Commentary; Posted: 6/11/03

Graduation a time to celebrate

Don Heinzman

This is the time to celebrate scholarship in our communities. Communities are focusing on the valedictorians, the salutatorians, the honor students and all of the scholarship winners.

Most communities spend more time, more energy and more money on educating their students than on any other local endeavor. Graduation, therefore, is a time to celebrate the fulfillment of that goal for all students in the community.

It is a time to celebrate the parental involvement in the education of their children.

This is a time to salute the school boards, administration, teachers, clerks, aids, nurses, cooks, custodians and all of the volunteers who contribute to the education of students.

Most important, it is a time to pay tribute to the students themselves, who have battled the books, the standards, the profiles and the unbelievable time pressures in pursuing their high school diploma.

It is interesting to note that so many honor students have been active in the community and in extra curricular activities, one of the sure predictors of success.

Of note, are the graduates from the alternative schools, the home schools, the private schools, even those high school students who have completed a year and even two of college education.

At the same time, commendations are due to the graduates of universities, colleges and technical schools.

They are among the survivors of the many who began a post high school education.

The research is clear. Those who graduate from high school and college have more opportunities to succeed in life, at least in potential income, than those who drop out.

According to a study of graduates in the year 2000, the U. S. Census Bureau found that considering a career of work from age 25 to 64, students who have more education do better.

For example, a student without a high school education has the statistical opportunity of earning $1 million, with a high school diploma, $1.2 million; with some college, $1.5 million; with an associate degree, $1.6 million, with a B.A. degree, $2.1 million and with an MA Degree, $2.5 million.

Minnesota prides itself in having a good public school system. By most measures, it is ranked fifth in the nation.

The state allocates nearly half of its budget to K-12 education. Most would agree this is money well spent.

The challenge to the graduates is to continue to learn, to be successful, to take part in community life, to give back to the school system and to support it with time, talent and money.

During these difficult economic times, the community must persist in providing an opportunity for all children to learn according to their abilities. No goal for a community is more noble than that.

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