Terrorism Shmerrorism: NYC Schools Are Flailing
A survey of low-income residents conducted by [the Community Service Society of New York] was released today, revealing that New Yorkers are more concerned about the high school dropout rate than increasing funds to protect the city from terrorism. It seems three out of four New Yorkers support raising the age when teenagers may leave school from 16 years old to 17 or 18. Further, twenty-three percent said improving the citys schools should be elected officials top concern. Twenty-one percent said keeping rent down and building more affordable housing should be the priority. Only 14 percent thought paying more for security against terrorism should trump other issues.
amNY reports: Each year, nearly [20,000 students stop attending] the city's schools without graduating, and the state's dropout rate for black and Hispanic students is the nation's highest, according to Directions for Youth, a group seeking to improve dropout rates.
Those who participated in [The Unheard Third], which surveyed 1,388 low-income and 500 moderate- and higher-income New York City residents last summer, also favored lowering the legal age to attend school to 4 years old and making pre-K and kindergarten mandatory as methods through which to lower the dropout rate.[ ](http://flickr.com/photos/shansby/)