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Show " 1 ' - - - T School Dropout Problem Serious Unless it is drastically reduced, the present school drop out rate may result in several million youths being unemployed in the 1960's, according to Good Housekeeping Magazine. Four out of every ten students who started the fifth grade in September probably will not be graduated from high school. (Continued on Page Four) School Dropout Problem Serious (Continued from Page One) Many will quit even before they finish elementary school. This problem constitutes a crisis of growing national implications in terms of unemployment, welfare costs and, according to some authorities, crime. A giant, multimillion pool of unemployable not just unemployed un-employed young people is being formed. In 1900 one out of eight jobs could be filled by unskilled labor, but today, according to Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg, the unskilled rate is one out of twenty and is shrinking. Just who the typical drop-out student is, cannot be determined. deter-mined. Although some surveys show him to be of low social status, below average intelligence, an academic failure, and often retarded, a United States Department of Labor study shows that two-thirds of all drop-outs have IQ's in the normal intelligence range, and a negligible amount come from "privileged" homes. Authorities agree generally that programs to keep children in school must contain these basic parts: Counseling More experienced counselors are needed for every grade level. Such guidance is important to every student, not just those encountering difficulty. Counselors must work with parents. Curricula Not all students are capable of taking and mastering the same courses. This does not make the educational needs of below average students any less than those of superior ones. Instead different kinds of training are needed. Work Experience Programs which combine school with actual job experience may be the best solution for students who otherwise would leave school completely. Many educators, though, believe the work experience programs, valuable as they may be, are only "nibbling at the edges" of the real drop-out problem. |