Those listening to our debate over the Student Transfer Bill in the Missouri Senate may have heard my mention of this effect – as children continue to be underserved by their schools, they begin to disengage. Sometimes they drop out, other times they start acting out in ways that, eventually, provoke school administrators to show them the door.
Cast out at the most critical point in their development, these children are lost. With neither the credentials nor the skills they need to introduce them into the workforce, what choice do they have but to live outside the bounds of the system that abandoned them? In turn, what recourse is left to society, when these individuals turn to crime?
We are not talking about any recent trend, and it is not just limited to isolated cases. This pipeline between schools and jails is a long-standing cycle that has cost us everything, from the toll it has taken on courts and law enforcement to the dreams of those once-hopeful students, now deferred. Recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show us the extent of the issue – the frequency of incarceration among high school dropouts is 63 times greater than among college graduates.
Think, also, on that void of wasted talent that otherwise may have been gifted to society. In another world, how many of these children would freely think, write, speak and create? Had they been supported and inspired at the right time,- how many of them would go on to triumph – pushing aside ignorance and injustice, while nurturing and preparing other hearts to do the same? How many of them would teach?
Martin Luther King Jr. once defined the true goal of education to be not only intelligence, but character. From my time on the University City school board, I can agree. Schools are not just dispensers of facts, but places where our children are helped to decide who they are.
The weight of that higher standard is the same force that moves me forward, compelling me to fight for provisions for all students, including those transient children still looking for the right institution to help them grow. The debate and negotiations throughout last week have culminated in the perfection of our education bill – which now moves to its third reading and final passage in the Senate. As we approach these final steps, we keep in mind those unwritten futures that will be affected by our work here today.
Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-University City) represents the 14th District in the Missouri Senate.
