. Personally, I hope that the state government is able to invest more money in school programs, as well as in teacher training, so that the schools can meet these challanges.