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Enough Is Enough: NO MORE DROPOUTS!
February 20, 2007 Dear Chancellor Klein: I am writing this short letter to respectfully request your assistance with a small concern that I have and know that could be remedy within minutes if instructed to do so by you. I would like to ask you to have the word "dropout" replaced with the word "out-of-school youth" in ALL NYC Department of Education's documents. As we all know, the word "dropout" has a negative connotation to it. An individual who "drops out" of school does not generally do so because he/she wants, more often then not, it's because he/she NEEDS to. It's very easy for many to sit back and cast a negative judgment on those young adults who decided to leave school, but we must be in THEIR shoes in order to fully understand. It takes no genius to know the many reasons why young adults decide to leave school. Some of those reasons include pregnancy, need to work fulltime to support family, school safety, care for an ill family member, not receiving the necessary resources/help at school (particularly those in special education), and so on and so forth. Yes, there is a big number of young adults who just QUIT school for no choice. However, we can not cast a negative judgment on everyone based on a few. In closing, I hope that this request doe snot go unheard. I trust that you will find my conclusion to "make sense." Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you soon. Regards, Haile Rivera Mr. Haile Rivera
 I am not trying to lessen the importance of a graduating from high school. On the contrary, more efforts are needed in order to show the significant importance of a high school diploma (although this could be argued both ways). My point is to REPLACE the word "dropout" with "out-of-school youth." Now, as far as trying to reduce the dropout rate in our City, I'm no expert. My best solution is to gather REAL students, who can speak personally about their experiences, specific reasons for leaving school, and what THEY think is needed to make sure that young adults do not continue to leave school in such high numbers. I'm tired of all these summits, conferences, workshops, etc... regarding this issue AND NOTHING GETS DONE. I ask: what's the point? To be more honest, it is such hipocrosy when our elected officials attend these events, many times serving as Main Speakers and/or Presenters. Then, what do they do after they return to the Chambers of the City Council, Mayor's Office, and their respective offices in the NYS Assembly and Senate? NOTHING! That is being a hipocrite in EVERY sense of the word. Hopefully, one day in the near future, the voices of those who know what REALLY goes on in the schools and in their lives, COULD BE HEARD! Thanks for your inquiry and concern. Haile Rivera Note to anonymous 8:55: That would be "you're" or "you are" rather than the possesive form "your". Curious that the piece is on education. Though, Mr. Rivera was much better with the spelling I think his syntax was a little problematic. I'm not just joking here. When you write about something like education you should probably take enough time and care to write clearly. Thanks for your honest advice. I will try my best to work on my syntax with all future postings.
HR
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Is this a serious attempt at attacking the rising dropout rate under bloomberg and klein, or is this just about pc?
I'm not sure how this solves anything in regard to the rising dropout rate. Why are you trying to lessen the importance of graduating from high school by making dropping out not so bad?