Editor’s note: This commentary is by Offie C. Wortham, Ph.D., a retired college professor who last taught at Johnson State College. Prior to that he taught at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
[T]oo many of our Vermont children have no formal or informal pre-education before elementary school. Vast differences quickly show up in the progress of the child before the third grade. Ultimately, over 40 percent of the youth in Vermont fail to finish high school. Over 70 percent cannot qualify to be accepted into the Army, Navy or Marines. Twenty-three percent fail the written test. And the rest are rejected because of obesity, being physically unfit, a criminal record, or no GED or high school diploma.
Our Community College of Vermont, which is open admissions to anyone with a high school diploma, a GED, or the ability to pass a test, has a graduation rate of 21 percent!
Local and statewide employers have more jobs than qualified applicants. They actually expect their employees to be able to pass an employment test which measures reading ability, writing, and simple math skills such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication. In our automated society, one must be able to learn complex skills. Even after ignoring arrest records and no diploma, it is still difficult for many employers to find qualified job applicants.
So what happens to the young person, who has just failed out of high school and community college, is rejected by the military and is denied the employment opportunities that offered training and decent wages, and finds themselves in a group of their peers on the street with over a 50 percent unemployment rate?
What would you do? Many accept low-paying jobs and remain there for the rest of their lives. Others get more education online or through correspondence programs. And still, others get very depressed and angry and begin to use drugs and become drug addicts and sellers. If a person is not interested in opiate, they will not use them, regardless of how plentiful they are. To blame our drug problem on suppliers is not the answer.
As Gov. Phil Scott has recently said, “I’ve called for reforms that will provide savings which can be reinvested in a cradle-to-career system, which will not only provide quality educational opportunities at every stage of life but make Vermont an education destination, attracting working families, so we can rebuild our workforce and grow the economy.”
Can more parents be helped by government programs to prepare their children for school? Is education the key to avoiding failure and rejection in the future? Until we can admit that more help should be given to the unprepared parents we will continue to ignore the cause of the drug problems in Vermont.
